This semester’s Spring Break at NYU Buenos Aires meant a special visit from North America to South America, when 22 undergraduate students from Steinhardt Honors Program came for a full week of experiential learning, lectures with local experts and visit to compare birth and parenting practices and children’s development across cultures in New York and Buenos Aires. The hands on fieldwork in Argentina was part of the NY-based course “Survey of Developmental Psychology,” which has a parallel offering through NYU Buenos Aires’ curriculum too.
The schedule of activities included a community service day, which took the group and their professor and academic assistants to Hogar Nuestra Señora de Valle, a children’s shelter, where the aim was to paint a colorful mural for the entranceway.
Hogar Nuestra Señora del Valle is an institution providing shelter, food and education as well as some health and psychological support services to minors in precarious circumstances. Currently 33 children receive care in this home, where a team of 49 professionals and advanced students of psychology and social work all join forces to provide basic needs as well as scholastic and life skills for a fresh start. The 22 students from NYU-NY, led by Steinhardt Professor Gigliana Melzi, worked with the Hogar’s staff to plan the mural’s color schemes before painting. The entire cheerful project was completed in 3 hours – two dozen pairs of hands makes for fast artistry!
The project was a worthy hands-on experience of how children in vulnerable social situations are given aid and motivation. Plus, the visitors had opportunity to create a public piece of art. This teamwork shows how community environments and shared public space can be changed for the better in just a couple hours when all work together.
The students had a fantastic time painting, their artwork came out stunningly (as you can see in the photos), and they made a meaningful, lasting impact on this local community in Argentina. Thanks to these students’ initiative and energetic teamwork, many children can have their days brightened by this beautiful vibrant façade for a colorful, even happier new home.
Thank you, Steinhardt Dean’s Global Honors Seminar!