profiles
HONING IN ON HEALTH
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Text by AKHIL JOONDEPH Photos by AUDREY JOACHIM
CRAFTING RESOURCES FOR PALY COMMUNITY
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JUST REMEMBER IN freshman members encouraging teens to donate to year, there were just a ton of fire the Community Fund’s COVID-19 relief alarms,” junior Vienna Liu says. “I efforts. remember a good amount of them beLast semester, the club focused its efing attributed to vaping, to a point where forts on HIV prevention and worked with it was shown to be an issue at Paly. I think Stanford pediatrician Geoffrey Hart-Coothat was my first expeper throughout rience with realizing the semester. what a public health This should matter to “Hart-Cooissue was.” per chose to focus teenagers as well, not Motivated by on HIV in youth student-centric public just adults. ... If we’re because there is a health issues like vap- thinking about our comdisproportionateing, mental health and ly high number sexual safety, Liu and munity in the long run, of people in our fellow junior Sam Ya- we have the most to lose.” age group who mashita founded the go unprotected, — SAM YAMASHITA, junior whether it’s just Palo Alto High School Public Health Club in because they’re 2019. Little did they know at the time that young, or don’t feel like talking about it less than a year later, the COVID-19 pan- because of the stigma surrounding STDs,” demic would dramatically alter the public Liu says. health landscape. After learning about HIV and “It [the pandemic] has just really the preventative pill known as opened my eyes to how big and how im- PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxportant of a field public health is,” Liu says. is) during club meetings, Liu “Everything involved with public health, and Yamashita worked with including our goals as a club, is amplified club members to create infoat this time.” graphics to spread awareness Inspired by the dire need for public for HIV prevention stratehealth resources, club members are plan- gies through social media. ning a COVID-19-related project for the The club’s infographics spring, and hope to do so by teaming up reached thousands of with the Palo Alto Community Fund, an people online through organization that distributes community partnerships with the donations to specialized institutions in and organizations Pubaround Palo Alto. lic Health For You, “They [the Community Fund] have Teen Health 101 done great work with COVID, but also just and Public Health supporting our community in general,” Ya- Institute. mashita says. Despite the Liu and Yamashita hope to lead their pandemic limiting club in creating short video clips of club some of the club’s
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options, the transition to online meetings has opened the door to many others. “Being online has given us opportunities to have a lot more [guest] speakers,” Liu says. “It has been a lot more accessible for them to just pop into a meeting with us.” The ability to collaborate with experts like Hart-Cooper, as well as public health specialist Marcia M. Zorilla, has helped the club dive deeper into their areas of focus and work on more long-term projects this semester. As Liu and Yamashita continue to expand their club, they hope to see more youth engagement in public health issues, especially through participation in local projects and interest in field advancements. “This [public health] should matter to teenagers as well, not just adults,” Yamashita says. “If we’re thinking about our community in the long run, we [teens] have the most to lose.” v
PANDEMIC PASSION — While the COVID-19 pandemic has limited some of the Paly Public Health Club’s opportunities, it has made its founders, juniors Vienna Liu and Sam Yamashita, realize the importance of their work as a club. “Last year we were a little more relaxed,” Yamashita says. “Now we are much more serious about ... teaching our club members and helping everyone spread awareness.”
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