News & Announcements


September/October 2013

The Philadelphia Ujima Social Media, Health and Leadership Internship

Philadelphia Ujima of Drexel College of Medicine just finished its second year of a now annual summer social media internship for High School students in the Philadelphia area. The internship is designed to improve teen health information available today by involving teens themselves in crafting the messages.

The interns in the program determine a health topic that they feel is important to teens today; this year’s interns chose topics such as sexual health, violence, and nutrition. The interns use their topic to create a final project that has a social media element (video, infographic, poem, song). The projects are then promoted on sites such as facebook , so their friends and others can learn from and share their messages.

During the 6-week internship, students develop skills in research development, computer technology and health communication. This helps the interns to understand the many facets of their topic so they can create a comprehensive project and advocate for their health issue.  Philadelphia is very proud of the hard work and professionalism that the interns put into their amazing projects.


2nd Annual Health Day Hosted by Zion Baptist Church
September 28th marked the 2nd annual community health day hosted by Zion Baptist Church of Ardmore in partnership with Philadelphia Ujima. This was the culmination event after the weeklong celebration of Healthy Aging Week at the Center for Positive Aging in Lower Merion (PALM). Community member’s came for fun, music, and most importantly to receive interactive resources for improving their health.

The morning began with an energizing exercise session followed by an informative discussion on diabetes that was presented by fourth year Drexel medical student, Ashley Brown. Young people were given the option to attend a talk focused on goal management and getting where you want to be in life. Later, the timely topic affordable healthcare was addressed, as the community is preparing for the impending healthcare changes. The day ended with a health question and answer session to open the floor to topics that were no covered during the other events of the day.

Those who attended thoroughly enjoyed the experience and took a lot from it. Participants were able to come work together and build off of each other’s enthusiasm for individual and community health improvements. Philadelphia Ujima is proud to see this event continue for a second year and looks forward to its continual growth for years to come. 


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