Are you interested in a career in a health profession? Or in addressing broad questions of public health? The Public Health Pathway provides an opportunity for students to explore a wide range of health-related careers by combining courses from across the academic divisions with a range of experiential learning opportunities.

Students in the Public Health Pathway will take up questions that go beyond the preparation for a professional degree in the health sciences. From the arts and humanities, what are the ethical and religious dimensions of health? From history and the social sciences, how are ideas and practices of illness and health manifest in different cultures? From the natural sciences, what are scientific tools and bodies of knowledge will help us understand health?

The Public Health Pathway provides students with an opportunity to explore public health careers by combining course work from across the academic disciplines, with a range of experiential learning opportunities that both allow students to apply the knowledge they have already acquired to conditions outside the classroom, and to acquire new knowledge through that experience. Equally important, the Public Health Pathway also provides ample opportunity and encouragement for students to think deeply and critically about how their strengths and skills can most effectively, and meaningfully, contribute to the health of a community. To facilitate this process, students on the Public Health Pathway will have access to a long list of alumni who have gone onto rewarding, fulfilling public health careers.

The field of public health is a crucial facet of the health-care system, and contains a very wide, diverse, and growing range of careers that focus on promoting the health and safety of the community, such as:

• Dietitian and nutritionist
• Emergency Management Specialist
• Epidemiologist
• Health Educator
• Community Health Worker
• Occupational Health and Safety Specialist
• Public Health Nurse
• Public Health Communications Specialist
• Public Health Lawyer
• Public Health Policy Analyst

Students who complete the Public Health Pathway will not only have a realistic understanding of the opportunities in the career path they will follow upon graduation, but will also understand the larger historical, economic, and social forces that influence public health. Upon graduation, these students will be well positioned to become effective participants, and ultimately leaders, in promoting community health and well-being.

Students will complete four (4) courses from the approved list below, with no more than two (2) courses coming from a single academic division.

Coursework requirements in the Public Health Pathway are also fulfillments of the College’s required courses for Learning Across the Disciplines.

*Course has pre-requisite or requires instructor permission to register

PATH 11002: Initial Reflection – HLTH

This course asks you to complete three basic steps:

1. Spend time reflecting on several questions about why you’ve chosen this Pathway, noticing how your experiences and various aspects of your personal identity might play into your career direction.
2. Discuss your thoughts with other Public Health students, faculty, and staff.
3. Write about how your initial thoughts, the conversations you had with your Pathway community, and any new or different insights you have as a result.

PATH 22002: Career Planning – HLTH

For this course, you will explore career and internship resources supported by Career Planning in APEX, specifically Handshake and LinkedIn. You will also craft a career-ready resume. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the many resources offered by the Career Planning office to bring your resume to a truly professional level. Booking an appointment with a Career Planning staff member or peer advisor to go over your resume is strongly recommended.

PATH 33002: Experiential Learning – HLTH

This course asks you to complete an authentic, hands-on experience in one of the career areas you’re exploring. It is more than simply having an experience, however. In order to maximize the benefits and learning you gain, you will deliberately walk through goal setting, planning, and “preflection” (pre-reflection) before you complete the career experience. During and after your experience, you will spend time considering what you learned about yourself from the experience and how those lessons might impact your next career steps. Completing this thorough, guided process is what makes this “experiential learning” rather than just an experience.

**Note that this course will require you to complete some components BEFORE registering**

Steps to complete PATH 330:

Before Registering:

1. Explore a range of possible experiences that will help you further your career goals.
2. Plan your EL experience, taking advantage of resources and assistance offered by faculty or staff on the Pathway team, someone from APEX’s Experiential Learning & Community Engagement Office, Wooster alumni working in the career field, and/or your own connections in the field.
3. Complete the EL Approval Form & gain official approval from your Pathway faculty/staff team.

During the Course:

1. Complete your EL experience (can be done before or during PATH 330).
2. Upload your EL Verification Form.
3. Submit your post-EL reflection.

PATH 44002: Final Reflection – HLTH

When you’ve completed all the elements of the Pathway – PATH 110, 220, 330 and your chosen topical courses – you will reflect on your total Pathways experience with questions like: What did the topical courses teach you that are relevant to this career area? What are the career lessons from your experiential learning experience(s)? How did your perceptions of this career area and your place in it shift over time and where have they landed for now? When you step back and look at the bigger picture of your Pathways experience, in what ways are you stronger and more prepared to take your next career steps?

You will present your reflections publicly, which both encourages significant reflection and benefits those who are coming behind you on their own career journeys. Generally, students will do this by presenting a poster at a college event.

Other, smaller, components of the PATH 440 course include:

1. Update your resume to be career ready.
2. Create or update your LinkedIn profile.
3. Complete a few short end-of-Pathways surveys.

Students in the Public Health Pathway are required to complete two (2) EL opportunities.

The purpose of these experiences is to “try out” the type of career you’re interested in. This allows you the opportunity to experience it first hand and reflect on components of the work you enjoy and don’t enjoy, giving you important insights to use as you consider whether this type of career is, in fact, a good fit for you or whether you might pursue something slightly (or totally) different. The experience should also offer you the chance to network in your career area of interest and ask purposeful questions of professionals in the field.

The first EL experience will need to be completed as part of the PATH 33002 process (see the details in the PATH Courses section above). This experience must be 45+ hours of authentic career experience.

The second EL experience will not need to go through the whole PATH 33002 process and may not be as lengthy an experience. Often specific EL-credentialed courses can count for the second EL.

Your EL opportunities range from specific classes to volunteer experiences to off-campus study programs. The following list is illustrative of the types of EL opportunities that students can pursue along the pathway, but students can also develop and propose to the Public Health Pathway Committee additional EL opportunities that deepen their understanding of public health, and allow them to explore public health related careers.

Note: an experience might technically “count” as an EL for this Pathway but not be a good fit for you because it doesn’t help you explore and experience careers you’re interested in. It’s strongly recommended that you focus on experiences related to your specific career interests.

Possibilities include:

• APEX Fellowships
• Participate in the Health Coaches Program
• Volunteer at Viola Startzman Clinic
• Shadow medical and health professionals in Wooster, Wayne County, or elsewhere
• Work as a Peer Wellness Educator for the Wellness Center on campus
• Work in the Training Room of the Scot Center
• Off Campus Study with a public health focus and ideally a career experience such as an internship, job shadowing, or volunteering.
• Some certified EL courses (typically for the 2nd EL)
• Leadership in student clubs or organizations including Pre-Health Club, Minorities in STEM, First Responders, Colleges against Cancer, Sexual Respect Coalition, Wooster Volunteer Network, and others (typically for the 2nd EL)

Required Training

• None Currently