2008 Woodie Awards
Young at heart, third graders spend a day as college students
Rachael Yarmosh
Issue date: 4/27/06 Section: News
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Amy Ricci, a mentor to first year students here at SHU, organized the second annual Young at Heart day.
"In our office, along with helping the first year students through their transition from high school to college, each mentor plays a role in planning events, lectures and programs for freshmen to participate in throughout the school year. One of my responsibilities was to organize our second Annual Young at Heart day and gather freshmen as well as upperclassmen, clubs/organizations and staff from Sacred Heart to volunteer their time and expertise for the day," said Ricci.
Young at Heart day is organized and hosted by the Mentor Office, but with the help from Sr. Donna Dodge in the Office of Mission and Planning and Phyllis Machledt in the Service Learning and Volunteer Office it all comes together.
The day began when three local elementary schools- John Winthrop School, Luis Munoz Marin School and Bryant School brought their third grade students to our campus to participate in activities led by students and faculty here. By each school bringing between 50 and 75 third graders to Sacred Heart, we accommodated nearly 200 children as well as their teachers and chaperones.
The way the day worked is every school was broken into several groups consisting of 4-7 children and assigned a "buddy" for the afternoon. "Buddies are student volunteers. In order to be a Buddy, students were asked to sign up through our office. We then had training meetings the week of the event, giving the Buddies helpful hints on how to lead a group of third graders and what their role and responsibilities would be on that day," said Ricci.
"The children participated in physical, educational and artistic related activities all run by student clubs/organizations and various departments around campus," said Ricci. Such events included Kickball led by the Intramural Department, Freeze Dance led by Beta Delta, Scavenger Hunts led by the Student Alumni Association, a Math Egg Hunt led by Zeta Iota Lambda, Reading led by the Library staff, a Math Bee led by Nicole Faison & Melissa Sanders- RHD's, Friendship/Teambuilding activity led by the National Honor Society of Psychology, History Jeopardy led by the History Club, Macaroni Necklaces led by the Italian Club, Transparent Ornaments led by the Greek Senate, Playing with the Band led by the Band Council and Martial Arts led by Martial Arts Club to name a few.