The BSPH Capstone (PHC 4913) is a one-credit hour course designed for students to engage in career readiness skills, experiential learning, and community engagement. This course provides students with the opportunity to obtain valuable transferrable skills, as well as provide a well-rounded culminating experience to complete the degree program.
The BSPH capstone course consists of 3 main badges: (1) the workforce preparation badge, (2) the experimental learning badge, and (3) the culminating experience badge. Each badge contains its own set of specific submission requirements prior to being awarded. Below is general information for each badge:
Pre-Requisites – PHC 4101, PHC 4470, PHC 4030, PHC 4320
Workforce Preparation Badge
The Workforce Preparation Badge is designed to help you build the professional skills that public health employers value most. You will explore key questions about career readiness, get expert tips on resumes, cover letters, and other professional documents. Additionally, you will strengthen skills like communication, teamwork, and cultural competence, all of which are essential in the public health field. This badge will improve your skills and confidence in preparation for internships, graduate school, or your first job in public health. To receive credit for this badge, you must complete all three ProfessioNole Ready modules (Black, Garnet, and Gold).
Black Badge
The black Career Ready badge is awarded upon completion of eight career modules
- Career Ready
- Professional Communication
- Resume Ready
- Interview Ready
- Career Portfolio
- Diversity & Inclusion
- Salary & Job Negotiations
- Ready to Network
Garnet and Gold Badges
The Garnett and Gold Career Ready badges are earned upon completion of four career modules:
- Gain Experience and Be Recognized
- Search for Job Opportunities
- Prepare for Graduate School
- Work in a Global Economy
Final Badge Essay Requirements
- Students will submit an essay in which they 1) compare their readiness before and after completing the Career Ready badge, comparing at least 3 badge modules (i.e. Networking, Leadership, Resume), to include examining the strongest and weakest points of Individual career readiness.
- Essays must be at least 2,000 words and include in-text citations and reference page. Students should write in the APA style.
The Experimental Learning Badge
The Experiential Learning Badge will help students document and reflect on their co-curricular experiences. Students are required to complete one of the following engagement activities. After completion of their engagement activity, students will submit documentation of their completed hours and a one-page reflection essay.
Service-Learning Course
Students may choose to take the Service-Learning section of PHC 4470 – Health Behavior and Health Promotion to earn the Experiential Learning Badge. For this to qualify students must successfully pass the course with a grade of “C” or better. Please note that the section of this course typically has limited seats during the fall and spring semesters and is not offered during the summer semesters. The Garnett and Gold Career Ready badges are earned upon completion of four career modules:
Submission Requirements
- Students must submit their final grade verification for this course.
Final Badge Essay Requirements
- In addition to the final course requirements, students must submit an essay in which they 1) describe what they learned in the course by providing at least three examples, 2) examine the impact of their work and the work of the agency on the community, and 3) weigh how participating in this activity may impact their future public health career.
- When writing their essay students should discuss how they strengthened their professionalism, networking skills, flexibility, ability to work on a team, and leadership skills. Students should also include self-reflection on ethical decision making and cultural humility.
- Essays must be at least 2,000 words and include in-text citations and reference page. Students should write in the APA style.
- Students may not submit the final PHC 4470 Service-Learning course essay to meet this requirement.
Internship
Students may choose to complete an internship, both in conjunction with PHC 4944 or separately, to earn the Experiential Learning Badge. To qualify for this Badge, students must pass the course with a grade of “C” or better, or with satisfactory completion of their Internship Contract for those not registered for PHC 4944.
Getting approval for an eligible public health internship experience.
The PHC4944 Internship Coordinator must approve an internship opportunity that the student has secured to assure that the on-site experiences offer opportunities for students to develop professional skills and substantive knowledge applicable to professional employment in the field of public health. For example, work experiences such as collecting or analyzing data that an organization might use to develop a policy or program or helping develop a public health intervention would meet the criteria for a BSPH internship, whereas an internship focused on developing clinical skills such as taking blood pressure or checking patients in for services would not.
Submission Requirements
- For students registered for PHC 4944
- Students must submit their Internship Contract.
- Students must submit their final grade verification for this course.
- For students not registered for PHC 4944
- Students must submit their Internship Contract
- Students must submit a letter from their internship supervisor confirming their successful completion of their Internship Contract
Final Badge Essay Requirements:
- Students will submit an essay in which they 1) describe what public health course material they applied during their internship by providing at least three examples, 2) examine the impact of their work and the work of their internship site on the community, and 3) weigh how completing this internship may impact their future public health career.
- Students must submit their Internship Contract.
- Students must submit their final grade verification for this course.
- When writing their essay students should discuss how they strengthened their professionalism, networking skills, flexibility, ability to work on a team, and leadership skills. Students should also include self-reflection on ethical decision making and cultural humility.
- Essays must be at least 2,000 words and include in-text citations and reference page. Students should write in the APA style.
- Students registered for PHC 4944 may not submit the final course essay to meet this requirement. for PHC 4944
- Students must submit their Internship Contract
- Students must submit a letter from their internship supervisor confirming their successful completion of their Internship Contract
Research
Students may choose to complete one of the following research opportunities:
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP)
UROP gives students the ability to engage in ongoing research, work with a supervising faculty member, and collaborate with other research-minded students. Students must be working on a public health related research project.
