Anti-drug propaganda and commercials are too often cheesy and unconvincing. Abstinence from sex is dead in the water. I want to devote my professional career to helping to increase our effectiveness in sexual health publicity and the engaging, highly accurate, and innovatively creative, health education in schools to prepare our children for the tough decisions that they will face. I see your program at XXXX as the flagship program, and I have the courage to apply based on the intensity of my immersion in public health.
You can give me the tools that I will employ for a lifetime in research as what does and does not work in terms of steering the behavior of our young people in positive directions, infomercials, brochures, magazine ads, social networking.
I want to be able to earn a critical understand of the effects that both economic and behavioral factors have on sexual health and be able to analyze the origins of health disparities as well as the complete range of theoretical and practical approaches to these issues. I want to devote my life to fomenting the public practice of preventive medicine through public education. The most fulfilling achievement that I can imagine would be to someday author curriculum materials for health classes and our public service announcements for the general community. These professional dreams have guided my studies so far and this is the reason it is my sincere hope to be accepted to the MPH Program at XXXX, because I see your program as the optimal educational environment and platform for preparing me to best meet my goals.
Your program is especially strong in my greatest interest, adolescent health, and the effects of risky behaviors: most notably sex, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. The greatest joy that I can imagine would be to have the opportunity to spend the rest of my life evaluating programs in these areas and eventually developing and implementing my own health education programs. I am African American and being a woman of color is an important part of my identity and my heritage. I understand Spanish, from having been exposed to it as a child, and I have been making strides at learning to speak it through simple practice and recitation. For someone in this field with a special interest in minority communities, I look forward to struggling to safeguard the most vulnerable among us to the extent that I can.
My participation in a program called “Project Pledge” opened my eyes to many of the harsh realities of adolescent life as well as the tremendous potential that exists for helping them to meet these challenges more successfully. It was this experience that first inspired me to pursue a career in Public Health. I decided to attend college across the country at XXXX University which benefited me not only academically, but also personally, as I gained insight into the many facets of culture that shape this country.
I served as a mentor with Project Pledge, and I will never forget one little girl particularly, Celisa, only twelve years old. She was not only having sex with her sixteen-year-old boyfriend, but with his friends as well, and told me all this as if it were no big deal. For me, this was a life-defining moment when the path before me became clear. Eventually I became a Peer Leader, training other mentors and finally, after several years with the program, I became an Intern where I sought innovative ways to teach through games and interaction and was able to create lesson plans and implement some of my own activities and programs. The curriculum that our program created eventually reached numerous classrooms in twelve schools. I seek the professional opportunity of constantly reaching out to some of the most ignored and neglected families, especially children. The more time I spent with young people in the Pledge Program, the more I realized how much potential they had to offer the world. My own personal epiphany was the realization that, with the proper support, these kids could advance far beyond what society expected of them.
As my college career advanced, I involved myself in various community service projects in the Atlanta area that were complimentary to the classes that I was taking, helping me to explore different fields of interest all of which have culminated in my pursuit of a career in Public Health. Of special importance has been my work in sexual violence. Studying abroad in Barcelona for the summer of 2007 also helped me to better appreciate many things about where I came from and where I am going. I love adventure and I ran with the bulls while I was there. I have skydived and like to be bold in my choices in life. Moving to NYC to study is my dream. I seek a way to educate myself and others in turn in such a way that it makes an impact and alters the course of people’s lives, especially across generations.
I want to learn how to critically evaluate programs, interventions, and outcomes that relate to public health practice across a broad spectrum of issues and challenges, applying social, psychological, and especially behavioral theory in the design, implementation, and evaluation of prevention interventions aimed at decreasing health damaging behaviors and increasing psychosocial well-being. I look forward to developing and critiquing procedures and training materials, methods, and programs to implement effective behavioral interventions.
MPH Personal Purpose Statement Sexuality and Health
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