Introducing HSC’s AmeriCorps School Outreach Coordinator, Leah Powell!

October 01, 2013 | Written By: Healthy Schools Campaign

Welcome our new AmeriCorps member!

This month, HSC welcomes Community HealthCorps member Leah Powell to our food and fitness team through AmeriCorps’ Healthy Communities Corps.

For the next year, Leah will complete her AmeriCorps service at HSC as our School Outreach Coordinator, giving parents the resources they need to advocate for healthy food and fitness at their schools. She will facilitate parent workshops and other learning opportunities that provide parents with training, skills and resources on implementing strategies that promote health in the school environment.

This is Leah’s second term with AmeriCorps. Previously, she spent a year in Rhode Island as a member of City Year, a corps program where members work in public schools. Her role was to combat absenteeism and devise creative strategies to encourage students to stay in school.

Before her years of service, Leah was a pre-med student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. While there, she volunteered with America’s Promise, an organization that helps give at-risk youth the skills they need to attend and thrive in college. She also traveled to India on a medical internship, shadowing surgical oncologists and learning about medical infrastructure in the developing world. She says some of the highlights of that trip were exploring the differences of medical care between the U.S. and India, and visiting important cultural sites, such as Gandhi’s ashram.

The idea of moving around and doing so many different things may seem overwhelming to some, but for Leah, it’s a regular part of life. “I have no problem moving around,” she says. “I like to experience different things.”

After college, she found her interest shifting from the medical field to public health. She says she prefers this side of the health world because it reaches a broader audience, and the work has the potential to positively impact many people.

Leah has already hit the ground running, attending meetings and events, and is looking forward to engaging with more parents and communities. “I am realizing how I can make a change,” she says. “It’s gratifying to see that this work impacts families and communities.”

Please join us in welcoming Leah Powell!