College reconnects at ‘Welcome Back’ event; students collect donations for opioid-affected southern Ohio

The college kicked off spring semester with a “Welcome Back” event in early January.

CPH student Chinenye Bosah shares information about the Multicultural Public Health Student Association.

While reconnecting over free breakfast and coffee, students, faculty and staff learned about some of the support services that the college’s Office of Research provides, and student organizations shared overviews of their missions.

“The ‘Welcome Back’ event was a great opportunity to showcase what our organization is about, and it was a great way to gain new members,” says Reginald Scott, a fourth-year undergraduate student of public health sociology and president of the Multicultural Public Health Student Association. “We got a lot of exposure.”

Attendees of the event also had the opportunity to donate warm clothing to children and families in southern Ohio affected by the opioid crisis.

The clothing drive was organized by the Public Health Student Leadership Council (PHSLC) and their faculty adviser, William Miller, MD, PhD, MPH, chair of the Division of Epidemiology at CPH.


Members of the Public Health Student Leadership Council deliver warm clothing to the Scioto County courthouse. The donations went to families affected by the opioid crisis.

“It was amazing to get all of the donations we needed on the list,” says Elli Schwartz, a second-year undergraduate student of environmental public health and co-chair of PHSLC. “It was so inspiring to see our college give back.”

Together, the CPH community collected clothing donations for 64 children and parents. Members of PHSLC drove the donations to Portsmouth, Ohio, later that week.

“They were shocked,” Schwartz says. “There were community members helping us unload the cars with the bags. The bailiff that works at the drug court, you could tell he was getting emotional because he didn’t expect it all.”

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About The Ohio State University College of Public Health

The Ohio State University College of Public Health is a leader in educating students, creating new knowledge through research, and improving the livelihoods and well-being of people in Ohio and beyond. The College's divisions include biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, health behavior and health promotion, and health services management and policy. It is ranked 29th among all colleges and programs of public health in the nation, and first in Ohio, by U.S. News and World Report. Its specialty programs are also considered among the best in the country. The MHA program is ranked 8th, the biostatistics specialty is ranked 22nd, the epidemiology specialty is ranked 25th and the health policy and management specialty is ranked 17th.