World Citizen Essay Contest and World Educator Awards Ceremony 2019

Join us to celebrate the hard work of Washington's students in this year's World Citizen Essay Contest and honor our outstanding World Educator for 2018-19.Students across Washington state were asked to critically think about the impact of climate change on global health, as well as generate innovative and sustainable solutions. Celebrate the winners of this year's essay contest, hear from our World Educator Melissa Moffett of Tacoma Public Schools, and listen to a discussion on the issues with our speaker Dr. Jeremy Hess, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, moderated by Dena Morris, President of the Washington Global Health Alliance.

This event is free.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Hess is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. He has an MD and an MPH in global environmental health and is residency trained and board certified in emergency medicine. He is the principal investigator of an NIH-funded grant supporting work in India on the epidemiology of extreme heat and strategies for developing, implementing, and evaluating heat early warning systems. He is a member of the Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) at UW.

Dr. Hess is also a consultant for the Climate and Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he works as a medical advisor on the health effects of climate change and evidence-based interventions to enhance preparedness and promote climate change adaptation at the state and federal levels. He is a section editor at the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine and a recipient of the Presidential GreenGov award.

About the Moderator:
Dena is president of the Washington Global Health Alliance, a membership organization that connects and informs organizations working to improve health equity among the world’s most vulnerable populations. Dena leads WGHA’s strategic and operating plans, builds community across diverse stakeholders, and develops events and conversations to advance common goals, share best practices, and foster collaboration.

As Washington, DC, Director for the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, Dena led CDC’s Congressional engagement during the agency’s response to the Zika virus, the challenge to its opioid prescribing guidelines, and the federal interagency water contamination discovery and response in Flint, MI.

Dena went to CDC from Capitol Hill, where she led the policy team for a senior member of the Senate Leadership. Before joining the Senate, Dena was senior vice president of a DC-based consulting firm, where she chaired the health and disability rights practice team.

About the World Educator:
Melissa Moffett studied English and Asian studies at the University of Puget Sound before serving in the Peace Corps in Nepal where she worked as a master trainer and English resource teacher. Melissa obtained her masters degree in Multicultural Education from the University of Washington Tacoma.

She continued to build her international experience by working as an English teacher in Chengdu, China before taking her vast teaching experience back to the United States. She taught English at Jason Lee Middle School from 2003-2004 and then became a community developer at Tacoma School of Arts (SOTA) where she served as a liaison between Metro Parks Tacoma and SOTA. She managed the Adjunct Artist Program building, managing, and programming for community arts education. In this capacity, Melissa fostered community partnerships with the Washington State History Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Museum of Glass, and created arts camps through Metro Parks.

Melissa currently teaches Humanities at Industrial Design, Engineering, and Art (IDEA) School which opened in 2016. This role has given Melissa the opportunity empower students through the teaching of global issues and developing projects that provide students the critical thinking to design for the purpose of solving a problem. She is a human rights advocate who focuses on providing her students with a global education, using her personal experiences to spread awareness of international issues, and support students in becoming actively engaged citizens.

Melissa previously taught at SOTA and has been a coordinator for Service and Study Tour Program across Tacoma’s three small high schools (SOTA, SAMI, and IDEA) since 2011. In that time, she has led four month-long trips to Nepal, two to Cambodia and Laos, PDR, and one to Lopez Island, Washington. She is in the process of developing a Uganda Service and Study Tour.

Melissa serves as the Board President at Friends of the Women’s Protection Center Nepal.