Undergraduate Academic Affairs

May 20, 2015

Snapshot from Beyond the Selfie

Audrey Lawrence

The Husky Union Building (HUB) during the 2015 Beyond the Selfie: Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership was full of energized students and a breadth of interpretations of service and leadership. The annual event showcases nearly 200 UW undergraduates in poster sessions and oral breakout sessions who develop their leadership skills while committing their time, skills and hard work in service to their communities.

Portrait of Linda Yang and Karen Virta

Karen Virta and Linda Yang present their posters at the 2015 Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership

Senior Karen Virta, an early childhood and family studies major, presented her poster “Investing in Children” an exploration on developing a strong foundation for young learners. The process of completing this project helped her deepen her knowledge and skills, despite nearly 20 years experience working as a preschool teacher.

“Video taping myself teaching was a pivotal point of this project and was not something I had done before; watching myself  and reflecting was key to my learning,” says Virta.

Presenting her poster “Free Diabetes and Hypertension Screening for Seattle,” senior Linda Yang shared her year-long project organizing free screenings for Neighborcare Health, a provider of healthcare to low income and uninsured families and individuals. Hosting 15 different clinics across Seattle neighborhoods, Yang, a microbiology major who plans to apply to medical school, recalls how one woman learned she was at-risk for diabetes in the screening and began making different lifestyle choices right away.

“Seeing how your project impacted someone’s life is a very powerful thing,” she says.

Across projects, themes and disciplines, the undergraduates participating in the Celebration this year clearly looked beyond themselves to focus on the bigger picture around them.