OP Intern Project Archive

In her project, Alanna partnered with River Park Elementary to provide mentoring to students. Students teamed up with elementary students for tutoring, help with work, or conversations about wellness and mental health. The Buddy Program supplies prosocial engagement for Orange County kids, which acts as a huge protective factor against early initation of substance use. 

Camden provided an info session on substance use to parents in a faith-based setting. She presented tips on good communication, relevant data, possible resources to members of her church community.

Caroline created a social media campaign called ADAPT and Thrive, which empowers young people to live healthy lives by embracing mental and physical wellbeing. The page promotes resources, provides strategies, and shares information on ways students can improve their physical and mental wellbeing. Follow the instagram here. 

Rowan focused on providing mental health resources to Orange County youth. Young people who identify as LGBTQ+ are at higher risk for poor mental health and suicidality. In their project, Rowan created a poster that discusses the struggles of LGBTQ+ youth and potential resources that could help. The posters, available in both English and Spanish, will be distributed at the Orange County Public Library in September 2025 for Suicide Prevention Month. 

Valeria created an art project that focused on the influence of culture as a protective and risk factor in Latine communities. Cultural values, such as machismo and marianismo, affect how families view and interact with substances. Her project focused on these values, and other cultural indicators, as various protective and risk factors for Latine families. 

Vidya gathered information on parent-child communication through interview and survey data. She created parent education resources from the data she collected, and displayed them in a parent handbook. 

Annabelle's project was created in response to an ordinance passed in Orange County: vape shops had to be at least 500 feet away from schools and parks. The ordinance did not apply in municipalities and was not applied retroactively. Annabelle, as an intern in collaboration with Orange Partnership and UNC's School of Education, investigated the proximity of smoke shops to schools, parks, communities of color, and low-income areas to discern how easily youth can access products and potential disparities that exist among specific populations.

Ava’s project focused on mapping and analyzing how tobacco and vape retailers in Orange County market their products to youth. Using GIS mapping and environmental scan data from 44 stores, she examined patterns in advertising, pricing, flavored products, and product placement. Her findings highlighted widespread youth-targeted marketing—such as candy-flavored nicotine, self-service displays, and ads placed at child height—and supported policy recommendations for stronger signage regulations and enforcement to protect young people from harmful exposure.