Summer GEARUP Program Cooking Up Good Deeds

Seventh-and-eighth-grade students from the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) are serving up some support for families staying at Cincinnati’s Ronald McDonald House. As part of a special Cincinnati GEARUP Success Partnership summer program, the students will prepare lunch – served buffet-style – from

11 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, June 27-29,

at the Ronald McDonald House, located at 350 Erkenbrecher Ave. 

GEARUP, short for “Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs,” is a federally funded partnership that provides support, services and activities for more than 3,600 students in 24 Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), encouraging them to continue their education through college. The local $2.2 million partnership is comprised of UC, CPS, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, Cincinnati Parents for Public Schools and the Cincinnati Enquirer. The partnership holds summer programs and camps at UC and at Cincinnati State.

UC GEARUP Director Steffi Cappel says students learned their way around the kitchen last week during a special GEARUP summer program at the Midwest Culinary Arts Institute at Cincinnati State, a partnership with the University of Cincinnati.

GEARUP students participating in this week’s summer program represent Bond Hill Academy, Central Fairmount, Douglass, George W. Hays, Heberle, Oyler, Riverview East, Rockdale Academy, Rothenberg Preparatory, South Avondale, Washington Park and Whittier schools.

“Families at the Ronald McDonald House place their priorities on their ill child, so lunch needs to be ready at their convenience,” Cappel says. “Leftovers are stored and labeled for reheating.”

Cappel predicts the students’ least favorite part of the experience will be the cleanup. “Students are responsible for washing pots and pans, washing the dishes, cleaning up the kitchen, and sweeping and mopping the floor.”

The students will wrap up their visit with a tour of the Ronald McDonald House, which provides a “home away from home” for families from around the world who have children staying in Cincinnati hospitals.