Student Experiential Learning: Meet Mia Zibello

Mia Zibello ’24 spent four weeks in Uganda last summer for her College of Health experiential learning project. The community & global health major/biology minor participated in Lehigh’s Uganda Sustainable Livelihoods program led by Kelly Austin, professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. This immersive experience in Uganda’s Buddada district offers students the chance to pursue independent research projects and internships. 

For Zibello’s independent research project, she spent her time doing qualitative research on health behaviors concerning women’s health, specifically looking at HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screenings. Her experience was made possible through a College of Health Fellowship for Experiential Learning Opportunities (FELO), which funds individual research projects or field research with expenses. 

Through interviews with midwives, public health workers, and community members, she noticed many inconsistencies in terminology and knowledge among these groups, and that education on these topics is not as strong among community members. “It’s really difficult in that rural area to get information out to everyone. People have obviously different levels of literacy in general, and health literacy, and so there were a lot of discrepancies,” she said. 

She also spent time volunteering at a local clinic and with the Pathways Development Initiative, which works with children in the community to promote empowerment and education, she noted. 

Putting together a budget for the trip and seeing its effect in the real world made the process feel more personal for Zibello: “I really got to see how each part of that budget had a real impact on me and on other people.” 

Zibello hopes to return to Uganda this summer to continue her research. The more opportunities for funding, she added, the more opportunities there are for research and allowing students to grow and build upon their previous experiences.