Five student groups in Arcadia University’s “Community and Environmental Health” Public Health course were selected by YES! For Teachers magazine to compete for a chance to have their multimedia projects published in the YES! Solutions Pilot Project.

Lindsey McGann, administrative manager of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies and the course instructor, submitted for the class to participate in this program in 2019. Arcadia was one of three universities selected, with a total of nine projects selected for participation.

Within the class, McGann split students into five groups, with each tasked to connect with a community changemaker and create a multimedia story. In the end, two projects were selected for publication: the podcast “Combating Climate Change with Joy” by Danielle Anton ’22M, MPH, Anna Maphis ’22MPH, DPT, Hazel Merluza ’22M, MPH, and Elena Schatell ’22M, MPH; and the comic book zine “Miles for Change” by Public Health students Grace Acosta ’22M, MPH, Addy Hubbard ’22M, MPH, Alexis Lambert ’22MPH, and Eva Schofield ’22M, MPH

Combating Climate Change with Joy
Anton, Maphis, Merluza, and Schatell worked with changemaker and climate change advocate Joy Bergey, who serves on the board of US Climate Action Network (USCAN) and is a Sierra Club Ready for 100 volunteer, which is dedicated to getting elected officials to commit to 100 percent clean electricity by 2035.

On the first Earth Day in 1970, Bergey was 15 years old and her civics teacher took the class to a protest at the local power plant. Joy was aghast at what she saw, and since then has  advocated for clean air, clean water, and clean energy. 

“I was horrified to learn how our choices were causing such problems,” said Bergey in the podcast. “We know how to do the solar, wind, we can get there sooner than [2035]. The harder piece by 2050 is 100 percent clean vehicles and heating for buildings.”

Miles for Change
Acosta, Hubbard, Lambert, and Schofield interviewed Mari Folco, director of MileUp, a sister organization to Students Run Philly Style. MileUp works with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to provide an alternative to the juvenile justice system. Youth who choose to participate in the program are expected to train with a mentor three times a week and then participate in three long distance runs, ending with the Broad Street Run. In addition to not serving time in prison, MileUp pays the runner’s restitution and has their record expunged.

Students used Folco’s interview to create a comic book zine about MileUp, which explores the pros and cons of the program like how it’s the only alternative to the juvenile justice system.