Ten Durham-area high school students enjoyed this year’s summer impACT program. Produced annually by Duke OTDand Duke DPT, impACT involved attendees in three full days of programming June 28-30.
DPT student Krissia Pocosangre co-led the program with OTD student April Burch. Tiffany Adams, PT, DPT, MBA, PhD, and Tomeico Faison, OTD, OTR/L led the program. Through interactive sessions and challenges, participants were exposed to pathways for healthy eating and behaviors and the OT and PT professions.
“The students had such an incredible ability to apply their knowledge to the activities we had them do and had so much fun with them. I loved how they took each activity and made it their own. The future is in good hands with these students,” said Pocosangre.
Her favorite events centered around the daily competitions. “It was such a wonderful experience watching students who didn’t know each other and who go to different schools become friends over the course of the three days and even compete against their friends from school,” she said.
Pocosangre said that she hopes the impACTers left Duke “empowered to use their skills and knowledge to leave an impact in their friend groups, home, school, and community.”
Recent DPT graduates, Nikol Papa, Anastasia Engelsman, and Lily Scott supported the impACT events and their engagement helped to make the experience meaningful for all attendees.