Dana Humphrey
Students experience campus issues in a unique and personal way, and learning more about their concerns, challenges, and how they interact with campus practices and policies can help decision-makers address these issues more effectively. In early 2021, the Mary Christie Institute, together with Active Minds, launched the Fellows Program, a new initiative intended to highlight college students’ perspectives about the issues that we cover – mental wellbeing, equity and inclusion, sexual assault, and more.
Active Minds is a nonprofit dedicated to raising mental health awareness via peer-to-peer dialogue. With its direction and input, the Mary Christie Institute chose two inaugural Fellows who will each serve a one-year term. Throughout the year, they each will contribute writing pieces to the Mary Christie Quarterly on topics of their choice, and will be featured on MCI’s podcast, the Quadcast.
MCI is pleased to introduce the 2021 Fellows, Amanda Saleh and Tesia Shi. Impressive and insightful young people, each bringing unique personal backgrounds and experiences to their writing.
Amanda Saleh is a fourth-year student at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She is double majoring in Psychology and Philosophy and minoring in Journalism and Screen Studies. On campus, Amanda has organized around mental health, education justice, university funding equity, and more. Amanda enjoys writing poetry, reading books on religion and spirituality, and spending time in nature. Amanda’s Spring MCQ article, Virtual Reality: How students are coping with the difficulties of remote learning, can be found here.
Tesia Shi is a sophomore Psychology and Neurobiology double major student at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is passionate about improving student mental wellness and developing early interventions, and serves as a chat specialist for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. In her free time, she loves eating bagels and taking her sister’s cat on walks. Tesia’s spring MCQ article, The Importance of Cultural Competency within Survivor Outreach and Advocacy Resources, can be found here.
