Nothing more technical than an instrumentation course for identifying chemical compounds at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCF), right? Not for teacher Mary Ann Foglio, who believes that her role goes far beyond teaching how to use complicated techniques and sophisticated devices. To act more broadly in the training of his students, Foglio inserted Extension into his discipline and proposed actions to combat dengue. “We have to form individuals as a whole. If they want to work in healthcare, they need to worry about the things that are being overlooked. It is the neglected diseases that end up killing the most and devastating countries,” she highlighted.
As the first activity of the project, the teacher asked each student to collect five units of trash on the Campus, during the first 15 minutes of each class. “We thought things were absurd and we saw the extent to which the accumulation of rubbish and dengue fever outbreaks on campus reached”, commented Giovanna de Sousa Soares, from the third year Pharmacy class, who participated in the project.
For Mayra Caroline Cunha Câmara, the experience brought a new perspective on the places she travels. “We would pass by a glass or a bottle and not even see it. Now, we realize that it is a lot of rubbish. We studied here at Unicamp for three years and we had never noticed how much rubbish had been thrown onto the campus”, she highlighted.
In addition to the collection, Foglio proposed that students produce 30-second videos raising awareness about trash and dengue. The result surprised teachers and students. “We saw how in 30 seconds we can affect many people. I sent the video to my family and the little children in my family started to demand their parents. Our videos reached not only the University, but also different age groups such as children and adults. It was really cool to do that”, said Mayra.
The videos were voted on inside and outside the Faculty and the production by Mayra, Giovanna, Bianca Alves Schimitd and Mariana Mazzo Quintanilha came in first place. Check out some of the videos below:
