Ohio State students brightened the day of some lower-income middle school children in Columbus yesterday.
The Alpha Xi Delta sorority sisters and ROTC students were paired with middle-school students who live in the Southside and Hilltop areas of Columbus. The pairs worked together in a variety of activities, including relay races, a trivia challenge, a Fear Factor style food challenge and a low ropes course.
The mentors were given a chance to talk with children about things such as their plans for the summer and their career goals.
“I have always worked with kids and there are not many opportunities to do so in college,” said Derek Connor, a ROTC student and sophomore in neuroscience. “I saw this and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to make an impact in a kid’s life.”
This was the second event in the Mentoring Spectacular Initiative, a program that pairs college students with middle-school students from lower-income areas in Columbus. The first event took place May 6.
“At the last event we showed the kids around campus and this event is more team-oriented,” said John Warner, a ROTC students and junior in history. “We are working more interactively with the kids.”
The kids have already learned things from their mentors.
Odessa Malone said her mentor has told her how fun college is and about the opportunities going to college can give someone.
“Our focus is to teach lower-income kids about the university. We want a chance to give them a college role model since most of these kids do not have people around them at home that have gone to college,” said Matt Wood, program coordinator for the Columbus Mentoring Initiative, the group that organized the Mentoring Spectacular Initiative.
“Our philanthropy is based on children, and this is a way to get involved with kids and have fun. We have been able to get the whole house involved between the two days,” said Danielle Watson, Alpha Xi Delta president and junior in finance. “But our main focus is to show these kids the college opportunity and what it’s all about.”
The children love coming to campus and being with the college students, said Donavan Gresham, program director of the Columbus Southside youth program.
“They really looked forward to coming here today. This program has taken away the myth for the kids that you need to be a genius to go to college and made going to college a goal for them,” Gresham said.
Gresham said the goals of these children have changed. They used to just want to graduate high school, and now they want to go to college, he said.
