Education PhD Candidate Stephanie Zito wins Principal's Prize for Public Engagement

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier has announced the 2022 winners of the Principal’s Prize for Public Engagement through Media. Stephanie Zito, a PhD candidate in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, was announced as the winner of the Prize for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows for her work in using social media to build healthy coping mechanisms during the pandemic. Zito, building from her own experiences of anxiety during the pandemic, created the selfcare spotlight to share evidence-based information, mainly through social media, about healthy coping mechanisms with students and schools.

With societal levels of anxiety and depression climbing due to the ongoing COVID situation, Stephanie Zito, saw a need to do some outreach. She used her digital prowess to provide social media posts, affirmations, and infographics, to advise people on some thought-provoking tips and tricks for improved mental health. Today, @selfcarespotlight has more than 400,000 followers on Instagram. 

About the Principals' Prize for Public Engagement through Media:

The prize was created to recognize exceptional scholars who share their knowledge with the media and the public, whether about sustainability, politics, music, science and engineering or COVID-19. The competition, in which awards are given to individuals and groups at all stages in their academic careers, is now in it’s sixth year and underlines the University’s commitment to public-facing scholarship. The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony on April 29, 2022, at the McGill Faculty Club.