As Director of Community Health Programs at EndoFound, I’m honored to share a quarterly dispatch celebrating the hard work of our volunteer ENPOWR Endo Educators and College Ambassadors. These community leaders share a common mission: to take matters into their own hands and change the state of endometriosis education and awareness one conversation, and one community at a time.
Since the start of the Fall 2025 school year, ENPOWR’s volunteer Endo Educators, College Ambassadors, and staff have led over 38 educational events in communities across the country. Through presentations and tabling events, the ENPOWR team has directly educated 1,716 students and distributed over 23,000 educational materials. Materials have been shipped to schools and communities in 24 states, stocking classrooms and school health offices in over 60 new schools. That's thousands of symptom cards, pamphlets, and posters now sitting in health centers, classrooms, and student organizations, ready to be there when someone needs them most.
Each presentation, community-based event, and new school reached creates ripples that will continue to spread far beyond what we can measure.
At California State University, Chico, College Ambassador Isabella Requiro brought together students from nursing, public health, and social work departments for an ENPOWR workshop featuring a talk by Endo Educator Chandelis Duster. Attendance was high and even included the university's president and the Chair of the Public Health Department. When Chandelis shared her personal endometriosis journey, “half the room” found themselves moved to tears. Isabella later shared that the group discussions that followed lasted longer than anyone expected, with campus leadership expressing strong interest in working with EndoFound more in the future. These are the moments when education transforms into real understanding, when vulnerability becomes a bridge to change.
In Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, Endo Educator Cassandra Farber, who's also a Penn State medical student, presented to the student organization "Helping People Period" at Lower Dauphin High School. After her presentation, Cassie worked alongside students to assemble free period supply boxes for every restroom in the school, tucking ENPOWR pamphlets and symptom cards inside each one. This kind of practical, student-led action makes endometriosis awareness part of the everyday fabric of school life.
Meanwhile, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, volunteer Endo Educator Rachel Oliver set up an ENPOWR table at a monthly women-focused community event called the Sisterhood Social. Over the course of three hours, more than 85 out of the 150 attendees stopped to talk with Rachel and take information about endometriosis. She shared afterwards that nurses took materials back to their doctors' offices, mothers took information for their daughters, and she made several contacts for future educational opportunities. As Rachel put it, this felt like just the beginning of opening doors in her community to share the truth about endometriosis.
At Wayne State University in Michigan, College Ambassador Angela Belanger hosted an entire Endometriosis Symposium in collaboration with the pre-health fraternity and the university's Chemistry Club. The event featured a keynote talk from EndoFound Scientific Advisory Board member Dr. Katie Burns, followed by a career panel and student poster session that brought 43 students together to connect over their shared passion for science and desire to create meaningful change in their future careers.
Another exciting development came from the Minnesota School Nurses Conference, where ENPOWR Endo Educator Shannon Norris, who serves as Treasurer for Minnesota Endo Warriors, demonstrated the powerful impact of organizational collaboration. Shannon and her fellow MN Endo Warriors hosted two tables at the recent conference for school nurses, sharing information about MN Endo Warriors, as well as distributing ENPOWR pamphlets, symptom cards, and posters to school nurses from across the state. They invited nurses to sign up their schools to receive free educational resources through ENPOWR, planting seeds that could grow into support systems for countless students.
A critical milestone was also reached at the Illinois Association of School Nurses' Virtual Fall Conference, where a physician volunteer and I delivered a professional development presentation on endometriosis to almost 200 school nurses. Each of the nurses in attendance represented at least one school, which means students who walk into their school nurse's office with unexplained pain might finally receive an answer that validates their experience, many for the first time in their lives.
And abroad, Endo Educator Sophia Tarasenko connected us with Ann-Marie La Ronde-Richard, of the Dominican Health and Education Initiative (DAHEI), which works to improve access to education and healthcare on the island of Dominica. From there, we were able to work with Convent High School in Roseau, Dominica, where new Kahoot-based ENPOWR lessons were used to teach 11 classes, educating 205 girls about menstrual health and endometriosis.
Beyond these larger gatherings, ENPOWR’s College Ambassadors continued the steady, essential work of building awareness on campuses across the nation—one conversation at a time. Lauren Bair and Endo Educator Maura Zimmer hosted a "Tea & Talk" at the College of William and Mary, while Alyssa Napoli presented to 15 students at Long Island University. Each of these events, among many others organized by Endo Educators and College Ambassadors, created intimate spaces where people feel safe to ask questions and share their own stories.
I am proud to do my part and teach the ENPOWR program in my own local schools when the opportunity arises. Every time I teach the program, I’m left with the profound feeling that we reached students who needed this information. On average, 21% of students share that they are currently experiencing symptoms of endometriosis during our anonymous student survey. Another 34% report that they know someone else who is—often friends, family members, or loved ones. But with ENPOWR, students receive information and tools to track symptoms, start important conversations, and advocate for their health. Knowledge, validation, and earlier recognition can change outcomes.
Each presentation, community-based event, and new school reached creates ripples that will continue to spread far beyond what we can measure. This is the work that changes lives, one conversation, one tearful moment of recognition, one student-assembled period supply box at a time.
