Health Science Center faculty, staff and students donated almost 500 hours to community service as a part of United To Serve (UT Serve). UT Serve is a University of Texas System-wide volunteering initiative to engage and mobilize thousands of volunteers in the community.
Each campus formed an organizing committee consisting of administrators and students, and selected projects unique to its community needs.
Benjamin DuBois, UT Serve representative, said the Health Science Center chose Project T.E.A.C.H. (Teaching Everyone About Creating Healthiness) as its campus wide event. Each school within the Health Science Center also chose its own volunteer event.
“Our goal for Project T.E.A.C.H. was to provide valuable learning experience to local elementary, middle and high school students within the Northside Independent School District about various topics in health and health care,” DuBois said.
Project T.E.A.C.H. volunteers created lesson plans for the classes they were scheduled to teach. Some lesson plans included question-and-answer sessions while others incorporated physical activities.
“In one fifth-grade class, we had the students do 25 jumping jacks,” DuBois said. “Then they were told to hold their noses and breathe through a straw, which simulated obstructive lung disease. Most students found that they couldn’t take more than two or three breaths.”
Lessons varied in subject matter and included dental hygiene, nutrition and reading food labels, physical and occupational therapy careers, and alcohol and tobacco.
“Students were very interested in learning about drugs,” he said, “and almost every class wanted to talk about what it was like to work in the medical field. I am glad that we could provide an active discussion and answer some questions that may have persuaded them to live healthier lives.”
This marked the first year of Project T.E.A.C.H.
“I am very pleased at the way it turned out,” DuBois said. “I hope this is the start of a community service event in which Health Science Center faculty, staff and students can participate for years to come.”
For more information on UT Serve, visit
www.uthscsa.edu/univrel/utserve.
