Hello! Welcome to my Graduate Certificate in Community Engagement E-Portfolio. This portfolio will cover reflections on my coursework, reflections on my community engaged experiences, and my synthesis paper.
I am a second year graduate candidate in the Health Promotion program at the University of Delaware. My two primary research topics consist of virtual reality technology as a platform for diabetes prevention among minorities living in Chicago, as well as virtual reality technology as a platform for overcoming specific social anxieties among college students.
I have had many opportunities for community engagement both in and out of academia, and I have been able to acknowledge the importance of community engagement in various settings. My research addresses community engagement through building virtual communities that promote social support and accountability. Similarly, I am the founder of a group called "English in Saigon", that provides Vietnamese students with a virtual community to learn English in a way that is affordable.
I am pursuing the community engagement certificate because I believe that community engagement is the foundation for creating long lasting differences and meaningful connections with one another. I have had many experiences to promote community engagement, but there was still much that I wanted to learn, and through this certificate I have been able to use my previous experiences as well my new knowledge obtained to create better opportunities for community engagement in my research as well as in my personal endeavors.
Above is a photo of me taken in Bà Nà Hills in Vietnam, where I visited during my time working in a Vietnamese community located in Ho Chi Minh City. I worked in a hospital clinic with those caring for children with disabilities. Most of the disabilities present were due to the gas agent orange, a gas that was sprayed on the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. The gas resulted in genetic defects for those who were exposed to the gas. Even though it is the grandparents of the children that I worked with who were exposed to the gas, the genetic defects can be passed down to later generations.