At a Glance
To raise awareness about organ and tissue donation, students in the Health Occupations program at Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School (BCAVTS) planned and implemented a school-wide carnival for their fellow students.
Description
The health occupations students at BCAVTS began planning for the carnival at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year. Three third-year students focused on the planning and implementation of the carnival for their senior projects.
The health occupations students sought donations and support from fellow students and local businesses to help minimize the costs of implementing the carnival. With the support of the administration, they asked that all BCAVTS programs participate and contribute to the carnival by creating a game that could be played at the event. Several programs created games or other goods for event:
• HVAC: Operation Game
• Computer Networking and Security: Organ Pac Man game
• Building Construction: Donation-themed Plinko game
• Health Occupations: Fishing for Organs
• Protective Services: Guess the Pulse game
• Culinary Arts: Made heart shaped cookies
• Carpentry: Organ corn hole.
• Support Services: Basket Toss
• Graphic Design: Created all vinyl designs for games, advertising posters, and T-shirts
To obtain prizes for the carnival games, students contacted local businesses for donations. Prizes included gift cards to local restaurants and gift baskets. Students also reached out to food vendors who agreed to donate a percentage of their proceeds from the carnival to the organ and tissue donation awareness cause.
The carnival took place in April during the school day. All BCATVS students could attend. During the event, the students running the carnival wore specially designed t-shirts that were designed by the graphics department at BCAVTS. Carnival attendees enjoyed playing the various carnival games, and they also participated in two other activities: a BINGO-like game titled ORGAN that aligned with the day’s theme and a team building activity.
Impact
For the health occupations students and their instructors, the carnival met many goals:
• Raised awareness about organ and tissue donation;
• Raised $1500 that was donated to the Robert P. Casey OTDA Memorial Fund;
• Created an opportunity for program collaboration across BCAVTS; and
• Provided a fun event for students.
Contact
Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School
https://www.butlertec.us/
Andrea Celender, Health Assistant Instructor
celendera@butlertec.us