Together, We Succeed.

Written by: Dr. Dana Winters

And we’re off! Over the next two weeks, Dr. Junlei Li and I will be supervising a group of seven students on an educational service trip through China. The students come from a variety of backgrounds and majors – from early childhood education to psychology to biology – and have all worked with us for the last few years in the Incubator 143 Research Lab at the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College. We all look forward to learning as much as we can while visiting preschools and kindergartens, village orphanages for children with disabilities, and community hospitals through Shanghai, Qingdao, and Beijing. Over the last year, the students have been working together to prepare for our journey – training with Simple Interactions, an initiative of the Fred Rogers Center that promotes and affirms the human connections between adults and children as the foundational building block of children’s development, learning about Chinese culture and history, and considering how we can best be helpful and spread the legacy of Fred Rogers through neighborhoods different from our own. As we travel and learn together, we will share our experiences and journey, our own learning and growing, and the importance of carrying Fred Rogers’ legacy of helpful appreciation across geographical borders. #FredWithoutBorders

Dr. Dana Winters, Director of Simple Interactions and Academic Programs, Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College