Students Make Final Round of National Competition

Article Image - Students Make Final Round of National Competition From left to right: Kelly Reilly, Dr. Debra Fetherman, Community Health Education program director, Sinead O’Brien and Hazel Skarbek.

The University of Scranton community health education students made it to the final round of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) 2019 National Student Case Competition. The competition, which took place at the society’s annual conference in Salt Lake City in the spring, provided undergraduate and graduate students of health education the opportunity to display their developing expertise.

Scranton students who participated, all of whom were community health and education majors, were Kelly Reilly, Hicksville, New York; Sinead O’Brien, Hillsdale, New Jersey; and Hazel Skarbek, Glenside.

For the competition, teams of two to three students were challenged to solve a real-world health issue using the competencies required for a school or community health educator. Case scenarios were provided to teams two weeks before the competition. Students presented their response to the scenario to judges in a 25-minute closed forum without the aid of technology. The Scranton students advanced to the final round of the competition, but did not win a first-, second- or third-place prize.

University of Scranton professor Debra Fetherman, Ph.D., program director for community health education, also presented at the conference.

This was the first time Scranton students participated in the national competition.

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