Camille Gonzalez, a master’s student with a concentration in maternal and child health at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is a program facilitator for the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona.

Congratulations to Amanda Wilson who won first place in the Graduate Oral Presentations Ecology, Environmental, and Earth Sciences category at the 2018 Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM in Washington, D.C. in February.

Amanda will graduate in May with a master of science in environmental health sciences. After graduation, she will continue her studies at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health as a doctoral student in the EHS program. 

Amanda Wilson, MS student, environmental health sciences

Miami native Camille Gonzalez works part-time as a program facilitator for the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona while pursuing a master’s degree with a concentration in maternal and child health at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

Gonzalez graduated with a bachelor of science in sociology from Florida International University in Miami before moving to Tucson and graduate school at the UA.

She can trace her interest in maternal and child health back to high school when her younger brother was born. She remembers the struggles her single mother faced during pregnancy. 

Gonzalez cites the high rates of infant mortality and morbidity in the U.S. as a public health issue she wants to tackle which led her to the MPH program at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health.

She enjoys working with the Girl Scouts and the opportunity to apply the public health skills she is learning.

“I feel like I’m making a difference in the lives of the middle school girls I work with,” said Gonzalez.

One of the Girl Scout troupes she works with meets at Doolen Middle School in Tucson. This particular troupe is part of a social impact program for middle school girls and it’s free. 

“The girls meet after school. They don’t need to travel to get to the meeting because it’s at their school. This is a big deal because some of the girls don’t even know who’s going to pick them up after school every day because their parents are working so hard. This program allows the girls to participate without having to pay,” said Gonzalez.

Read more about Gonzalez and her work with the Doolen Middle School Girl Scout Troup in this article that recently appeared in the Arizona Daily Star: http://bit.ly/2Ef6jM8