Shepherd Student: Alice Shih
Name: Alice Shih
Hometown: Austin, TX
Major: Economics, Shepherd Program, University Scholars
Where you interned: Housing Works in Washington, DC
Capstone Topic: “The Invisible Problem: Malnutrition in the U.S. and Its Cognitive, Physical, and Psychosocial Effects in the Critical Developmental Years”
Community Service/Involvement:
· Campus Kitchens Project (Student Intern)
· W&L Student Consulting (Project Leader)
· Shepherd Program Advisory Board
· Peer Counselor
· W&L Repertory Dance Company (President)
· Varsity Equestrian Team
Reflection:
The Shepherd Poverty Program at Washington and Lee allowed me to realize that my passion for “doing good” must be joined with rigorous examination of a problem. To implement my classroom knowledge, I worked as a federal advocate intern at Housing Works, a community-based organization that fights the twin crises of HIV/AIDS and homelessness. I worked alongside people living with HIV/AIDS who had been fired, disowned, and thrown out of their homes because of their status. Unable to be passive about such blatant discrimination, I created anti-stigma campaigns to be carried out by youths across the nation. In addition, we demanded Congress be urgent in reauthorizing Ryan White CARE Act, which had expired a year earlier, leaving one million Americans living with HIV without healthcare and medications. I am proud to say that the act was signed into law four months later, including our main point of spending 75% of funding on core medical services. It was empowering to help give these people a voice that society had supposed for so long.
Back on campus, I worked with another marginalized population: the hungry. I was part of a group of students who founded the Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) at W&L, an organization that recycles unserved food from dining services and distributes meals to the community. I acted as the student intern and coordinated 450 volunteers to prepare and deliver 12,000 meals to the community. Moved by seeing the struggles of children, abused women, and mentally challenged adults, I decided to integrate my experience with my education by writing my capstone paper on malnutrition in the U.S. While I knew poor nutrition produced many limits in physical and social development, my research has opened my eyes to the severity, duration and complexity of these problems. |
