April 28, 2025
First-year students recognized for research into the population health of Seattle neighborhoods
The University of Washington First Year Program’s Communities & Research (CoRe) project is an opportunity for incoming first-year students at the University of Washington to learn more about population health and its manifestations within communities. Since 2018, the First-year Interest Group (FIG) program, in partnership with the Population Health Initiative, has assigned the CoRe project to first-year students to examine various factors that impact the health and well-being of neighborhoods in Seattle. Students work in groups to analyze the assets and challenges the neighborhood possesses. Each group conducts initial background research, visits their neighborhood as a team and creates a final project showcasing their findings of the neighborhood.
“I am continually energized to discover the impacts of the CoRe project. Not only does it require collaboration among new students, it is a prime example of cross-campus collaboration, as staff and faculty from Population Health, FYP, the Library and other areas come together to examine, revise and promote this work,” shared Emily Kolby, Director of First Year Curriculum and Engagement in First Year Programs.
For the fourth year in a row, First Year Programs and the Population Health Initiative have partnered to recognize the CoRe projects that go above and beyond in their exploration of population health.
“Each and every one of us has been influenced by population health in profound ways,” said Brandon Spooner, a three-time FIG leader. “The CoRe project invites students to visit a local Seattle neighborhood and examine how various population health factors affect the overall well-being of the community. Each student has the opportunity to choose a factor that interests them and, alongside their team, analyze its impact. They then come together as a group to assess the collective health of the community. This combo of collaboration and exploration is what makes the CoRe project a FIG-favorite!”
From more than 100 FIG group submissions for top project, the FYP office selected 20 projects to comprise the group of Top CoRe Awards. Members from each winning group have since received a CoRe Award certificate in recognition of their outstanding research efforts and their project highlighted on the Top CoRe Awards web page. The winning projects are highlighted in the following table.
| Project | Names of students |
| Capitol Hill Poster | Aiden Cook, Amelia Blake, Isabelle Aramburo, Logan Jones, Shae Bentley |
| Capitol Hill Website | Lesley Lopez-Covarrubias, Madison Smith, Casania Olvera, Bernie Del Rosario, Joey Kyne |
| Columbia City Poster | Jason Tang, Gerardo Gonzalez, Ryan Pham, Adel Shahbain |
| Capitol Hill Video | Tiffany Yanez, Shragvi Sunil, Christian Michael Basilio, Alex Censale, Sophia Elizabeth Broili |
| Green Lake Poster | Camilia Santacruz, Elizabeth Manning, Michelle Chan, Rachel Nelson |
| Fremont Poster | Siqi Chang, Mina Chou, Miu Mieno, Chris Wang, Shawn Zhao |
| International District Newsletter | Rithika Madey, Sara Mesele, Kelis Hightower, Shreya Madhavan, Aarya Bhoite |
| West Seattle Poster | Vishali Sharma, Addisu Debebe, Anton Block, Lily Hsu |
| International District Newsletter | Alexandra Marley Dammand, Nora Giboney, Siyu Li, Tess Rosa-Davies |
| International District Poster | Montana LaBarge, Jessica Pha, Jaymeson Woods, Yoni Fitsum |
| West Seattle Poster | Emily Verceles, Alisa Pim, Marisa Hoxha |
| Ballard Magazine | Mara Brogan, Esme Ford, Natalie Eckroth |
| International District Video | Micah Bashungwa, Karson Rasmussen, Olivia Asmann, Marissa Mahler |
| SODO Poster | Julia Rose Bontemps, Ava Ravenna Charlton, Germery Chiang, Varshini Sridhar, Veronica Sanchez |
| Capitol Hill Website | Katie Bulis, Miriam Cooksey, Gideon Hall, Soren Logghe |
| International District Poster | Eva Harrington, Jazmin Rodrigo, Apollo Russon, Linnea Kishiyama, Ethan Barber |
| Fremont Video | Aeden Grandinetti, JT Rican, Michelle Budd, Nancy Nguyen, Nova Raupp, Ruby Wu |
| Capitol Hill Video | James Jinguji, Raya Rehmat, Josie Huang, Annabelle Loge |
| International District Website | Lucy Joy Aitken, Julia Turner Winget, Ella Marie Ryter, Andreea Maria Coroi, Shayla L Sutliff |
| Westlake Website | Drew Kim, Riona Sheils, Ella Ancheta, Sharbani Patnaik |
The Top CoRe Award site is part of the combined efforts of FYP and the Population Health Initiative to promote interdisciplinary collaboration on population health-related research and projects.