We asked the Swearer Center Peer Advisors about their most memorable engagements through the Center. Their answers may surprise you!

Maya Faulstich-Hon:

1. Growing Bugs in Kenya
   "With support from the Swearer Center's Social Innovation Fellowship, I worked on a venture that explored food security, overfishing and aquaculture along with a friend and peer from Kenya. We spent the summer in Nairobi learning about fish farming in the country and growing a type of insect called the black soldier fly larvae as a sustainable protein base for fishmeal." 

2. Cooking Dinner for Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza
   "During Winter Break Providence, we spent all day taking the RIPTA around Rhode Island to meet with community partners, practitioners and stakeholders who dedicate their work to addressing a particular social issue. In the evenings, all 40 of us reconvened in the basement of Beneficent Church to cook dinner, play music and share stories. One night, Mayor Elorza came to talk and joined us for dinner!"

Dorothy Jiang:

1. Bridging Concentration & Studies with Community
   "My community engagement work with Samaritans RI, a local crisis hotline and one of the Swearer Center's community partners, relates directly to my independent concentration in Intersectional Mental Health. Working with Samaritans allow me to integrate my interests and passions to engage with the community in a constructive and fulfilling way that benefits the organization, the people who call the hotline and me."
    
2. Finding Community On Campus
   "Swearer Center staff members are incredibly knowledgeable and willing to connect students to opportunities that relate to their interests and goals. Betsy Shimberg, the Director of Student Development at Swearer, connected me to Project LETS, a mental health advocacy organization with a chapter on campus, during my first semester at Brown. I have found community and solidarity within LETS, and it has informed the way I think and speak about mental health and illness, making it one of the most important things I do here."

Sam Reidt:

1. Networking with Alumni & Practitioners
   "After volunteering with Generation Citizen since my first semester at Brown, I got to take a class with the Swearer Center's 2017 Social Entrepreneur in Residence, Generation Citizen Founder/CEO Scott Warren '09."
    
2. Creating Pathways Between Programs
   "I've used lessons in problem definition and structuring from Challenge Change Action in my work with programs like Brown SAT Prep to work in more schools, provide improved tutor support and develop better relationships with Providence Public Schools."