Teen Newsletter: CDC Museum Public Health Academy
December 2021
There is no Teen Talk this month. The 2022 CDC Museum Public Health Academy Online Summer Course/Disease Detective Camp application is now live!
Introduction – CDC Museum Public Health Academy
The David J. Sencer CDC Museum Public Health Academy (CDCM PHA) is a STEM-based educational program that offers both in-person and online learning experiences. CDCM PHA mirrors the CDC Museum’s goal of teaching the public about the importance of CDC’s work in the field of public health. Content focuses on CDC’s work in the interdisciplinary field of public health, and can include history, science, epidemiology, prevention-based public health, and communication. Career-related content can be found throughout CDCM PHA programming.
CDCM PHA Programs & Activities:
Disease Detective Camp
The CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp is an in-person interdisciplinary academic day camp that is held at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
Admission is open to high-school students during the summer before their junior or senior years. They must be at least 16 years old on the first day of the camp session to which they are accepted.
Hear from a past camper:
See below for more information on the 2022 CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp application.
Online Summer Course
The CDC Museum Public Health Academy Online Summer Course is a web-based course with both synchronous and asynchronous components. Admission is open to high-school students during the summer before their junior or senior years. They must be at least 16 years old on the first day of the course session to which they are accepted.
Hear from a past course participant:
See below for more information on the 2022 Public Health Academy Online Summer Course application.
Teen Newsletter
The CDC Museum Public Health Academy Teen Newsletter introduces teens to public health topics. Every month focuses on a different public health topic that CDC studies. Each newsletter provides an introduction, explains CDC’s work, breaks down the public health topic using the Public Health Approach, gives you a behind the scenes look at historical items out of the CDC Museum Collection, and offers a live Teen Talk with CDC experts.
Hear from an avid newsletter fan:
Sign up for the monthly Teen Newsletter!
STEM Lessons
The CDC Museum Public Health Academy STEM Lessons aim to educate students about public health issues through the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The lessons offer inquiry-based, hands-on activities that allow students to work in teams or independently.
The STEM Lessons are designed to be used by different audiences, including educators and students.
Hear from a STEM-lesson loving student:
Current STEM Lessons:
- Cleaning the Air
- Contact Tracing
- Covid-19 Vaccination
- Exploring Polio
- Hand Hygiene
- Keeping Food Healthy
- Making Water Safe
- Masks Against COVID-19
- Polio Eradication
- Protecting our Lungs
- Smallpox Eradication
- Trapping Mosquitoes
Check our website frequently, more STEM Lessons are coming soon!
Out of the CDC Museum Collection – CDC Museum Public Health Academy
Want to know the history of the CDC Museum Public Health Academy programs and resources?
The first CDC Museum Disease Detective Campers in 2005.
CDC Museum Public Health Academy Timeline
July 2005 – First CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp
June 2020 – First Teen Newsletter
July 2020 – First Online Summer Course
January 2021 – First STEM Lessons
Camps, courses, and newsletters would not be possible without hundreds of CDC volunteers! Each CDCer adds to the overall experience. The tremendous volunteerism that makes it all possible truly embodies the spirit of CDC, with many great minds and open hearts working together towards a goal which in this case is to teach the next generation the importance of CDC’s work for our country and the entire world.
CDC employees teaching and interacting with campers during the 2019 CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp.
All CDC Museum Public Health Academy programs and resources are created, organized, and conducted by the David J. Sencer CDC Museum Education Department.
- Trudi Bothma Ellerman, MEd, is the Education Director. She has been with CDC for twenty-two years. Trudi began her journey at CDC in the Office of Science Education as an intern and then became an ORISE fellow. She is a Georgia-certified science teacher with gifted endorsement and has also taught biology and environmental health in the public school system. Trudi has been with the CDC Museum for seventeen years.
- Heather Michelle McCann, MPH, CPH, MCHES, is the Museum Educator (contractor, Chickasaw Nation Industries). She has been with CDC for almost six years and started off in the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) as an ORISE fellow. While at NCBDDD working on FASD prevention, she volunteered with the CDC Museum as a docent and with camp. Before starting at CDC, she worked in Florida teaching adolescent sexual health education for five years. Heather is will soon have her third anniversary working at the CDC Museum.
- Alix McHardy, MEd, is the STEM Education Specialist (contractor, Chickasaw Nation Industries). Previously, she taught biology, chemistry, and physics for fifteen years in Oakland, CA and Norcross, GA. She also developed curricula and presented workshops for teachers at the school and district levels. She specialized in hands-on science, building literacy skills, and classroom instructional technology. She has been with the CDC Museum for six months.
The CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp and Online Summer Course are made possible by funding from two sources: The CDC’s Office of Communications and the Stephen B. Thacker Fund at the CDC Foundation.
2022 Application
The application for 2022 summer programing is now available online! The 2022 CDCM PHA Application allows students to apply to the CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp and/or the Public Health Academy Online Summer Course. Please read the FAQs for the CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp and the FAQs for the Online Summer Course, then submit your application. The application can be found in the FAQs.