Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

UO Visitors Program Part 3

Korrin B.

December 6, 2009 - 11:05 PM

As I've stated before, I have been in charge of bringing a diverse group of visitors from the University of Oregon to the elementary school that I work at this year. It is all done in an attempt to educate our children on what college is and get them excited to be a part of it. It has been going very well so far and I think that the kids are finally beginning to put together that being a Duck does not just mean you like the local football team, but also that you go to this majestic place on the other side of the river and take fun classes.

On Thursday, we had our third set of visitors kindly come in and share with our kids what they do at the UO and why they love it. Our visitors were Amelie Rousseau, the ASUO Events Coordinator, and Ben Eckstein, the ASUO executive appointee for the finance committee. Amelie and Ben shared information with our students about their work on the student government. The kids were able to see ways that they could get involved in similar programs in middle school and high school. They were very interested in what Ben and Amelie had to share with us and asked so many questions that I thought we could stay in the lunchroom all day!

I think this was a really great visit because it prompted our kids to start asking some of the questions that we, as a staff, really want them to. The kids were asking many questions about what kind of classes they can take at the UO and how long UO students got "recess" for. They were thrilled with the idea that they could create their own schedule and only attend class for two hours a day sometimes, or swing a three-day weekend every week! The kids also asked about different clubs that they could join at the UO and how they could start their own if they wanted to. Ben and Amelie were great at answering all of these questions. One kid also asked if college cost a lot of money and this was the perfect opportunity for us to reiterate that anyone in that room could go to college if they worked hard in school. We told them about scholarships and encouraged them that if it was something they wanted to do, they could.

Ben and Amelie stayed for our "filling the bucket" session. Filling the bucket is when we go around and say nice things about each other. Several kids raised their hand to thank our visitors for coming in. They get so excited when we have community visitors and it has warmed my heart to have been a part of it for the past three years.