S enior public health major and sociology minor Blakely Queen knows the rewarding feeling that comes from volunteering and working for the public good. 
 
She’s a public health community engagement intern this summer at Camp Kudzu, which serves children and teens with Type 1 Diabetes.

 
Queen learned about the camp from two close friends who attended as kids. During her senior seminar class in fall 2023, she spotted Camp Kudzu as Georgia College & State University’s approved work site.
 
“When I saw it on the list, I immediately knew that's where I wanted to go,” Queen said.
 
Camp Kudzu’s mission is to educate, inspire and empower campers and their families. There are approximately 180 campers attending the first summer session.
 
“I love to see an organization educate people on how to live their lives with Type 1 Diabetes without them feeling left out,” she said. “Sometimes a chronic illness can make people feel very isolated, so they don't talk about it much. Camp Kudzu creates that community to connect people, living with Type 1 Diabetes, to show they're not alone.”
 
The camp also shows campers they can have a normal life—like every other kid—with a few precautions.
 
“I enjoy seeing how these kids connect with other people and leave camp feeling completely renewed with their illness,” she said. “That's awesome to me.” 
 
Camp Kudzu’s programming varies from year-round and overnight summer camps to weekend and day camps. The popular week-long summer camps reach about 1,200 children and teens each year.
 
Queen interacts with each camper. She also helps facilitate educational sessions which are split by age group. Then, she watches the kids participate in a variety of activities including touring a farm, swimming, kayaking, horseback riding, participating in arts-n- crafts and pool parties.
 
Queen enjoys the community aspect the camp creates the most. 

 
“We rely on our volunteers a lot to help run pretty much everything,” she said. “They are amazing.”
 
Queen was given the Eve Puckett Giving Tree Award for her legacy of service at Georgia College. She volunteered through the Center for Health and Social Issues. She also served as an assistant coach at Shiloh Horse Ranch and volunteered 100-plus hours a year through the university’s Shelter Buddies Rescue Service Organization.
 
“I love to hear why people volunteer,” Queen said. “That's what I always thought about when I volunteered was, ‘Why am I here?’ It’s heartwarming to know the reasons others do it.” 
 
She’s learned how to modify different lessons, gearing them toward different age groups. That way, everyone understands what’s being taught. Knowing these skills will help her in her future role as a health educator. But first, Queen plans to attend the University of Georgia this fall to work toward getting her Master of Public Health.
 
“All campers do the same activities at different paces, especially in the education sessions,” Queen said. “We present concepts differently to our 15- and 16-year-olds than we do to our eight- and nine-year-olds.”
 
The internship helped her refine her skills in Canva and Excel computer programs, which will also help Queen in her career. 
 
In her internship, she applies much of what she learned in her public health classes. What she learned about cultural competency in her community health class has been most useful.

 
“We have many campers from so many different backgrounds coming in one week,” Queen said. “So, we must understand when checking in their families, if their family is not fluent in English, we have a translator to help us so we don't have to use their children to help translate for them.”   

Many of her sociology classes overlap with her public health classes. Both examine health disparities. She envisions expanding on what she’s learned in her career.
 
“My public health classes examine the statistics of health disparities,” Queen said. “But, with my sociology degree, I hope to dig a bit deeper into health disparities to find the cause and take an upstream approach to help minimize health disparities and improve the overall quality of life for everyone.”
 
She wants to continue creating connections with people to help them improve their lives.
 
“Community is most important to me,” she added. “I want to help people whose quality of life is poor, because even if they understand what they can do, they aren’t likely to strive for that end goal if they feel alone.”
 
“I had an eight-year-old boy talk to me about his insulin pump. We taught him more about it,” Queen said. “And he was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to talk to my mom about this.’”

She hopes her campers don’t leave camp feeling alone. 
 
“Having a chronic disease can lead people to not talk about it and feel very isolated,” Queen said. “I hope these campers leave feeling like they have a new friend. I've already heard kids super excited during check in saying, ‘I can't wait to meet my ‘diaBESTie.’”