Eighty-some Seattle high-schoolers listened as author Sherman Alexie described health conditions of the Spokane Indian Reservation where he grew up. It was part of a six-week summer Upward Bound program for students from low-income families or who would be first in their families to earn a bachelor’s degree.

"My biggest goal is to get a much broader percentage of our population informed about public health," said Sara Mackenzie, assistant dean in the School of Public Health. She was charged with creating the program's core curriculum this summer.