Huddled into groups, students from across various majors gathered in the School of Public Health for their weekly meeting to research and brainstorm solutions to public health issues in Prince George’s County.
Started in 2021 by SPH alumni Daniel Fong '23 and Isha Yardi ‘23, the Terrapin Think Tank today includes 14 student fellows from across UMD. This year’s cohort is collaborating with Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) on three projects: creating an environmental health justice campaign, partnering with the county’s health department to assess the need for hospital beds across the county and developing a free first-aid training for community members.
“Terrapin Think Tank is open to any UMD student, regardless of their major. Our goal is to improve the quality of life and health for the PG County community and that is something we want all students to partake in,” said Angela Kabiwa ‘28, the organization’s associate director of communications and a sophomore public health science major. “Students are able to apply what they learn in the class to real-world issues.” As a previous fellow, Kabiwa helped establish mobile health units to address the physician shortage in PG County.
Terrapin Think Tank is open to any UMD student… Our goal is to improve the quality of life and health for PG County communities and it’s something we want all students to partake in.
Supported by SPH Drs. Sylvette La Touche-Howard and Tracy Zeeger, the think tank is entirely student-led, with previous fellows in charge of teaching and assisting current fellows. For example, Madeleine Eng ‘28, the think tank’s associate director of teaching and recruitment, educates students about the basics of local policy and advocacy and guides them through the process of developing their projects.
“As a past fellow myself, I get to give a lot more impactful recommendations and help students more through the whole process. It makes it more personal to students,” said Eng, a sophomore neuroscience and public policy double major and Spanish minor.
“We as students are providing a meaningful way for other students to engage in their local community and be able to use public health data to actively make a difference.”
In addition to their group projects, which they aim to implement by the end of this year, the fellows are also tasked with researching and presenting their own solutions to local health issues in a white paper presented at the end of the semester. Some of the students’ proposals will be implemented as actionable group projects next spring.
Akunna Okonkwo ‘27, a current fellow and junior public health science major, heard about the think tank her sophomore year. As an aspiring lawyer planning to work in health systems and policies in sub-Saharan Africa, she applied to gain more concrete skills in the field of health policy.
“Terrapin Think Tank felt like the perfect platform to gain experience through a structured course, which lessens the anxiety that comes with being in a new field,” said Okonkwo.
There is always hope — Terrapin Think Tank is a great way to make sustainable, long-lasting change in the community.
Her project, the Youth Safety and Support Initiative (YSSI), is a proposal for PGCPS to prioritize school climate, student voice and trauma-informed support over punitive discipline. Okonkwo knows firsthand the need to put formal systems in place to protect students in schools, remembering a lockdown at her PGCPS school when a student was caught with a weapon.
She highlighted that the resources and opportunities UMD students have access to, like the Terrapin Think Tank, both benefit students on campus and also allow them to support the surrounding community.
“There is always hope,” Okonkwo said. Terrapin Think Tank is a great way to make sustainable, long-lasting change in the community.”
— Sumaya Abdel-Motagaly