2006 Intern

Project title: Healing Lodge Publicity, HIV/AIDS project research assistant, Focus Group Organizer for Cancer Survivors

· School/program/major? UNC-Chapel Hill/ Biology

· Expected graduation date and degree? Spring 2007/ Biology B.S.

· Where did you grow up? Grew up in New York but moved to North Carolina when I was 14

· Who have been the primary role models in your life? My parents

· Where you see yourself in 10 years? Hopefully doing something in the health field

· Tribe and/or organizations that you worked with this summer:

Boys and Girls Club

The Healing Lodge

Lumbee Tribe

· Brief description of your project(s) this summer? Healing Lodge Internship

· Description of one person you met this summer that models positive work being done in American Indian communities to address health disparities?

Rev Bruce Swett- humble, compassionate, intelligent, motivated, and well respected in the community

· One major hurdle that you encountered in your work this summer?

Learning to adapt to the slow paced lifestyle in Pembroke.

· Something you learned about yourself this summer?

I really enjoy having a lot of things to do and always trying to achieve a new goal even though during the last school year a complained about being too stressed out and too busy.

· Something you learned about American Indian communities this summer? The Lumbee are a very dynamic Indian community. They are not living in an isolate environment like I thought they would be when I first started NHI. Almost everyone I met while I was in Pembroke had a family member that was in the military and everyone was very patriotic. The Lumbee and the other tribes in Robeson county strike me as being just as much American as they are Indian.

· What advice/recommendation would you give to future NHI volunteers? I would say to be very flexible and able to adapt to a new situation. Most of all just be friendly and open to try new things.