JCC Backpack Awareness: JCC Occupational Therapy student, Daisy Gifford, demonstrated with her backpack how to determine the proper weight for your backpack to Ring Elementary School third graders. Submitted photo

“I’m going to show you how to pack a backpack properly,” said Jamestown Community College Occupational Therapy student, John Earing, to third graders in Beth Johnson’s class. “If you have a lot of file and papers, what’s the best way to pack them? You want to gather them all together and put them in one folder, that way it makes your backpack less bulky.”

John was one of three students from JCC’s Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA), along with Daisy Gifford and Caylee Shelters, who visited Ring Elementary School for Backpack Awareness Day. Daisy knew Johnson and connected to come in and talk to third and fourth graders. The students set up three stations: how to pack a backpack, what weight the backpack should be, and a coloring station highlighting backpack awareness.

“It was great to have the JCC students come into my classroom,” said Johnson. “It is so nice to have a collaboration with JCC. It not only teaches students backpack awareness but also shows them that college and occupational therapy are options for their future right here in our local community.”

Many other JCC OTA students also went out into local schools to spread awareness including: Falconer High School, Southwestern Elementary, Temple Elementary, Eisenhower Elementary and Fredonia BOCES.

The Backpack Awareness campaign was part of the OTA Program’s “Classroom to Clinic” class where students go out into the community. In addition to the school visits, the students also visit many facilities to learn about the services they provide and to whom they provide them, including: Aspire, Mental Health Association, Lutheran, Tanglewood, The Resource Center, Chautauqua Adult DayCare and Headstart. The students use their skills learned throughout the program to implement them out in the community. As occupational therapy assistant students and future clinicians, they want to help individuals of all ages to regain their independence in their activities of daily living, things that were once meaningful to them.

“It is very important for kids to learn backpack safety as they continue to grow and develop. It can cause problems to their lower and upper backs along with their shoulders, which could inhibit them from playing sports, playing outside with their friends or even things like riding a bike,” said Daisy. “When a student puts on a backpack they realize that their backpack is heavy but continue to wear it. I always had a heavy backpack and never truly knew the importance of it until now. Making sure a student’s backpack is the proper weight and size is important as we all are unique and want to prevent any issues that could potentially take us away from the things we once loved doing. As an OTA student, and to the profession, is it highly important to us to educate, educate, educate.”