Health Literacy Advocate
Start a peer-to-peer counseling campaign where you educate peers on an issue that is relevant and important to teen health.
Do you find that when it comes to issues that affect teen health and concern teens like you, adults just aren’t speaking your language? Do you feel judged or lectured to or just not understood? There’s mounting evidence that peer-to-peer communications are an effective way for teens to spread important information and to learn in a way that really sticks. There’s often a disconnect and perceived hierarchy when adults speak to teens, so sometimes the best way to deliver information is to let teens speak to each other in a way that is empathetic and relatable.
How do I get started? Find a health issue that’s important and or concerning to you and other teens. Learn about the issue, and think about the best way to communicate information to friends and peers. Is it through social media? Posters? A presentation? Videos? An art installation? Or something different altogether? There are unlimited ways to educate people, and chances are you’ll be better at getting through to other teens than a lot of adults are. Move forward on your own, or enlist a group of friends or like-minded peers. You really can make a difference! Download our PDF for more helpful tips on how to launch your campaign.
How much time will this take? This project should take 20-25 hours if executed properly.
How do I expand this narrative arc?
Partner with an adult expert on your advocacy issue and arrange to have him or her speak at your school, or to a group of engaged peers.
Become a Concussion Epidemiologist as you help implement a concussion baseline testing program in your school.
Help your school develop or refine its Concussion Protocol.
Consider spending your summer in a lab doing cutting edge research in the field. For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) offers an intensive and competitive eight-week internship program in which rising high school seniors spend a summer working in a research lab alongside some of the world’s leading scientists
HOT TIP: Whatever your academic strengths and extracurricular interests this is a project that can be adapted to conform to and enhance your narrative arc.