Paris's Pals

In 2016, I started my organization, Paris’s Pals, a community service-based organization that I created to aid school-aged kids who do not have the resources or connections to find volunteer opportunities. Paris’s Pals began when I realized how difficult it was to find community service opportunities that permitted young adults to volunteer. My main goal was to provide students in high school the opportunity to meet volunteer requirements for scholarships, but it grew into something much greater. I have been able to implement Paris’s Pals in both my hometown, Jacksonville Florida, and in Gainesville as well. Since the beginning, I have helped students obtain thousands of community service hours through my initiatives and organizations like the Ronald McDonald House, Children’s Miracle Network, Rethreaded, the Boys and Girls Club, and more.

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While in high school, I was fortunate to complete an internship at my school's healthcare clinic, where I saw first-hand how vital school-based healthcare can be. After interning in the clinic, I was awarded a scholarship through Wolfson Children's Hospital to attend the National School-Based Health Care Convention in Washington, D.C., representing my high school nationally. During the visit, I had the opportunity to march on Capitol Hill and speak with Senator Marco Rubio's staff to advocate for H.R. 2075, the School-Based Health Centers Reauthorization Act that supports school-based health care across the United States. This experience provided me with the opportunity to be a part of advocacy efforts to reduce health disparities and allowed me to gain extensive knowledge about policy development. Furthermore, this experience increased my passion and interest in ensuring everyone has equitable access to healthcare.

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Over the last year, I have also served as an undergraduate research assistant for the Trust-Reconciliation and Mindfulness study, an NIH-funded research project dedicated to studying Health Disparities in Black Maternal Health. The primary goal of the study was to identify the critical components of trust required by Black Women to build a visible expression of trust with their reproductive healthcare providers. As a research assistant, I learned invaluable skills for my future career, including setting up community advisory meetings, note-taking and transcribing conversations for multiple focus groups, and assisting the Principal Investigator in thematic analysis. This study provided me with a firsthand opportunity to hear black women in Gainesville explain their experiences with reproductive healthcare providers.

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Leveraging my skill set, personal experiences, research background, and internship expertise, I have successfully executed the second phase of my Paris's Pals program. Phase two of Paris's Pals includes a multifaceted approach including prioritizing community engagement, partnerships, and advocacy first, and most important. My platform Paris’s Pals, allows me to meaningfully engage students and volunteers across Florida, focusing my volunteer efforts on communities most affected by health inequities. Through my title as Miss University of Florida, I have already connected with various organizations to support mobile screenings in low-income communities, community gardens, food pantries, and local food desserts in Gainesville. The local changes I make can provide case studies and evidence of success which can set the stage for state or national change in the future.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to changes in healthcare administration as there has been an additional focus on health promotion and disease prevention. My career in health administration will provide me with the unique opportunity to be a part of the shift in health administration. In particular, I hope to obtain a management position that allows me to become an innovative leader that develops solutions to address health disparities with the ultimate goal of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare systems.