Tuesday, May 11, 2021

submitted by madden@augsburg.edu

In the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, mental health experts across the country say they have seen African-Americans, whose skepticism of therapy has been documented by research, seeking it in growing numbers.

Jamil and Sara Stamschror-Lott, the founders of Creative Kuponya, a mental health practice in Minneapolis just minutes from where Mr. Floyd, a Black man, was murdered, said the demand for therapy had “gone through the roof” over the past year. The couple said 31 percent of their practice’s clients are Black.

“We’ve seen everything that the nation has seen from afar, from folks in civil unrest and devastation, despair,” said Mr. Stamschror-Lott, who is Black. The couple said that some residents were overwhelmed and exhausted by the events of the past year, and that there remained a “great deal of pain and trauma.”

After a Traumatizing Year, Black People Turn to Therapy

submitted by shafer@augsburg.edu

Shamsa Ahmed, 2021, graduated with Political Science and International Relations majors won a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) grant to teach English in South Korea. She is a TRIO/SSS student, Act Six Scholar and Dell Scholar recipient. She also won the national Boren scholarship where she spent 8 weeks in Florida studying Swahili followed by 4 months in Tanzania learning Swahili and studying Swahili culture and history. Following her ETA she plans to earn a master’s degree in public policy. She is passionate about refugee rights as she herself spent many years in a refugee camp in Kenya until coming to the U.S. as a 6th grader. She’s passionate about peace building and can envision a career in the foreign service or the United Nations. Shamsa is familiar with 5 languages and for the past 5 years has taught young children Saturdays and Sundays at her mosque.

submitted by shafer@augsburg.edu

Citlaly Escobar, 2021, graduated with majors in Political Science and Sociology won a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) to Taiwan. Citlaly has been involved on and off campus in a variety of ways. She was a first-team all-conference lacrosse player, vice president of the Augsburg Latinx Student Association, and a freshmen and sophomore class president for the Honors Program. She was also one of the working group members for the Department of Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies, serving as a Latinx student representative. In addition, she has spent the last two years as a student researcher for TRIO/McNair, URGO, and received a graduate research assistantship at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (first undergraduate to receive this award). She also won the prestigious Public Policy and International Affairs Award to study for 7 weeks last summer at the Hubert Humphrey School. Following her time in Taiwan, Citlaly plans to pursue a PhD in American Studies where she hopes to continue her research about the Twin Cities Chicano Movement and Latino society in the upper Midwest.

submitted by shafer@augsburg.edu

Ciashia,Shionghaj, 2021, graduated with a major in Biology and minor in Environmental Studies won a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Taiwan. Ciashia is motivated to become an ETA because she wants to create a community inside the classroom and join communities outside the classroom. She also wants to learn more about her Asian heritage. She played on Augsburg’s volleyball team and has taught volleyball for several years to many age groups. While at Augsburg she conducted URGO research with Dr. Emily Schilling and also did a summer of research with the DNR in Bemidji. Upon returning to the U.S. she plans to earn a PhD in Ecology and Evolution. She’s passionate about finding ways that humans can coexist in this ecosystem without depleting the Earth’s biodiversity.

submitted by shafer@augsburg.edu

Taiwana Shambley, 2021, graduated with majors in English and African American Studies and was named an Alternate Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Laos. Last summer she taught 7th-grade literature at Breakhthrough Twin Cities to many Hmong, Laotian, and Taiwanese students. Wanting to know more about these cultures is one of the reasons Taiwana chose Laos as her country. She is a TRIO/McNair Scholar, Batalden Scholar in Applied Ethics and Executive Editor of the Echo. She also served as a Writing Lab Tutor. Her future plans include earning graduate degrees in Creative Writing and American Studies.