"Wow, so many students!", one of the pupils of OBS Delfshaven shouts, when told that there are more than 30,000 students studying at our university. In February, elementary school pupils of OBS Delfshaven, accompanied by student volunteers from the Move Foundation, came to our campus for a scavenger hunt. Stichting Move is committed to equity, civic education and talent development of children in the Netherlands. By supporting meetings between groups of people, they hope to reduce the distance in society between groups of different social and cultural backgrounds. After the student volunteers showed the pupils their student house earlier in the day, they were taken to campus Woudestein to show where students “go to school”.
On campus, the pupils got to go on a scavenger hunt, put together by EUR's Academic Outreach Programme. The goal of this program is to make university more accessible to (prospective) students for whom that path is not obvious. Rajiv Mahadew, City Engagement Officer Outreach: "This scavenger hunt is a great example of how we introduce young children to and enthuse them about going to university. At the same time, we are making valuable connections with organizations in the city as partners in combating opportunity inequality and disadvantage. In addition, the pupils just have a really fun day. And you already see so much curiosity and talent in the children, that’s beautiful to see."
After forming different groups, it was finally time to get started. During the scavenger hunt, pupils got to see the entire campus: from the hairdresser, through the food court, down the rainbow path to the library and then to the campus garden to take a moment to wave at the bees. The scavenger hunt ended at the statue of Erasmus in the Erasmus Building. After the scavenger hunt, pupils talked about the campus. "I didn't know it was so big here," says one of them. "You can get bubble tea here!" another pupil enthusiastically exclaims to her classmate. Move's student volunteers were also very excited about the scavenger hunt: "The pupils really enjoyed it. We should do collaborations like this more often." As the pupils leave the Erasmus building, one pupil says to his teacher: ''Teacher, in seven years I will come here to study too, I promise!''
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