ACHF believes in fostering future college health professionals. Through the Murray DeArmond Student Activity Fund, ACHF offers funding to help students to attend the ACHA Annual Meeting, giving them opportunities to learn more about the profession and be inspired to promote health and well-being on their own campuses.
Below, the 2022 ACHF Student Travel Award Recipients share what this opportunity meant to them.
Melissa N. Rosenthal, BSPH, from Tulane University
The opportunity to attend the 2022 American College Health Association Annual Meeting was an unparalleled experience. I am grateful to have received th
e ACHF Student Travel Award for the opportunity to network with, learn from, and present to college health professionals of all expertise. I enjoyed meeting and conversing with the professionals who sit on the American College Health Foundation board. We had a meaningful discussion surrounding the future of college health in a post-pandemic world. Similarly, the most profound presentations and conversations at the ACHA Annual Meeting detailed the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. As a health policy student, it was particularly impactful to hear how the pandemic will shape ACHA guidance and institutional policy moving forward. Institutions throughout the country created testing and vaccine clinics, dispensed personal protective equipment, and deployed contact tracing in a record fashion. The resilience displayed throughout the college health community during the pandemic was truly inspiring. I look forward to continuing my work in helping to ensure college campuses are healthy and well.
Thomas Stewart, MPH, from University of Virginia
I was truly honored to have been selected for the 2022 ACHF Student Travel Award and was immensely thankful for the opportunity to attend the conference. Aside from being the first ACHA conference I have attended, ACHA 2022 was my first conference in general. At first, I was nervous about being around so many people who are so knowledgeable and accomplished within their fields. However, as the conference went on, I became more and more relaxed and felt welcomed to be around so many humble and kind people who are passionate about college health.
I felt that my poster presentation “Examining Mental Health in University Graduate Students” fit well within the theme of equity and well-being at this year’s conference. My research focused on the utilization of mental health resources within the graduate student population. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with people who came up to my poster and showed interest in the work I had done. Through these conversations, I came up with future directions for my research that I am very excited about. I also was able to improve my professional and networking skills which will serve me well for future conferences that I will attend.
I also had the opportunity to give a presentation on my research into the mental health of graduate students. This was a fantastic opportunity to be able to convey the work I had done throughout the past year. I was thrilled to see people taking an interest in my research and I felt that this was an invaluable experience. Communicating with other professionals in the field of college health allowed me to gain a broader perspective of the field and the many disciplines that come together to find solutions to complex issues.
My ACHA 2022 conference experience is one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I have come out of this experience with a greater vision of the landscape of college health. The lessons that I learned will serve me well and I hope that I will be able to attend future ACHA conferences.
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