41st African American Heritage Fest starts with "Uplifting" event for kids, OSU Reads.

By Daniel McNatt

Kids from Parkmoor Elementary School take part in an activity designed to teach them healthy eating habits through reading on Friday March 23rd, in the Ohio Union, Columbus, OH.

The reverberating sounds “OH-IO” are nothing new to the Ohio Union.

But when the 41st African American Heritage Festival opened up the festival this year with a private event “OSU Reads,” you could feel something different was happening in the Great Hall Meeting Room.

OSU Reads is a program designed to promote reading and education. This year OSU Reads brought approximately 125 kids in the third and fourth grade from Parkmoor Elementary School to campus for a day and was led co-chairs Teliek Chavis and Ari Horton, their sub-committee and a group of student volunteers.

The kids were able to engage in stimulating and thought provoking activities put on by the OSU Reads co-chairs and sub-committee.

Chavis said a program like OSU Reads would have been greatly appreciated if he had the opportunity to participate in one when he was in elementary school.

“It’d keep me out of trouble, keep me focused, and give me something to work towards. It kind of puts it in perspective for me that college is an option. Literature is involved in everything and I should enjoy it a little bit more,” Chavis said.

Seeing the college students engage with the kids on a personal, fun and informative manner on a college campus emphasized the possibilities that these students could have in the future and where their reading and education could take them.

Uplift, the theme for the 41st AAHF, was more than just that. It was a feeling. The enthusiasm that the kids brought was evident as student volunteers taught, laughed and encouraged the kids throughout the various activities.

Some of which were learning about healthy eating habits through the Food Pyramid and designing their own healthy meals, while also maybe figuring out their favorite foods weren’t as healthy as they had initially hoped.

“French Fries! Because they’re made with potatoes,” yelled one kid in response to being asked about their favorite healthy food.

The kids departed for a break and later transitioned into Hale Hall for the second part of their day which included lunch, hanging out with Brutus and a read aloud of the book “Look What Brown Can Do.”

The kids were accompanied by teachers from their schools who were able to express their gratitude for what this meant for their students.

“It’s trying to give the kids that confidence connecting community, connecting self, connecting their literacy content,” Deborah Mosko, fourth grade teacher at Parkmore said.

“We just came off of a very strong Black History Month in February, we did lots of activities, we wrote essays, we reenacted the Birmingham Children’s March,” Mosko said.

For these kids, the majority of whom were minority students, have already begun to learn about their history and who they are as people.

The day was a great way to start the AAHF and use the theme of “Uplift” to strengthen the bond between generations of black students from third and fourth graders to college.