2021 Winning Submissions

We are delighted to announce the results of our 2021 Open Call, which was held from March through May 2021 to engage the community in an open dialogue about providing Comprehensive Sex Education as a component of the Family Life Education curriculum for school-age youth in local schools and communities.

Results

We received 34 submissions from 37 individuals, including school-age youth, parents, teachers and other community members.   

All submissions were screened for eligibility by the organizing team. The 34 submissions were evaluated by a group of 18 independent judges who represented diverse sub-populations, including clinicians, researchers, teachers/faculty, middle school and high school students, parents, and other community members.

Each submission was scored by a team of six judges, with a member from each sub-population. An average score from the judging teams was used to rank the submissions for prizes using the judging criteria.

Prizes Awarded:

  • 6 gold medals ($200 each)
  • 11 silver medals ($100 each)
  • 5 bronze medals ($50 each)   

The voices and ideas identified through this Open Call are truly exceptional and powerful.

Winning Submissions

The voices and ideas identified through this Open Call are truly exceptional and powerful! We would like to send out a big thank you to our volunteer steering committee, judging team, and everyone who participated or contributed to this effort.

  • Anna Brush, Research Analyst, The Lewin Group
  • Stacey Carpenter, EVMS medical student
  • Marissa Galicia-Castillo, MD; EVMS clinician/faculty member
  • Lauren Gilgannon, EVMS medical student
  • Brooke Hooper, MD; EVMS clinician/faculty member
  • Hannah James, EVMS medical student
  • Janiya Maull, local public high school student
  • Bella Nash, local public middle school student
  • Mario Parker, local public middle school student
  • Yolanda Penn, local public school teacher and parent
  • Darrick Person, local public school teacher and parent
  • Patrick Regester, local public school teacher and parent
  • Essence Shaw, local public high school student
  • Yiying Shen, PhD; Norfolk State University faculty member
  • Taylor Wallace, EVMS medical student
  • Liyun Wu, PhD; Norfolk State University faculty member
  • Julie Yi, EVMS medical student
  • Liang Yu, PhD; EVMS faculty member

EVMS Faculty, Staff and Students

  • Tracy Fu, PhD, Associate Professor, Community Health and Research Division, EVMS Pediatrics Department
  • Kelli England, PhD, Professor and Director, Community Health and Research Division, EVMS Pediatrics Department
  • Matthew Herman, MPH and CHES, Associate Director, EVMS’ Brock Institute for Global and Community Health
  • Amy Paulson, MPH, AE-C, Director, Consortium for Infant and Child Health (CINCH); Instructor, EVMS/CHR
  • Natasha K. Sriraman, MD, MPH, FAAP, FABM, Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School
  • Kyzwana Caves, MD, FAAP, AAHIVS, Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Assistant Professor, Eastern Virginia Medical School
  • Gay Goldsmith, MPH, MBA, EVMS/CHR Teen Health 360 Program Coordinator
  • Rebecca Slimak, MPH, EVMS/CHR Teen Health 360 Program Assistant
  • Lauren Truwit, MS, EVMS MD Student and Teen Health 360 Program Assistant
  • Tram Phung, BS, EVMS MD Student and Teen Health 360 Program Assistant
  • Julie Z. Yi, EVMS MD Student and Teen Health 360 Program volunteer

Representative from Program Partners

  • Darrick Person, Senior Coordinator, Health, Safety and Physical Education at Norfolk Public School (NPS)
  • Madeline Kapur, MPH, MSW, Adolescent Health Coordinator, Office of Family Health Services, Virginia Department of Health
  • Melissa Meadows, MPH, MAT, Education Director, Virginia League for Planned Parenthood
  • Hongyi "Michael" Wu, PhD, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Old Dominion University
  • Linda Bennington, PhD, College of Health Sciences, Old Dominion University
  • Yuying Shen, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Norfolk State University
  • Merry Jiang, Sophomore at the George Washington University’s School of Public Health (growing up in Virginia Beach)

Crowdsourcing Experts at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and SESH Global

  • Joseph Tucker: MD, PhD, MA Associate professor, UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, Director, UNC China Program, Founder, SESH Global and Champion of Crowdsourcing Interventions
  • Suzanne Day, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, UNC at Chapel Hill
  • Shufang Wei, Communication Director, SESH Global
  • Weiming Tang, PhD, MD, MS, Assistant Director, University of North Carolina Project-China and Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill