Stories from the Field
On a chilly December afternoon, Harvard Chan students, staff and faculty gathered to listen to Stories from the Field, a Community Engaged Learning@Chan event hosted by the Office of Field Education and Practice. Through two sessions of lightning talks, e-posterboard presentations and tabletop conversations, Rose Service Learning fellows and MPH students with community engaged practicum projects shared personal stories and lessons learned from their time in the field.
At Harvard Chan, community engaged learning serves an important role in public health education, offering students an opportunity to explore and exercise ethical and authentic engagement with community partners and stakeholders. Based on a service learning framework, students engage in their applied practice experience and research endeavors through a process of listening to learn, self-reflection, and attention to contexts and social systems – critical skills in public health practice and leadership development.
Storytelling is a timeless practice that crosses geographical and cultural bounds. Stories help us to make meaning of our experiences. They teach us. Shifting our gaze from an academic lens toward the people and places we learned from and about, the exchange of stories is central to community engaged learning.
E-posterboards served as the essential backdrop to stories from the field.
Here are some stories that we heard–
Hervet Randriamady shared the personal meaning of returning home to Madagascar to partner with Omena in co-facilitating workshops to equip non-specialist mental health workers to bridge the workforce gap. “The experience”, he said, “reinforced my commitment to developing culturally appropriate mental health tools and programs that address the needs of underserved populations in low-resource settings.”
Daria Lisus who worked with Socios En Salud, reflected on how her limited Spanish initially relegated her to playing with children while her teammates conducted focus groups with the parents. Yet her time with the children became a window into the strength and depth of the community’s trust in Socios En Salud. It reminded her that her team’s project rested on decades of trust-building work on the ground.
Sirad Hassan recounted her experience collaborating with the Muslim Women Support Center in Perth, Australia. Participating in Refugee Week events and hosting a maternal health workshop placed her in direct contact with the lived realities of refugee and migrant families. “This proximity”, she shared, “enabled me to move beyond abstract understanding of service barriers to witness firsthand how gaps in health literacy, cultural responsiveness, and coordination shape everyday challenges.”
Stella Zhang described how being in the field reshaped her thinking about health systems research and digital innovation. Working with HAIVN in Vietnam, she shared how medical protocols and priorities differ across contexts, and any solution must be community-driven. “The experience strengthened my commitment to advancing health systems research in ways that center local knowledge, responsiveness, and collaboration.”
These are just a handful of the many stories shared around makeshift campfires and over sips of hot cocoa. While the settings spanned across diverse local and global locations, the common theme emerged: deep learning happens by getting close to people in communities, taking part in their work, and being of service – no matter how small the contribution. You can read more stories from students who have returned from the field.
Learn more about the Rose Service Learning Fellowship and peruse the learning modules we have just published on the Community Engaged Learning (CEL) Framework.
