Members of the Public Health Student Association chose to be on Chamberlain Field to talk to students about National Public Health Week. Photo courtesy of Emma Sampson.
Every year during National Public Health Week, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Public Health Student Association (PHSA) aims to educate the campus community on a variety of health topics.
This year, the PHSA hosted an overarching event that would do more than educate; it would serve the local community.
Mocs Sole Support allowed students to drop off shoes and clothing for donation to the local nonprofits Soles4Souls and First Things First.
Emma Sampson, manager of the Department of Health and Human Performance’s Master of Public Health program and faculty adviser for PHSA, said even a single shoe can make a difference.
“There are so many positive outcomes from donating your clothes, no matter how small,” Sampson said. “It can go a long way and I loved that the students came up with it on their own.”
The group collected more than 30 pairs of shoes and 10 bags of clothing. Sampson called it a “huge success.”
“This was our first time doing it and we had such a great turnout,” she said. “I think that it’s an awesome way to get students involved, even if they couldn’t come to the big event. They could come and donate whenever throughout the week. We want to meet students where they’re at.”
Recent graduate Cat Russert served as co-president of the PHSA and received her Master of Public Health during the spring 2026 commencement ceremonies.
She enjoyed educating the UTC campus.
Shoes collected during the event.
“I decided to pursue public health because I like working with the public,” Russert said. “Part of that is engaging with other people and trying to get them to do things for their community.”
Educating the public came in the form of table games and activities, including trivia during the event. The PHSA partnered with the UTC Center for Wellbeing to provide prizes to participants.
“We had a lot of people come by asking us questions about public health,” Russert said. “We had a wheel where they could spin, they’d answer a question, and would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, a question that’s going to be so hard. I don’t know anything about public health.’
“When people started to play the game, they were like, ‘Oh, that was a lot easier than I thought.’ People don’t realize that public health is intuitive.”
Russert highlighted the health resources available on campus and encouraged students to research the PHSA if interested in joining the organization.
“There are so many initiatives just on campus that are public health oriented, like the Center for Wellbeing, or financial wellness organizations that students can visit and get in contact with someone,” she said.
“We do things for the community like a shoe drive or a fundraiser for breast cancer research, but it’s a little hard because graduate students are pulled in so many directions. If more people would like to learn more and be part of it, that would be great.”
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