The SALUD 2026 syllabus outlines an eight-session program designed by Duke undergraduate students through Bass Connections, in collaboration with advocates, scholars, and physicians. Rooted in SALUD’s mission to inspire Durham youth to pursue health-related professions, the program invites students to critically explore health through a social justice lens. Through community-engaged learning, mentorship, and experiential activities, students examine how health is shaped by systems, lived experience, and equity, while building the skills and confidence to imagine themselves as future health professionals and agents of change.
Session 1: Orientation & Bull City’s Health
Session Focus: The opening session welcomes students into the SALUD community and introduces the program’s purpose, values, and approach to exploring health and equity. Students begin examining how health is shaped by place, access, and social context, while building a shared foundation for learning, reflection, and collaboration throughout the program.
Students will:
Become oriented to SALUD’s mission, structure, and expectations
Begin exploring health through a community and social justice lens
Build relationships with peers, mentors, and the SALUD team
Session 2: Paths of Migration, Paths to Care
Session Focus: This session explores how migration, language, and legal status shape access to healthcare. Students examine the connections between immigration, civil rights, and health, while considering how structural barriers influence care for immigrant communities.
Students will:
Develop an understanding of how immigration status can affect healthcare access
Explore the role of language and communication in health equity
Consider ways communities and institutions can work to improve access and support
Session 3: Environmental & Food Justice
Session Focus: This session explores how environmental conditions and access to food shape health outcomes in communities. Through a justice-centered lens, students consider the connections between land, environment, culture, and health, and reflect on how structural inequities influence everyday experiences with food and place.
Students will:
Examine environmental and food access as social determinants of health
Reflect on personal and community relationships to food, land, and environment
Consider community-based approaches to advancing environmental and food justice
Session 4: Mental Health Awareness, Stigma & Coping
Session Focus: This session explores mental health through personal, cultural, and community perspectives. Students are invited to consider how stigma, stress, and access to support shape mental health experiences, while creating space for reflection, conversation, and growth. This session encourages students to reflect on their own experiences and learn how to support themselves and others.
Students will:
Build a shared understanding of mental health and well-being
Examine how culture, stigma, and social context influence mental health
Explore healthy ways individuals and communities can support one another
Session 5: Exercise & Healthy Lifestyles
Session Focus: This session explores the role of movement and lifestyle in supporting physical, mental, and community health. Students consider how access, time, and social context shape health behaviors, while reflecting on inclusive and sustainable approaches to well-being.
Students will:
Examine the benefits of physical activity for overall health and well-being
Consider barriers to healthy lifestyles at the individual and community level
Reflect on how movement and health can look different across communities
Session 6: Healthy Relationships
Session Focus: This session centers on understanding healthy and unhealthy relationship dynamics through a lens of respect, consent, and safety. Students explore how social norms, stigma, and power influence relationships, while considering the role of advocacy and community-based efforts in promoting healthy relationship practices.
Students will:
Explore characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships
Examine consent, communication, and respect in interpersonal relationships
Consider how individuals and communities can promote safety and well-being
Session 7: Sexual & Reproductive Justice
Session Focus: This session examines sexual and reproductive health through a justice-oriented lens, highlighting how access, stigma, and policy shape health outcomes for individuals and communities. Students are encouraged to think critically about equity, autonomy, and the social factors that influence reproductive health.
Students will:
Build foundational understanding of sexual and reproductive health
Explore how stigma, culture, and access affect health outcomes
Reflect on reproductive justice as a public health and human rights issue
Session 8: Closing Ceremony & Student Showcase
Session Focus: The Closing Ceremony celebrates students’ growth, learning, and completion of the SALUD program. Students share posters reflecting on what they have learned throughout the program and present their work to family members, mentors, and community guests. This session honors students’ accomplishments and marks their graduation from SALUD.
Students will:
Present reflections and insights from their SALUD experience
Share their learning with family members and the broader SALUD community
Celebrate their growth, achievements, and completion of the program
