2011 Awarded Grants

Amanda Cain, class of 2013, majors in Health and Exercise Science. Her project, Dynamics of Change: The Implications of Treatment-Seeking Behavior in the Deep-Rural of South Africa, involved surveying a rural community in the Limpopo province of South Africa regarding treatment seeking behavior, specifically whether they choose traditional healing over Westernized medicine.

“I also surveyed healthcare professionals in both the private and public sector and community traditional healers about the patterns of treatment-seeking behavior. Based upon the data I have collected, I am analyzing how traditional treatment-seeking behavior may be incorporated into South Africa’s national health care plan. The scholarship granted by the ACCIAC has made my entire project to possible. It gave me the ability to access a deep-rural community in which the villagers have seen few Americans, let alone an American student. Therefore, it broadened both my perspective and provided deeper insights into healthcare in a remote part of the world.” View report.
Mentors: Dr. Peter Brubaker, Health and Exercise Sciences (Wake Forest University) and Dr. Ed Stashko (Duke University)

Pooja Patel, a 2011 Communication Major, completed a critical analysis of Disney’s most renowned Princesses; studying the films’ conventions, plots, and characters (i.e., the Princess image). The analysis of these films is important because they serve as the source for millions of children in
forming their notions and beliefs about love, personal identity, morals, right and wrong.

Patel writes of her award: The ACCIAC grant provided me the rare opportunity to study film scripts and to learn about the craft of screenwriting in a manner that would not otherwise have been possible. I am grateful to the ACCIAC for giving me a launching pad for what I hope to be a lifetime as a screenwriter in children’s films. View report.
Mentor: Dr. James Hans, Department of English

Jawad Wahabzada, a Communication/Film Studies Major, writes of his documentary, Unnoticed: Children of Kabul: “I traveled to Afghanistan to produce a short documentary film for the purpose of raising the awareness of the plight of young Afghan children, particularly the warorphaned,
with emphasis on specific factors that force these children onto the streets and into child labor. The aim is to produce a film of sufficient quality and appeal that its showing can produce revenues that can be directed toward improving the plight of some of these children.

Although we are still in the post-production phase of the documentary film, the project has received considerable attention from CNN International (http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/26/child-labor-inkabul/?iref=allsearch), Hollywood director/producer/screenwriter Joe Carnahan, and other individuals from around the world. In addition to submitting it to various film festivals and holding screenings in different communities, CNN International would like to broadcast the documentary worldwide as part of its CNN Freedom Project. View report.
Mentor: Lecturer Cindy Hill