MET Student’s Hurricane Aid Work Complements Recovery Research
When Metropolitan College undergraduate student Allie Baptiste enlisted as a volunteer with the American Red Cross last month, to be of aid in Florida in the wake of Hurricane Milton, she was doing more than just a social service—she was getting real-world experience to aid a MET research endeavor.
In addition to pursuing her BS in Psychology at BU MET, Baptiste serves as a research associate on the Pardee Center Fellowship project, “What Lies Beyond Built Infrastructure? Trauma-informed Planning (TIP) in Municipal and Regional Climate Recovery and Resilience.” Led by Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Danielle Rousseau, Associate Professor of the Practice of City Planning & Urban Affairs Luis E. Santiago, and Assistant Professor of Applied Social Sciences Yeşim Sungu-Eryilmaz, this effort examines urban areas recently impacted by extreme weather events to see whether their recovery and resilience plans have integrated trauma-informed principles.
In Florida, as she lent a hand to those in need, Baptiste got an up-close look at climate recovery, which coupled well with her areas of interest. “My major interest in psych is public health and housing, and having an academic background in trauma-informed care and disaster planning has helped me navigate this experience,” she tells BU Today.
Resilience, she explains, is also on ready display. “These communities have been hit hard the past couple of weeks, but they are already rebuilding,” Baptiste says, with admiration. “There are people who are experiencing this [type of destruction] for the first time and people who have lived here their whole lives, but every single person is determined to roll up their sleeves and keep going.”
For her dedication, Baptiste has earned the admiration of faculty.
“Both as a student and now as a research associate on the Pardee Center Fellowship, Allie has exhibited an astute capacity for implementing trauma-informed care in both theory and practice,” says Professor Rousseau. “Her volunteer efforts after Hurricane Milton are but one example of putting theory into practice and her experience in Florida highlights the importance of the work we are doing through the fellowship to bring the principles of trauma-informed care into recovery planning.”
For Baptiste, the experiences have drawn her own ambitions into focus. “[I]t has helped cement my decision to pursue a career in public health and housing,” she says. “I’m considering how I can build disaster response into that, as well.”
Read more at BU Today.