UC s Learning Communities Ensure Young Hospital Patients Don t Miss a Halloween Treat

First-year students in 20 of the University of Cincinnati’s Learning Communities are making sure young hospital patients will get to celebrate Halloween.

A Halloween grab-bag project, led by Learning Community peer leader Danielle Lumpkin of Anderson Township, will have approximately 300 UC freshmen busy this week, as they decorate and fill special Halloween bags to go to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center on Oct. 27.

Nearly 290 bags this week will be hand-decorated and filled with goodies that include a coloring book, crayons, stickers, a smiley-face yo-yo, animal-print sunglasses and a goldfish keychain. The students, as well as the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH), and the UC Future Educators Association (a student organization to foster the love of teaching), are donating money to cover the $525 cost of the grab-bag project. Students in 20 of UC’s Learning Communities comprised of students from CECH, the College of Allied Health Sciences, McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, College of Engineering and Honors Scholars, are decorating the grab bags.

UC’s Learning Communities are groups of approximately 12-to-22 first-year students who take two or more courses together. They also meet twice a week with their peer leader. Learning Communities build both academic and social support for the students so that they form connections on campus and achieve their college degree. The peer leaders, like Lumpkin, a 19-year-old elementary education major, encourage the freshmen to take their learning beyond the classroom through discussions and social activities.

“I hope this activity inspires the CECH students to help children,” Lumpkin, a second-year student, says. “I think part of being a good teacher is the care you have for children and the desire to help them, and this goes for all children, not just the ones these future teachers will have in their classroom,” says Lumpkin, who developed the idea for the project and coordinated the planning over the past month.

This fall, UC’s learning communities are marking their seventh year at UC as a university-wide initiative, with 90 learning communities and 1,504 first-year students enrolled in learning communities for fall quarter. UC’s Learning Communities are coordinated through the Center for First-Year Experience and Learning Communities.

Students are decorating the grab-bags through Oct. 25. The bags will be delivered to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center the morning of Oct. 27 (Media note: patients cannot be photographed).