Daily Archives: July 31, 2019

Our first day in North Carolina (Ella Davis ’21)

We greeted each other bright and early this morning at 7:15 am. Feeling a little bit groggy, we were anxiously awaiting our next 3 days in Durham, getting to explore the expansive field of global health. With Sahib as our leader of the day, we endured a 3 hour drive and arrived in Durham in time for a wonderful lunch on 9th Street. Instead of the usual Panera or Chipotle, we were challenged to try the local cuisine. With that in mind, our 2021 cohort ate a surprisingly delicious lunch at the Mad-hatter Cafe. With full stomachs, our group set off to the Duke Global Health Institute where we were welcomed by Dr. Clements, the director of undergraduate global health studies and medical school programs, as well as a professor in many different subjects. He was assisted by Ms. Erin Degerman and Ms. Lysa Mackeen, who were both crucial factors in creating an awesome day for us. We began with a briefing on global health challenges, as well as small group discussions about the factors and issues of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and respiratory diseases. We were all given character to play of all different ages and ethnicities, challenged to provide a unique perspective to each disease. Following this simulation, we were given characters within our own context of Norfolk, VA and were given a scenario of a major influenza epidemic, tasked with being able to communicate a feasible plan to the public. Our characters soon sorted into groups based on job similarities, such as government, medicine, and education, and we began a heated debate filled with lots of loud people and wild ideas.

Eventually, the mayor of Norfolk, played by Ells, was able to communicate our plan appropriately to the rest of the city. We ended up learning a lot about real life situations and leadership skills that adults today are still challenged with. I really loved being able to figure out our own solution in a situation where we didn’t know the end result, and I think it was very beneficial to everyone to see how people actually deal with crisis. After thanking and saying goodbye to the wonderful individuals responsible for our day at Duke  Global Health Institute, we left, checked into our hotel, and headed out for dinner. Of course, we all stuffed ourselves full of ice cream for dessert, and convened in Mrs. Goodson’s room for our daily reflection. Sahib led us in our regular roses and thorns, and then we split up to work on our case study competition that will be taking place throughout the retreat. After about an hour of preparation, we enjoyed quality time together before heading to bed for another early morning, beginning the second day of our 2019 GHF adventure!