For most University of South Florida undergraduates, spring break equates to road trips to the beach, mountains and everywhere in between. However, twelve students majoring in public health decided not to take off. Instead, the juniors and seniors took on an 8:30am-5pm, Monday through Friday course that put them face-to-face with public health.

“The overall experience blew any expectations away! This experience was eye opening, educational, intense and most of all fun! We all seemed to bond with one another while learning together. It was a very refreshing change from the in class experience,” exclaims Michelle Casten, a mother of six from Land O’Lakes.

For two years and rolling, the Public Health Seminar: Bus Tour charted a course that stopped at community agencies devoted to public health. Students enrolled in the class ride about an hour each way on public buses in their quest to see public health in action.

The Wellness USF tour stop put students in the hot seat as they received blood pressure screenings, body fat analysis, and visually experienced various levels of intoxication with beer goggles. Health educators also addressed safer sex, responsible alcohol consumption and counseling services.

Students were instructed to high-five each other to demonstrate the impact of being visually impaired from intoxication

Sweetwater Organic Farm in Tampa was the setting and community gardening was the subject matter for undergraduates on the bus tour.  In between weeding gardens, planting lettuce, picking veggies, and feeding pigs, staff educated students on the differences between organic vs. non-organic, the impact of pesticides and herbicides, and the positive footprint that buying local has on the environment, like reduced transportation costs and pollution. After a full morning’s work, the group was rewarded with a fresh salad comprised of items they picked earlier in the day.

Stephanie Millan feeds a pig at Sweetwater Organic Farm in Tampa

Casten, a graduating senior, converted her entire family on site. “I’m bringing my children back to the farm with my parents too. I want to start eating organic foods and living a different lifestyle geared toward health and nutrition. Teaching my children about organic food will be a big step in changing out the junk food to more nutritious foods. We must start with our youth.”

Mandy Chan, Diana Caicedo and Cesar Marin weed an organic garden

Noses flared at the Pinellas County Waste-to-Energy Facility. There, the undergraduates witnessed the process by which garbage is converted to energy and drove to the top of a landfill comprised of all types of waste.  According to staff, 11 of the country’s 87 waste-to-energy facilities are in Florida. Tampa Bay is fortunate to be one of the eleven facilities.

Ms Pam London-Exner, MPH (EOH,’93), a lab manager with Veolia Water in Tampa, guided the students through the Tampa Bay Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant.

“I was surprised at how quickly the water facility in Brandon treats their water. It takes 45 minutes to process surface water to drinkable water for the county. And, the difference between the before and after was unbelievable,” said Mandy Chan, a senior from Sarasota.

Other stops on the 2012 tour included the malaria labs at the Global Health Interdisciplinary Research Building, the prosthetic lab at Shriners Hospital for Children, the labor and delivery ward at Florida Hospital Tampa Bay, as well as the James A. Haley V.A. Hospital, Hillsborough County Health Department, Orient Road Jail and a tattoo parlor in Ybor City.

“Some the sites we went to I didn’t think would be considered public health. It is everywhere and all around us. But, when focusing on a specific thing, it is eye-opening!” shared Mandy Chan.

By week’s end, the public health tourists were mentally and physically exhausted, but in a good way.

“We are used to having resources at our fingertips and expect that things will work properly,” said Alison Oberne MA, MPH (HE,’09), CPH, an undergraduate instructor in the College of Public Health. She and June Lake, director of human resources in the college, were instructors for the bus tour.   “It’s when things go awry—like water not coming on when you turn on the faucet—that we begin to question the source of our conveniences.”

“I want to be a part of the solution not just sit back and be part of the problems within public health. I feel more empowered after going on this tour and I want my children to learn as much as they can about their environment and how they can contribute,” said Michelle Casten.

Written by Natalie D. Preston, College of Public Health. Photos by Alison Oberne, College of Public Health