In late May, in the midst of one of the strongest starts to the MLB season the Pirates have had among the last several years, Pitt Pediatrics’ CHAMP group celebrated the beginning of summer by spending a sun-soaked day at PNC Park with nearly fifty students from Arsenal Middle School. 
As part of the PNC Park’s summer education days, Arsenal students spent the morning learning about different science and engineering concepts with a number of other schools from the Allegheny County region. But before the Pirates took the field against the Texas Rangers that afternoon, CHAMP had one big surprise for the Arsenal students.
With the help of Nayli Russo-Long, PharmD, MBA, Vice President of People and Strategy for the Pirates, our Arsenal students were welcomed onto the field to personally meet with several Pirates’ players and see the field from the players’ perspective.
Students connected with third baseman Tucupita Marcano, pitcher JT Brubaker, and pitcher Duane Underwood Jr. Together, with the players, students took photos, received autographs, and got to know a little bit about some of their favorite athletes, or about the game of baseball in general. Before leaving the field, in their excitement, some students also requested autographs from and selfies with members of security and field maintenance, who happily obliged.
For many of the Spanish-speaking students, this was their first exposure with a Spanish speaking athlete like Marcano, who spent a significant amount of time talking with them. After a catered lunch, courtesy of the Russo-Long and the Pirates, students watched the hometown team take the field against the Texans, eventually returning home in the afternoon.
But a special outing to PNC Park wasn’t the only CHAMP-sponsored activity in May.
In addition to partnering with Wal-Mart to distribute wellness bags for student families complete with necessary summer essentials like sunscreen, conditioner, and band-aids, CHAMP organized a “Take Your Father To Work Day” on May 19th as part of its annual Wellness Fair.
Also in May, several local URiM physicians (physicians from underrepresented communities in medicine) visited Arsenal to discuss the human body systems the 7th graders were learning about. Talks ranged from the importance and function of these systems and how they related to various specialties, to the personal and professional journeys the physicians undertook through their medical careers.
These kinds of connections are what CHAMP was organized to help foster, and represents another step in a series of efforts to encourage the students at Arsenal to pursue careers in medicine and other STEM fields.
CHAMP will be taking a break over the summer vacation, but will resume its activities with a new group of middle schoolers at Arsenal at the beginning of the school year in August and September.
Thanks again to all those groups that have supported and worked with CHAMP over the past year, especially UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, the Children’s Hospital Foundation, Wal-Mart, Aldi, the PwC Charitable Foundation, the Center for Cardiac Arrest Survival, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and many other community organizations.
Special congratulations to the leadership of CHAMP for a successful year, including our Children’s Hospital faculty of Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, MD, MPH, FAAP, Noel Spears, MD, MPH, Orquidia Torres, MD, MS, and Arsenal Middle School staff of Tara Maddex and Nurse Cassandra Brown. Thank you to participating medical students, and CHAMP’s project coordinator, Jess Hammill.
Look for updates and photos from the past year on Pitt Pediatrics’ Twitter over the course of the summer months.