Write a 250-word introduction for the following essay:

Change Proposal #1: Foster Personal Connections to HHV
	
Health and Human Values is a minor that aims to foster growth of individuals as they pursue careers in health and health care. It prompts students to reflect on issues related to health with an interdisciplinary lens and think about how they can make an impact now and in the future. HHV is not intended to purely be a stepping stone to medical school or graduate school. However, some students state that they are in HHV because it will look good on their resume. In addition, many students express frustration with the assignments in HNRS 250 and do not understand how the readings and reflections connect to their journey in the minor. Another challenge is that sometimes students may conform to the values expressed by Dr. Braitberg or other professors rather than articulating their own opinion. We suggest that HHV make changes that prompt students to develop personal connections to their work in the minor.
One change to foster personal connections is to integrate group values into HHV starting in the HNRS 250 class. Group values are a set of beliefs held by a group of people that inform their actions as they work together. By creating group values among each cohort and HHV as a whole, students will feel that their work in HHV is more meaningful to them and will be more invested in the program. Establishing group agreements as students begin HNRS 250 is a great way to start integrating group values in HHV. Group agreements are a set of rules agreed to by the group to create a learning environment in which students are comfortable and enthusiastic engaging in. Examples of group agreements in PATH are Listen Actively, Build the Change, and Uphold Confidentiality. Dr. Braitberg, Dr. Oberman, or other professors teaching HNRS 250 should first prompt students to reflect on what their personal values are which could include Integrity, Justice, and Health. Students can then have discussions about their individual values as a class and make connections with the values of the group and the minor. Then, the professors should have the students brainstorm group agreements that integrate group values. A challenge to this exercise may be that students will be reluctant to participate, especially as underclassmen. The professors can initiate the discussion and make connections between the values of students, but they should be careful not to dominate the activity. These group agreements should be practiced throughout HNRS 250. In addition, there should be more assignments and readings in HNRS 250, the capstone, and internship that require students to reflect on their individual and group values and how they relate to issues in health and healthcare. If students find their own values integrated more in HHV, they will be more invested and engaged as well as find value in the program beyond being a stepping stone. 

Change Proposal #2: Create More Experiential Learning Opportunities in the Minor

The HHV minor places a focus on understanding the social, ethical, cultural, political, and structural factors shape health, disease, and health care. Such an understanding, especially that of an interdisciplinary nature, requires students to be able to critically think about different social issues related to health care. However, one of the concerns with regard to the HHV minor is that there is less student engagement, and one of the reasons for this decreased engagement may be that students sometimes may struggle to understand how the content they are learning in their HHV classes applies directly to their future careers or the communities, institutions, and other settings they are part of in the real-world. Such confusion or lack of understanding can also decrease student engagement.
One of the ways to foster critical thinking as well as increase student engagement is through creating more experiential learning opportunities in the minor. Students really value the opportunity to speak with people from different community organizations that address different issues like poverty, homelessness, disability justice, etc that are discussed in the HHV classes. Having an opportunity to speak to more guest speakers can enable students to more clearly see how the content they discuss in class can be applied to the real-world and thus engage with the minor and peers more often. Through experiential learning opportunities such as volunteering and service learning, students will also have the chance to interact with different people and communities that experience the social and health issues discussed in class. This will increase students’ empathy and understanding as well as foster a passion for justice and creating change. Ultimately, experiential learning can increase students’ feelings of citizenship in the minor and ability to think about creating organic change within their own communities.
Additionally, students may sometimes feel overwhelmed with too many readings and the same class structure for every class, which can also lead to decreased engagement. One way to potentially address this issue is to prioritize quality over quantity. For instance, organizing field trips to different community organizations (especially for the 250 class) in place of some regular class readings and discussions can allow students to engage with class content in a different learning environment, which can also help increase engagement and allow for a deeper understanding and connection to course material. Furthermore, creating opportunities for meaningful reflections after such experiences can enable students to reflect on their personal growth and consider numerous other career opportunities both in and outside of healthcare to address the issues they are most passionate about.

Change Proposal #3: Improve Organization and Structure of HHV Classes 

We would like to propose an increase in overall structure and organization of the Health and Human Values classes. Establishing a clear structure that is well organized gives students peace of mind and helps them succeed academically. An essential part of any relationship is setting clear expectations of each party. In the context of a student-teacher relationship, a teacher needs to establish their expectations of the student for their class. We would recommend that a syllabus is established by the first day of class. This way, the student is able to fully understand what is expected of them from the beginning. The student can plan accordingly and ensure that the class is the right fit for them and their schedule. We also recommend that the syllabus remain relatively consistent throughout the semester and within cohorts. This would provide students with a sense of stability in addition to clear expectations. 
Regarding the organization of classes, we recommend that classes follow a similar structure between cohorts. Something that we have noted as mentors is that when talking with mentees, it seems that the class structure has changed since we have taken the class. Although the core values of the HHV minor are always present, it may help give students peace of mind if they knew what to expect of the introduction and the capstone course. Developing a framework that each class follows could still allow for changes from year to year, but the framework would be able to give the class some consistency. The framework could be used by other professors in the future as well. 
Anonymous student feedback surveys may help Dr. Braitberg to learn more about what students would like to see from the organization and structure of the HHV minor. Although there is a university wide end of semester student course survey, we believe that Dr. Braitberg should have students fill out an anonymous survey that is more specific to the organization and structure of the class. This could provide Dr. Braitberg with more helpful insight into what students would like to see with regards to structure and organization.

Change Proposal #4: Increase Inter-Cohort and Alumni Support/Connection

The Health and Human values minor has a diverse group of majors, internships, and various opportunities that are available to the community. However, there are rarely settings where these are shared across cohorts. The first time that we were able to share our own opportunities/experiences in depth was as mentors in the 250 course. A potential way to enrich participation in the minor is through events where sharing these opportunities is celebrated and encouraged. Thus, HHV social events one or two every semester, where HHV students in the internship, capstone, and core introductory course are required to attend would start the spread of information about unique opportunities that are available in the healthcare space. 
	Another method to increase the inter-cohort support by other undergraduate mentors would be an HHV preceptorship for the 250 course in the spring. A preceptorship encourages dialogue between more HHV seniors and newer students in the minor. A peer mentor has the advantage of being more approachable, the shared experience of being a student in the course, and could reduce the grading workload for faculty (for smaller assignments like discussion posts). 
When most people enter their internship, most talk to Dr. Braitberg and the person who previously was in the internship before them, but rarely get the opportunity to see presentations about internships that are available to them. Therefore, there should be a database of posters/recorded presentations that students can watch if they are unable to come to the peer capstone/internship academic poster session. 
The HHV minor has multiple graduating classes, but there seems to be a lack of alumni support from those that are outside of the minor. Therefore, it is imperative that alumni offer advice and support to students that are trying to find their path through the HHV minor and beyond. There should be a form/spreadsheet with the contact information of graduated HHV students along with a note (if possible) of what their plans were immediately after graduation. This would allow HHV mentors to start connecting with alumni near graduation and could become something that could be advertised to increase the amount of people that apply to HHV. 
	HHV is an Honors minor, but there seems to be a limited connection between it and the remainder of the Honors College. An idea that should be discussed further is offering interdisciplinary approaches to problems by offering collaborative work sessions or seminars between HHV students and other Honors minors.