Twice Upon a Time is happy to announce a new partnership. Six first year medical students from the University of Ottawa are joining us each Wednesday as part of the university’s CSL program. CSL is Community Service Learning, a credited educational experience that takes place in structured volunteer settings such as ours at the Argyle St. YMCA/YWCA. We are so lucky that these bilingual students have chosen to work with us from January to April, 2018.
What better combination could there be than children’s literacy and children’s health? The medical students have developed activities around topics dear to their hearts: hygiene, tooth brushing, nutrition, exercise and healthy ways to have fun. Twice Upon a Time has contributed books related to each theme so that a story time can be incorporated into each week’s active games, songs and demonstrations. And the students themselves successfully attracted a grant from the Michaëlle Jean Centre for Global and Community Engagement that will provide the team with supplies for activities! How they do all this and still keep up a first-year medical school pace, we don’t know.
During the first week, three team members got down on the floor with admiring kids and performed push-ups, stretches and jumps. Last week, three other students showed the children how to do downward-facing-dog and other stress-relieving yoga positions. They’ve promised to bring their stethoscopes for a Valentine’s day heart special.
We’re looking forward to a whole winter of great collaboration between the Taggart Y Housing Office, Twice Upon a Time and the students and staff of the medical program at the University of Ottawa.
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