In a sea of new faces, this year’s largest-ever SPH freshman class can take comfort in a familiar face this fall: Caitlin Minch, SPH’s recruitment advisor in the Center for Academic Success and Achievement. Minch helps potential students understand the academics and environment of SPH and also helps them with their transition to college once they arrive. Amy Reiter spoke with Minch about what makes SPH unique, and what makes her a cheerleader for public health students.
You went to UMD to be an elementary school teacher. Why did you switch?
I originally wanted to get into elementary education because I really liked the idea of working with students when they were so young and helping to shape their attitudes around education and specifically math. At the time, I was also volunteering with working adults who were wanting to learn and improve their English. I realized I liked the adult side better and that is what started me down the path of wanting to work with older students, and also I like being in more of the support-based role – the planning, coordination, people work.
What do you enjoy most about working with high school and college students?
I really like being able to help support students in thinking about how they want to start their career journey. What do they want to do? What's their end goal? And how can I support them in getting there? Working with students who are at the start of their college career, they have so much enthusiasm and passion and optimism. It really is infectious.
What drew you to this role at SPH?
I’m a proud University of Maryland alum, and I love the mission of the School of Public Health. I love our vision and our values, and so it felt like a really, really great fit. I wanted to be able to help students who were kind of in a similar position to I was in deciding whether to go to the University of Maryland and whether that's where they want to be. I’ve been here now four years.
You've basically done your own college education worth of time.
A full life cycle for many students! Part of my role is teaching a section of UNIV100, our freshman transition course. My first class that I taught in 2022, they just graduated. And so I got to hug some of my first students as they walked across the stage this spring, which was really, really awesome.
I really love being a cheerleader for all of the current students once they actually get here and love hearing about all the cool things they're doing.
Caitlin Minch ‘04
What is the most common question from students considering SPH?
Usually the question is: “I want to be pre-med, what is the right major for that?” Or “I want to be insert-health-profession-here, what's the right major for that?” And I luckily get to say: You can go on to health professions from any of our majors if you do the prerequisite courses that those graduate programs are looking for. What surprises people the most is the breadth of public health. A lot of people come to us wanting to go into health professions, which is awesome, but then they'll be surprised by something along the way.
The second most popular question I get is: “What kind of internships or research can I do?” Which is a really fun question to answer because our students are doing so many cool things. I get to bring up the student who is doing the sports medicine internship with athletics. I get to bring up the student who is working with BlueCross BlueShield. I get to bring up the student who's conducting research, running samples for a virology lab.
How would you describe the students who enter public health at UMD?
Everyone is hoping to improve health for people in some way, shape or form. That is the driving force behind everything we do. The research, the classes, all of it. SPH students are all helpers, with this optimism that’s contagious. They all want to contribute to making the world a better place somehow.
As [Dean Boris Lushniak] says, you can't be a pessimist and work in public health. I just always say I can't wait to see what they wind up accomplishing and how they help the world.
What do you think makes UMD's School of Public Health unique?
We are a small-to-medium school within the larger University of Maryland, so in SPH students can get that wonderful community feel of knowing the people around you and feeling supported, but also get the big university experience, the athletics, the events, the resources, the huge campus that’s close to D.C.
As well, on the academic side, there's just some stuff you can get here that you just can't get anywhere else. For example, our students who are doing programs like UMD Fellows are able to work in D.C. in the federal government and other organizations that are located here and here only.
And then, of course, we have amazing faculty. We have faculty doing research that is absolutely cutting edge, being done nowhere else, and students are able to learn from them and potentially participate in that research.
Tell me a little bit about some of your favorite things.
I'm a huge reader. I'm literally wearing a shirt now that just says One More Chapter. In my ideal day, I am listening to a romance audiobook and crocheting, hanging out with friends. I love going to concerts.
And at SPH, I love commencement and admitted student open houses. At the open houses, students are so excited, they have so many questions, their energy is amazing, and so getting to interact with them and help guide them through their decision-making process is super exciting to me and rewarding, too. And I really love being a cheerleader for all of the current students once they actually get here and hearing about all the cool things they're doing.
I also love Maryland – I owe a lot of my life to the University of Maryland. I met my husband at Maryland at New Student Orientation. My little brother also went to Maryland, and he met his wife on their floor freshman year. My dad and both of his brothers went to the University of Maryland.
I joke with students, “So yeah, you can tell I really like Maryland, and I hope you do, too!”