>> What is the Jefferson Public Citizens program?

>> JPC is a program

that combines academic research and public service.

So we have to answer a defined research question.

We also have to make sure

that whatever we're doing constitutes some kind of service

to the community and in which we are working.

>> It's a wonderful opportunity to combine what you're learning

in the classroom with --

>> Community engagement.

Yeah in the larger community of --

and it's great because you can engage a community anywhere

from like Charlottesville all the way to like somewhere

in Africa or Europe or South America.

[ Birds Chirping]

>> One of my projects was in South Africa

so an international project on water filtration

and community engagement

with community feedback, things like that.

Another project I was fortunate to be on was right here

in Charlottesville working with a local community partner,

Habitat for Humanity, and working on storm water issues.

I've also been fortunate to advise a couple of projects

as a graduate student mentor.

And they've also worked abroad in Nicaragua and in here also

with community partners in Charlottesville

and even Madison House.

>> [Inaudible] said it's like really great

because you can take kind of maybe something

that you're interested in the classroom

and maybe it's not part of your major or something

but it's something you want to pursue a little bit deeper

and you can kind of do that with this program

in such like an in-depth way.

>> And because you can tailor like that you can pick something

that you're really passionate about which makes the work done

in JPC a lot of times superior

to maybe other service organizations you can join

because it's something that you feel really strongly about

and you're working with a community partner

that feels equally as strongly about it.

A faculty advisor who's well versed in it and it just makes

for a really excellent environment to do great service.

[ Traffic Sounds]

>> I would say the best part to me,

really the most exciting part was after we had done

about a week and a half of data collection and analysis,

at the end of that second week, we got to present our findings

to the board of this hospital that was a part

of the Inner Mongolia Medical College.

That whole experience of sitting across the table from this board

with our translators speaking for us and just talking.

Talking about all of our findings and really talking

about the importance of all this data collection

that we had done and made sense of.

And there's that moment when we were all, you know, on camera,

being recorded, kind of transmitting these ideas

to this culture on the other side of the world,

that was an experience I'll never forget.

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