To kick off this summer, Ross Medical Education Center of Lafayette, Indiana took on the challenge to help out their community and keep the learning going throughout the summer! They decided to contribute by inviting each of the students and staff members to bring in a children’s book to donate to the local Kindergarten Countdown Camp offered by the United Way.
Kindergarten Countdown Camp is a free four week summer program to help children with little or no preschool experience. Oftentimes, students that have not attended preschool before going on to kindergarten struggle transitioning to the schedule and organization of school. This is an opportunity for those students to have a little bit of experience to take with them into their first year of school.
At the Kindergarten Countdown Camp, campers attend a half day of school and begin to learn to adjust to the routines of a typical school day. At camp, children receive a free, healthy breakfast or lunch, are transported to and from school by a school bus, and receive school supplies and backpack to use at school. At the end of each week, each student also has the opportunity to select a new book to take home and share with their family as they create their own personal library. The goal set by the United Way for this year’s camp is 2000 books that will be distributed to students.
During their drive, the Ross Lafayette campus successfully collected over 120 children’s books to contribute to this awesome camp hosted by the United Way! The staff was very proud of their campus and the way that everyone came together to support these kids and help prepare them for kindergarten in the fall. Reading is one of the major skills learned in kindergarten, and even at camp many students begin to master writing their names and recognizing letters. The books that they are able to take home and read with their families will go that much further in helping them to start their educational career on the right foot.