Project Connect

Danny Nygren, Summer 2013

According to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, every school district in the United States is required to provide a homeless liaison to protect the educational rights of the homeless children in its area. The Cincinnati Public Schools System created the advocacy program Project Connect to fulfill the Act's requirements, as well as provide services above and beyond those outlined in the law. Since 1996, Project connect has helped thousands of students suffering from homelessness in Cincinnati receive the education they were rightfully due.

One program that Project Connect provides is a seven-week summer academic and enrichment program, or simply known to the kids as “Summer Camp.” This is where I was involved as a UHP summer intern. The camp lasted from 9-3:30 for the students, with transportation provided. A typical day would begin with “Move It in the Morning” whereas interns, we would lead the group in an exercise dance to a relevant song the kids enjoyed. Breakfast would follow, and then the academic enrichment composed of reading and math work. Next would come lunch, followed by a fun afternoon activity. This could be anything from swimming to roller-skating to playing in the park. Finally, a snack would be served and the students would then be bussed home. Some days, the camp would take whole day field trips to places such as the Cincinnati Zoo, Kings Island, the Beach Waterpark, and Coney Island.

As a UHP intern, my main responsibility was to aid the CPS teachers in the classroom and informally serve as a role model. Also, one of my goals was to complete a project that used my knowledge from the first year of medical school to help the campers. The project consisted of one lesson plan for each of the three classrooms regarding healthy wellbeing that were targeted towards their different age groups. For the 5-7 year olds, we taught them the importance of water safety around a pool, lake, or ocean. For the 8-9 year olds, we taught them different hygiene tactics to stay healthy throughout the school year. For the 10-12 year olds, we taught them the importance of nutrition when choosing different snack options. All of these lessons were incorporated in one final culminating event that occurred during the last week of camp. The students were allowed to bring their parents to the event, so we were able to reteach the students what they learned a few weeks earlier, as well as teach their parents the information too.

My favorite part of the whole experience was the time spent getting to know the students and building relationships with them. I spent the majority of my time in the 5-7 year old classroom, so I grew close with many of those children. It was really amazing to witness the hardships these kids go through, yet so many of them do not realize or care, they just want to be a kid. I think this experience aided my future career as a physician because I now know what it is like to work with a population with such different experiences than my own.