Last year, GlobeMed HQ launched a brand new, regional chapter coaching model, with a cohort of GlobeMed alumni providing accessible and customized support to GlobeMed chapter leaders and partnerships. Coaches serve as the main GlobeMed HQ point of contact and support for chapters; provide holistic coaching to the chapter leadership team (co-presidents & e-board) and facilitate strong partnerships; and connect chapters with others regionally in the GlobeMed network.
This year’s cohort of coaches includes five new chapter coaches — Aria Vyas, Adam Ricker, Mridula Bethi, Jonathan Castaneda, and Miriam Pierce — and two returning Senior Chapter Coaches — Gloria Wowolo and Bhavana Suvarna.
As we kick off a new academic year, we asked our program managers and chapter coaches to share their vision and goals for chapter coaching. Here’s what they had to say:
Senior Chapter Coaches: Gloria, Bhavana
As a previous chapter coach, what have you learned within your role and what are some things that you would like to improve upon or emphasize this upcoming school year?
Gloria: This year, I’ve learned that no two chapters are the same and support needs to be tailored in a way that allows chapters to operate to the best of their ability! This has led to great conversations about ways to improve and how chapters should get out of their comfort zones sometimes in order to learn and dig deeper to better understand the deep implications of social injustices. I hope to continue to have these conversations and connect with more chapter members. I’d also like to encourage students to think more about systems change and how their identities can allow them to impact the world in different ways!
Bhavana: This past year, I learned about the importance and power of big, open-ended questions that serve to guide rather than dictate. Chapter leaders know their chapters and their communities best, and I discovered that my role was really to create a space for conversations that help chapter leaders reflect, strategize, and decide how they’re moving forward. I have also learned a lot about the needs of students across our network, and this has given me a lot to think about in terms of using my role as coach to best support and uplift chapters in the ways they needed. The structure for coaching didn’t exist all last year — we really created it as we went, and this was my first time working in this kind of role, where we were continuously reflecting as we moved forward. This year, I would really like to improve upon what I’ve learned about mentoring, and live by a strengths-based mindset the best I can! I would also love to do more story collecting — our chapters are doing such wonderful things across the board, and I would love to amplify opportunities for us to learn from one another in the network.
Two of our new Chapter Coaches: Aria, Mridula
Being members of GlobeMed during your time at college, what would you like to bring into your role as a chapter coach from your experiences in your chapter?
Aria: As an alum, there are so many experiences, lessons, and ideas I’d like to bring into my role as a chapter coach, it’s hard to identify them all. I think the largest one however is the passion that my chapter helped foster in me. My chapter shaped me to become someone who felt a part of the globemed family, a family with a shared passion towards not only GlobeMed and our partner, Set Her Free, but also towards social justice, health equity, public health, and more. I hope to bring that passion into my role as a chapter coach; I feel that it was the center of all the experiences I had at GW GlobeMed and I’m excited to work with other chapters as they have their own experiences and find their place as well!
Mridula: While my entire experience at GlobeMed has been incredibly formative, I think my GROW internship was the most eye-opening. It was surreal to see the partnership model creating an impact within the community. Re-visiting my GROW memories makes me even more invigorated to share the stories and passion for GlobeMed with other chapters to continue building a stronger network globally.
Program Managers: India, Lydia
What is something that you are excited to work on with the chapter coaches this year?
India: I am first and foremost excited to get to know the chapter coaches; each one is unique and will bring various strengths to the role. I am looking forward to helping them find their style of mentorship and continue to develop it over the course of this year. I want them to not only see the benefit in utilizing their past chapter-level experiences but also see the advantage of approaching a situation in a new way. I am ready to lead them on their journey of mentorship, personal reflection, and continuous learning as they work with chapter leaders to do the same.
Lydia: After completing a year of chapter coaching, I’m excited to build on the successes of this past pilot year and continuing amplifying the multitude of opportunities that exist to increase avenues of support between GHQ and chapter leaders. The team moving into coaching roles this year is an incredibly talented and passionate team and I look forward to the ideas and feedback they’re going to bring to the table as we continue to think about how we implement strengths-based coaching.
