This time of year, the halls and offices of the Public Health building are typically buzzing with activity. From those preparing for the end of the semester to students set to graduate, there’s always palpable excitement in the air. This year, dozens of children amplified the excitement as Pitt Public Health welcomed them for Take Your Child to Work Day.
The school’s first “official” Take Your Child to Work Day was more than the children of faculty and staff shadowing their parents for a typical day of work. Instead, an army of volunteers from across the school - led by Marcie Johnson-Spratt, the school’s director of special projects, planned a day of fun, learning and service for everyone.
“We wanted to give kids a chance to see what their parents do each and every day, but also make it an enjoyable experience for everyone,” says Johnson-Spratt. “We also wanted everyone to get outside of Public Health and see some of the great things Pitt has to offer.”
The day started with a scavenger hunt encompassing most departments, but activities weren’t limited to the school. Children and their parents explored the campus, including some parts that even long-tenured staffers had never visited.
“The scavenger hunt was a success,” says Monica Costlow, project manager at the Health Policy Institute. “By incorporating all of the departments, it helped the kids see how all of the disciplines in public health work together.”
Visitors to the Emerging Technology Lab in the Falk Library of Health Sciences saw how Health Science students use technologies associated with online gaming to enhance learning. The lab includes an Anatomage digital cadaveric dissection table and several VR headsets that allow users to explore gross human anatomy, patient diagnosis and treatment, and in-depth cardiovascular simulations.
Across the street from the Falk Library and School of Medicine, attendees got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Petersen Events Center and Pitt Studios, where all the action on the floor comes together for broadcast by the University and its partners like the ACC Network. The 6,000-square-foot studio houses three control rooms, video and audio editing suites and a broadcasting studio. In addition to live sports, the studios are also used by Pitt Film and Media Studies students as part of their curriculum.
Kids got to flex their creativity and muscles, creating prints with the help of the Center for Creativity’s Text & conText print shop. Housed on the third floor of the Hillman Library, the print shop features a working Columbian press. Made from cast iron in the 1880s and weighing in at more than a ton, the staff helped kids make their own Pitt-themed posters that they decorated and took home along with posters they created with the shop’s electric-powered, relatively more modern, Vandercook proof press, which was built in the 1960s.
Activities wrapped up with a tour of the famous Nationality Rooms in the Cathedral of Learning. Designed to represent and celebrate the cultures and ethnic groups of the Pittsburgh community, the 31 rooms serve as both functioning classrooms and museum-quality representations of each culture around 1787, when Pitt was founded.
“I expected to enjoy the day, but my outcome was even brighter than expected,” said Jocelyn Runyon, grants and contracts manager in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (IDM).
“My kids are already asking to do it again next year,” added IDM Assistant Professor and Vice Chair for Practice Sarah Krier.
A day at Pitt Public Health wouldn’t be complete without doing something to better our community; that is part of our mission, after all. After they had returned from their visits across campus, families took part in service projects, just like the students. Some made worry dolls that will be donated to Casa San Jose and given to migrant families transitioning to living in Pittsburgh for the first time.
They also made encouragement cards for Cards for Kids, which will be delivered to children on long-term hospital stays all over the world, Bridge Beyond, a Pittsburgh-based organization serving the city’s homeless population by providing resources to them and local shelters and the Prevention at Pitt Resource Locker, as well as friendship bracelets for friends and family.
That wasn’t the only service project, though. As they checked in for the day, each family brought shelf-stable foods for Family House, a local non-profit that provides safe, convenient living for families traveling to Pittsburgh from out of town during a loved one’s hospital stay. At the end of the day, several boxes of goods were delivered to Family House.
“This was a team effort, says Johnson-Spratt, who recognized fellow staff members Kristin Amos-Abanyie, Jess Dornin, Keri Kastner and John DeSimone, and Adrianna Gradisek.
-Mike Friend