Project Connect

Leah Gilligan, Summer 2014

This summer I worked as an UHP intern at Project Connect, a program run by Cincinnati Public Schools that serves children and families who are homeless in Cincinnati. A lack of stable housing makes it challenging for children to attend the same school for an entire year and thus receive a thorough education. Project Connect works to bridge this gap. During the summer, it runs a day camp for children aged 5 through 12 that includes academics, enrichment, and field trips. The purpose of camp is to provide a safe, productive, and fun place for children experiencing homelessness.

As a UHP intern at Project Connect, I spent my time working in the 8 and 9 year old classroom. My role was to be a mentor, role model, teacher, and friend and to promote healthy living along the way. On the playground I choreographed and taught “Move it in the Morning” dances to promote physical activity. In the classroom I worked with the lowest level students to help them with reading and math. I also led one lesson in each of the three classrooms that focused on an age appropriate health topic: summer safety for the 5-7 year olds, hygiene for the 8 and 9 year olds, and mental health for the 10-12 year olds.

During the last week of camp, the culminating event took place, where the families of the campers joined us at camp for a day. As part of this event, I set up a health fair with various booths. One activity was for the 5-9 year olds and taught proper hand washing technique using Glogerm, a fluorescent lotion that lights up under a black light to show areas that were missed with washing. The activity for the 10-12 year olds was pretend grocery shopping and taught nutrition and healthy decision-making. In this activity the children got a pretend $5 bill to pick out and “purchase” one healthy food item from each of the five food groups from a table filled with different foods. Another booth was set up for the parents to write out a healthy goal for their family to try to achieve during the upcoming school year. There was another station for everyone: make your own healthy snack, fruit kabobs and ants on a log. The event was a success! The children had lots of fun, and the parents were so grateful for the food.

This summer I learned how rewarding it is to become involved in the life of a child. Over the course of a mere 7 weeks, I got to know all the kids in my class. Although instability at home has affected them, forcing them to grow up and face unimaginable challenges, they still remain children, wanting to have fun and enjoy life, not yet totally tainted by the harshness of our world. Looking to the future, I hope they carry with them the positive, healthy relationships we built and good times we shared, as I know I will.