Trinity School of Medicine Students Combine Study Break and Outreach, Host Carnival at Children's Home

Trinity School of Medicine's student group "Kid Companions" returned to the St. Benedict Day Nursery and Children's Home in Georgetown, St. Vincent at the end of November, continuing their service, this time, to host a carnival for the home's residents.

Since it's founding in February of 2016, Kid Companions has made regular visits to St. Benedict Day Nursery and Children’s Home (the last being in early October). Each visit is organized to provide entertainment and support of a different kind, and includes activities like playing games, coloring, and painting. While Trinity's involved students are very busy with their own medical education, they still endeavor to add a new element of support, stability, and fun for the home's residents.

Co-president Emily Satkovich noted, “This is my third term at Trinity, I've been coming to the home since term one. The kids know me now, and it's a great feeling. They’re beginning to recognize Trinity as a group as well, that bond is really forming. That bond is really important.  Seeing new faces is great, but there’s something comforting in the consistency of knowing the Kid Companions group is coming. The kids know that (for a few years, at least) they can rely on specific people coming to see them.”  Co-president Shirley Samuel reinforced this, “Every time we come, there is a constant reminder for these kids that we care; that we love them.  They get really excited to spend time with us.  The students really enjoy coming here to be with the children, too. How could you not? It is so evident in the way they interact with them.”

The most recent trip, a carnival, was another hit.  Upon arriving at the home, Trinity's visiting companions split themselves up into groups, switching off spending time with the kids while others set up ring toss, water balloon toss, Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and face painting.  Additionally, a winner’s area was set aside where the children would collect their tokens after completing each game.

Each student paired up with a child, and the crowd moved on the playground to experience what term three student, Obie Kouider, called it, "A huge success."  St. Benedict's residents laughed, ran around, played, and fully took part in the carnival. The experience, according to Emily Satkovich, was positively life changing.  “A carnival was a great way to bring all the kids together to be involved with each ot her as well as the students from Trinity. It looks like they really had a lot of fun."

Trinity student and Kid Companion member Dallas Boodhoo was moved by the experience, “The kids had a great time, and the break was so therapeutic for us," prompting Co-president Shirley Samuels to add, “We're in medical school, we're always busy, but we take the time for these kids.”

The consensus was clear among students: medical school is a long, rigorous process that challenges them daily to strive to absorb information and understand it deeply, and breaks from that, when possible, are essential for success. And while philanthropy is admirable, sometimes it can get lost along the way, never for Trinity students, though.

Students at Trinity School of Medicine consistently use their free time to better the greater community of St. Vincent and in doing so, they have learned a crucial secret to success in medicine: service to others reinvigorates you like no other use of your time.