Sun Protection Outreach Teaching by Students: A Reflection on Education in Michigan

Summary: Introduction Sun Protection Outreach Teaching by Students (SPOTS) is a national organization for medical students that aims to provide skin cancer and sun protection education to high school and middle school students. Since its inception at Michigan State in 2022, the medical students have organized and led presentations in Grand Rapids, Flint, Detroit, and Traverse City. Reflecting on our experience, we believe several things led to our widespread success. Key components include organization, leadership, initiative, and professionalism. Methods Internally, Google Forms were utilized to recruit volunteers and calculate availability. We compiled availability among medical students with Google Sheets. We tracked the name of each school we contacted, and whether or not we received a response. Once a relationship was established, that school was imputed into a new spreadsheet, which was revisited at the beginning of each school semester or school year with the focus of fostering existing relationships. To gain interest, emails and advertisements were created to recruit medical student volunteers. Communication was constant between the core group of leaders. Results Establishing connections with middle and high schools in the Grand Rapids area was pivotal in launching SPOTS at MSU. The rapid dissemination of our chapter's recognition among schools significantly fueled our expansion. To tackle the time-consuming task of forging these relationships, we strategically assigned dedicated leaders. While initiating these connections posed our greatest challenge, we quickly learned that nurturing and maintaining them was even more important. Alongside this effort, recruiting sufficient volunteers to meet the diverse needs of our partner schools presented another hurdle. Conclusion SPOTS' success underscores the importance of streamlined communication, clear leadership roles, and nurturing existing relationships in volunteer programs. By leveraging these elements, SPOTS effectively expanded its reach and impact in educating youth about skin cancer prevention. The organization's model serves as a blueprint for other initiatives, highlighting the significance of organization, leadership, and relationship-building in achieving meaningful outreach efforts.