Alexandra is the newest Site Coordinator in the LIFT West Philadelphia office. She is a 2012 Magna Cum Laude graduate from Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in Public Health. Alexandra was born and raised in Philadelphia and has a vested interest in giving back to the city and the communities that helped her grow and flourish.
Over her time spent at Temple University, Alexandra has developed a rap sheet of service work including peer teaching for a service learning course titled ‘Ethnicity, Culture, and Health’, working with Project S.H.I.N.E to address health literacy issues in immigrant populations, a research assistantship on a community based participatory research project to bring a community wellness venture to Southeast Philadelphia, developing a national agenda for addressing health concerns in prison populations as well as social justice concerns after release, and founding the Temple University Preconception Peer Educators to address infant mortality in the African American community.
By far, her most rewarding position is her evolution at LIFT. Alexandra started as an intern in the North Philadelphia office. Being a public health student, seniors are required to complete 400 hours of onsite internship hours at a public health agency. Traditionally, LIFT is not a public health agency, but Alexandra advocated to her superiors and broke ground making LIFT a new internship site for public health students. “The way I see it, everything you do impacts your mental, spiritual, emotional, or physical health – either in a good way, or a bad way. If it’s good – pass that knowledge onto someone else to better them. If it’s bad, pass that knowledge onto someone else as a lesson learned. If people come into a LIFT office looking for basic computer skills to furnish a better resume, to get a better job, to be able to afford food for themselves and their family – then that is public health” As an intern Alexandra started to realize just how connected all people really are. “There are very few separations between myself and the clients I have served. I have to come to realize that all people have an obligation to learn from one another and teach one another”. LIFT exemplifies this idea by trying to close the gap between service provider and service recipient.
Luckily, Alexandra’s love of LIFT transcended beyond her undergraduate career and turned into her full time job. “I feel less like I am working, and more like I am constantly learning. Social injustice cannot be taught from a textbook, nor can compassion, empathy, or how to lend a helping hand. LIFT is the best teacher I have had so far in terms of that”. Alexandra is a 2013 Masters of Social Work candidate at Temple University.