Outreach: Doctoral students engage with Latinx community at Pinewoods Library event
This summer, doctoral students taking a course centered on mental health in the Latinx community put theory into practice when volunteering at an event held by the Pinewoods Library and Learning Center.
Organized by Evelyn Rushing, branch manager of the Pinewoods Library, the Empower Pinewoods Family Expo provided health and educational resources to the community. Before the expo, Rushing spoke about the event and the Spanish-speaking community in Athens to the Latinx mental health class, taught by Edward Delgado-Romero, professor and associate dean for faculty and staff services in the Mary Frances Early College of Education.
In this experiential learning opportunity, students and Delgado-Romero volunteered at the expo, where they helped set up, distributed supplies, and facilitated communication between attendees, vendors, and other volunteers at various stations. Altogether, the expo hosted 64 organizations, and volunteers distributed 450 backpacks of school supplies to families in the community.