Honors in the Major (HITM)
HITM consists of graduate-style research, including an original thesis or creative project, and a committee defense. This experience must be approved by the Honors Program at FSU, and the student must enroll in the BSPH HITM course with a public health faculty member who directs and evaluates the project.
Directed Individual Study (DIS)
DIS consists of independent research done by the student and supervised by a faculty member.
Submission Requirements
- Regardless of the type of research (UROP, HITM, or DIS), students must present their work at the Undergraduate Research Symposium and submit a photo of them presenting their work.
- Students will also submit a copy of their final research project.
Final Badge Essay Requirements
- Students will submit an essay in which they 1) describe what public health research they completed, 2) examine the impact of their work and how they could expand their research, and 3) weigh how completing this research may impact their future public health career.
- When writing their essay, students should discuss how they located, evaluated, communicated, and synthesized public health information. In addition, they should discuss the multiple ways they communicated public health information such as orally, in writing, and to a non-specialized audience.
- Essays must be at least 2,000 words and include in-text citations and reference page. Students should write in the APA style.
RSO Leadership
Students may use RSO Leadership to qualify for the Experiential Learning Badge, under the following conditionse of the following research opportunities:
- The RSO must be related to a health discipline from the approved list of FSU RSOs. If students would like to complete their leadership experience from a non-approved RSO they must submit the RSO approval form in advance to ensure that this leadership role will meet the Experiential Learning Badge requirements.
- Leadership is defined as a position on the Executive Board
- The leadership position must be held for a minimum of two semesters.
Submission Requirements
- Letter of Support from RSO Faculty Advisor to confirm complete and meaningful service to the organization.
Final Badge Essay Requirements
- Students will submit an essay in which they 1) describe the mission of the RSO they served and how it helped them apply public health course material by providing at least three examples, 2) examine the impact of their work and the work of the RSO on the community, and 3) weigh how serving in their leadership role may impact their future public health career.
- When writing their essay students should discuss how they strengthened their professionalism, networking skills, flexibility, ability to work on a team, and leadership skills. Students should also include self-reflection on ethical decision making and cultural humility.
- Essays must be at least 2,000 words and include in-text citations and reference page. Students should write in the APA style.
Public Health Community Engagement
Students who choose this option must first submit their Community Engagement Plan for approval prior to beginning their community experience. Students must actively participate in at least 50 hours of public health community engagement. Community engagement includes public health-related training and community service. Students may divide their 50 hours between training and service as needed, but all activities must be related to the field of public health.
Public Health Training Requirements
- Students must submit a Certificate of Completion or a letter from the training facilitator documenting the learning objectives of the workshop and the student’s successful completion of the training. In addition, the certificate or letter must document the number of hours for each event. Simply attending an event is not sufficient to be considered “engagement”. Students must be actively involved in the learning process.
Community Service Submission Requirements
- Students must submit a copy of their ServScript submission documenting their volunteer hours. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that their volunteer hours meet the ServScript Program requirements and are public health focused.
Final Badge Essay Requirements
- Once students have completed their 50-hours they must submit a reflection essay in addition to the verification of hours described above. In the final essay students must (1) describe the activities completed and the agencies they worked with, (2) examine how relevant course material was or was not apparent in the activity by providing at least three examples, and (3) weigh how participating in this activity may impact their future public health career.
- When writing their essay students should discuss how they strengthened their professionalism, networking skills, flexibility, ability to work on a team, and leadership skills. Students should also include self-reflection on ethical decision making and cultural humility.
- Essays must be at least 2,000 words and include in-text citations and reference page. Students should write in the APA style.
The Culminating Experience Badge
The Culminating Experience Badge will help students document their scholarly and applied experiences, serving as the capstone of their educational experience. Experiences may be individual, or group based. Group-based experiences must define specific, verifiable methods to assess individual students’ contributions to the final product.
Students will use the existing Portfolium platform offered by the Career Center.
Pre-Requisites for this badge
- Completion of Experiential Learning Badge.
- Workforce Preparation Badge.
- Once students complete all three badges, they will have satisfied all the requirements for BSPH Capstone Pathway.
E-Portfolio Components
- Career summary.
- Professional development activities such as student organizations are members of.
- Courses including additional LinkedIn Learning workshops, honors and awards, at least three samples of their academic work from three unique public health courses.
- A final reflective essay connecting what they have learned and how they wish to apply their knowledge to their career.
Final Badge Essay Requirements
- The Final Badge Essay must be at least 3,000 words and include in-text citations and reference page. Students should write in the APA style. In the final essay students must (1) connect what they learned during their courses with their overall public health experiences by providing at least three examples from three different courses, (2) state their public health career goals; at least two short term goals and at least one long term goal, and (3) discuss how their academic, experiential, and workforce preparation has shaped their future public health career goals.
- As students are writing their essay, they should be sure to include how their academic, experiential, and workforce preparation have helped them grasp the following key public health domains when discussing their examples.
Submission Requirements: Culminating Experience
- Students must submit their final e-portfolio via Portfolium
- Students must submit confirmation that they completed the Public Health Exit Survey