This past September, the Laspa Center for Leadership had the honor of sending two Scripps students, Reese Ger and Sable Fest, to the Carter Center’s Executive Briefing Conference in Atlanta, GA. The conference is an all-expenses paid trip including airfare, hotel, registration, and meals, all thanks to the generosity of former trustee Barbara Bruner ’76.
Please find reflections from Reese and Sable’s experience below!
Reese: The opportunity to go to the Carter Center Executive Briefing and Plains trip was a truly incredible one. Never before have I been surrounded by so many inspiring and influential people and had the chance to really converse with them, one on one, connecting over our shared amazement at the work the Carter Center has done at the nexus of peace and health. I even ate dinner at a table for four with the CEO, Paige Alexander, who shared with me some of her unbelievable life story working for aid organizations and asked me about my own as well as allowing me time to ask questions such as how the Center decides what projects to take on. Through conversations and demonstrations from the vice presidents and project leaders on the Center’s efforts with democracy, election monitoring, supporting youth movements in Sudan, trachoma, and of course Guinea worm eradication, I had the chance to learn about programs improving and saving the lives of millions of people worldwide.
My favorite breakout session was the Guinea worm water treatment demonstration. The project leader donned a pair of boardshorts, climbed into an inner tube armed with a meter stick, and set out into the pond on the Center’s beautiful grounds. He demonstrated how volunteers and staff in the field measure the volume of standing bodies of water for treatment with Abate to kill Guinea worm, as the concentration needs to be exactly 1 ppm. These volunteers are out for hours at a time working with local community leaders and dealing with insects, direct sun exposure, and even crocodiles as they demonstrated during our session in Atlanta with a remote controlled toy. Using inner tubes as an inexpensive and simple option to measure water volume, cartoons to provide health education to illiterate populations, working with existing youth movements to bring about democracy, and sourcing parachute fabric to create inexpensive Guinea worm filter straws are just a few of the ways the Center has found creative solutions to complex issues in a way that maximizes their impact on the world.
Sable: The opportunity to attend The Carter Center Executive Briefing was an impactful, inspiring experience that provided unparalleled exposure to strategies used to prevent and treat neglected tropical diseases and promote peace and resilience in international communities. Reese and I were warmly welcomed to The Carter Center upon our arrival, and the intimate setting provided exceptional opportunities to network with other attendees and learn about individuals’ different experiences in coming to The Carter Center. We were both thrilled to finally meet Barbara Bruner in person, and we greatly enjoyed sharing our mutual experiences at Scripps and interest in the work on disease eradication and elimination presented at the briefing. Reese and I attended a breakout session on attracting and supporting Carter Center interns on the first day of the briefing, and we learned about the great opportunities to work collaboratively with a team and contribute original work to international health, peace, and operational programs. On the second day, Reese and I attended breakout sessions on efforts to eradicate Guinea worm and eliminate trachoma in several African countries. We were thrilled by interactive nature of these workshops and gained first-hand exposure to the strategies used in prevent and treat these diseases, including how to measure the depth of a pond in an inner-tube and learning the surgical procedure to limit the progression of trachoma.
Following the briefing conference, we journeyed to Plains, GA where we had the chance to tour President Carter’s boyhood home and high school. We explored the downtown and left with our fair share of peanut goodies and even got to try peanut ice cream! Reese and I had the unique opportunity to have dinner with the CEO of The Carter Center, Paige Alexander. We shared our career aspirations and the inspiration we felt to pursue public health following the conference, and we learned about her journey in coming to The Carter Center. I left the trip feeling incredibly motivated by The Carter Center’s work to eliminate and eradicate neglected tropical diseases in underserved populations, and I am now in the process of applying for an internship at the center in Spring 2023!
Check out a photo gallery from Sable and Reese’s journey below!
