With a focus on community health issues, South Texas College of Law third-year law student Bianca Wyont earns the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Fellowship for 2009-2010. The Schweitzer Fellowship program grants financial incentives to students who develop and implement direct service projects with the potential to have a lasting impact on the health of the underserved. Wyont’s prize-winning project will result in assistance to the woman and their children at the Santa Maria Hostel in Houston making reentry into society after substance abuse treatment. “Community healthcare is a passion of mine,” says Wyont. “I haven’t been giving enough back and I now found my outlet.” Wyont’s program will encompass 200-plus hours of work before May 2010. She will create and distribute comprehensive aid information and teach weekly classes on job searching and professional skills. “The binders will put information on housing assistance, childcare, job hunting, how to navigate the court system, and who to contact with a family or criminal law issue all in one place,” says Wyont. Wyont, the vice president of the Health Law Society at South Texas, hopes to engage other law students in the program in order to assure it continues year after year. She is the first South Texas student to receive a Schweitzer Fellowship—a total of 12 students from the Houston/Galveston area were selected.

 

For more information, please contact Sheila Hansel at shansel@stcl.edu, or 713-646-1799.