Scholars reflect on program experiences in new podcast spotlight

PRYDE Scholars from left to right, Anita On (HD, ‘22), Diana Park (GPHS, ‘22), and Sofia Urquiola (HD, ‘22)

Each episode of the “PRYDE Presents: Talking Youth Research” podcast features conversations about youth development research and practice. In the third episode, we hear from students in the PRYDE Scholars program. Anita On (HD, ‘22), Diana Park (GPHS, ‘22), and Sofia Urquiola (HD, ‘22) offer their perspective on the PRYDE Scholar experience and its role in their education at Cornell. Kyle Muña (HD, ‘21) leads the discussion based on his own experience in the PRYDE Scholars program, which accepts a new cohort of students each year to work on community-engaged research related to youth development.

Each Scholar is contributing to a different faculty-led research project. When asked what drew her to PRYDE, Sofia said, “PRYDE seemed like a really good way to get more involved in research.” Now, Sofia works with Dr. Tamar Kushnir in the Early Childhood Cognition Lab on the “Being Me in Times of Change” project. Their work focuses on how youth are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Diana is helping investigate some related questions working with Dr. Janis Whitlock from the BCTR. They are exploring the power of journaling and storytelling as a coping mechanism for resilience during the pandemic. Throughout the podcast episode, Diana expresses her excitement in researching the types of narratives people are writing about and what benefits writing might have on mental health. 

These research lab placements are an opportunity to learn new skills. Anita works with Dr. Tashara Leak on the Advanced Cooking Education program that teaches urban middle schoolers how to cook healthy meals while exploring various careers in nutrition and health. Recently, Anita has begun a literature review on youth spending behavior on food and beverages. She described this review as a rigorous process, but she appreciates the learning that comes from scavenging databases and diving into the literature.  

Apart from getting hands-on research experience with Cornell faculty, PRYDE Scholars also enroll in a professional development course that builds foundations in translational research and community engagement. This year, the scholars are creating a research curriculum called Youth Investigators that empowers youth by equipping them with the tools they need to ask research questions about their social world.

Reflecting on developing the Youth Investigators program, Anita says,“the most important thing that I learned was to keep your audience in mind and to build connections to what is relevant to the lives of young people.” To keep lessons relevant, Scholars designed activities leveraging popular social media platforms such as Twitter and Tiktok, where youth practice research dissemination skills. 

Sofia relays what was meaningful to her from the class experience by saying, “I hope that whatever we do in PRYDE and through this curriculum that we are trying to create, is that we  make research accessible to all communities. Whether these kids have never heard about research before or if it is all that they’d want to do, I hope that this is applicable to them and can help them in their own individual lives.” 

To hear more from the Scholars on their growth as translational researchers, find this recent episode of the PRYDE Podcast here or search for “PRYDE Presents” on your podcast platform of choice (e.g., Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, RadioPublic). Stay tuned for new “PRYDE Presents: Talking Youth Research'' episodes that continue the conversation on translational youth development research.