The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS When Michigan women's basketball senior center Val Driscoll was a sopho- more, she had not yet found an aca- demic pursuit that really piqued her interest and was still looking for a major. Her teammate Kendra Seto, now a fifth-year senior center on the team, was in a psychology class in which she traveled to an elementary school in De- troit and worked with children. "Kendra talked about that class all the time," Driscoll said. "The more I heard from her, the more I wanted to take that class. It sounded like an amazing expe- rience and opportunity to give back to the community and work with kids, to have that hands-on experience. You have fun doing it, and it is a class, and you get credit for doing it. It sounded great." Driscoll signed up for the class the following semester — and it was ex- actly what she was looking for. Since the second semester of her sophomore year, Driscoll has tried to take at least one class every semester in which she got to work with children in a hands-on capacity. In her first class, she went to Detroit twice a week and worked with kids at an after-school program. "I really enjoy these classes where you get to go into other schools," Driscoll said. "Right now, I am taking a class where I get to go to Pittsfield Elemen- tary twice a week and work with stu- dents. "Whatever is going on during the day, I take a group of kids, and I will lead whatever activity they are doing. I am in a kindergarten classroom right now, so it is a lot of drawing or coloring or read- ing books or crafts. It is so much fun." Through these types of classes, Driscoll has worked with different age groups, from kindergarten to fourth grade, and in different settings, from classroom work to afterschool pro- grams. "I did one at the community center in Hamtramck, Mich.," Driscoll said. "In that one, it was kids of all ages. It was a sum- mer course, so it was more of a camp Student-Athlete Of The Month Women's Basketball Senior Val Driscoll Driscoll said she wants to go into a field where she can work with kids, such as being a counselor, teacher or coach. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS