![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sarah-Johnson.jpg\")
<\/a>Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n
And following her first two years as a UToledo student, Johnson also realized that her original choice of a major, biology\/pre-med, \u201cwasn\u2019t for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d had a real interest in public health topics since I was a teenager, and I knew I wanted a career helping other people,\u201d Johnson said, \u201cbut I didn\u2019t realize that I could combine the two and make that my profession until I began researching the other majors offered at the University before my junior year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMajoring in public health in the College of Health and Human Services has given me the opportunity to develop my specific skills to help make lasting change, and actively encourages passion and empathy in its students.\u201d<\/p>\n
She credits Dr. Joseph Dake, professor and chair of the UToledo School of Population Health, for fostering her excitement for her public health major and its career opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis positive attitude and encouragement in the classroom made me look forward to going to class, even in a pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dake is equally complimentary.<\/p>\n
\u201cSarah was an excellent student in my class and her passion for public health was evident from our class conversations and from her writing for class assignments,\u201d he said. \u201cI know that she will make a positive impact on her community.\u00a0Students like Sarah are what make teaching at UToledo so awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also a student in the Jesup Scott Honors College, Johnson took advantage of the college\u2019s Growing Green Summer Fellowship last summer as an intern with Toledo GROWs, a local organization that operates a working farm and helps establish and maintain community gardens city-wide.<\/p>\n
Johnson described it as a \u201ccrash course in agriculture and farm maintenance\u201d that nurtured her newfound passions for alleviating food insecurity, bringing green spaces into the city environment and giving people the opportunity to improve their own lives and communities in the form of food.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has the right to healthful and readily available food, but unfortunately in this country, even in this city, that is just not the reality,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIn addition to advocating for large-scale change to the systems by which we get our food, I think that community outreach like what is done at Toledo GROWs can go a long way to improving life for many disadvantaged people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am extremely lucky that I found myself at Toledo GROWs, and I count myself even luckier that I get to continue there in a part-time position. I\u2019m proud to contribute to a cause I believe in, in my own small way.\u201d<\/p>\n
But her biggest accomplishment at UToledo, Johnson said, is addressing long-standing mental health issues. She said she has struggled with depression and anxiety since middle school, but that those issues went unaddressed and undiagnosed until her freshman year at the University.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were days when I couldn\u2019t leave my room, let alone go to class or participate in any clubs or activities,\u201d she said. \u201cThree years later, I still have bad days, but I can see a future for myself now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never could have improved without help \u2014 I can\u2019t thank my family or the staff at the UToledo Counseling Center enough for everything they\u2019ve done for me over the past three years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before she graduates, Johnson said she has plans to become more involved in campus activities and in community outreach. She also plans to attend graduate school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope to use my skills learned from getting my public health degree to advocate for better living conditions for all,\u201d she said, \u201cand to develop health intervention strategies that more heavily involve members of the target communities and help amplify their voices.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sarah Johnson interned last summer with Toledo GROWs, which operates a working farm and helps establish and maintain community gardens city-wide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":65073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,36,1,71,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65068"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65068"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65099,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65068\/revisions\/65099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>