Field Placement: Los Angeles Commission on Assaults against Women
Location: Los Angles, CA
Preceptor: Cathy Friedman, MPH, Associate Director
Student Name: Rusudan Chkhubianishvilli
Year: 2003

This summer, I worked at the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults against Women under the supervision of Cathy Friedman, MPH, Associate Director. I was working on the project New Approaches to Teen Violence Prevention in California Schools. My field studies lasted 11 weeks, from June 16 to August 29, 2003.

My project consisted of the following parts: research, participation in educational sessions, work on digital storytelling curriculum.

Specifically, I researched youth violence prevention policies statewide and reviewed on-line magazines, library materials and relevant databases to find a link between teen dating violence, school sexual harassment, student academic performance, and school liability issues. The researched materials are to be used for creating a plan for statewide implementation of education and training to school superintendents. Through this project, LACAAW will assist educators and school administrative personnel to effectively and efficiently impact interpersonal violence and its many negative consequences.

I assisted Tamika Kay, a Coordinator of LACAAW's In Touch With Teens Program, to conduct eight digital storytelling sessions with 6-8th grade students at Le Conte Middle School in Hollywood. I helped Tamika to handle various tasks including answering to student's' questions, helping her with creating voiceover, recording, finding images, etc.

Based on the information that I acquired during educational sessions, I designed a draft curriculum for digital storytelling sessions. I worked closely with Tamika to adapt the content of the curriculum to the program's needs. The designed curriculum will be a guide for LACAAW's staff for their work with middle and high school students on digital storytelling. It will also enable them to introduce this curriculum to other agencies interested in replicating LACAAW's program.

In addition, I interviewed LACAAW’s staff throughout the duration of my field studies. Through this experience, I was able to define organizational structure, the character of decision making and learn about specific programs. I also researched various grant opportunities for LACAAW.

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