"A star!"
"A ship!"
"A shark!"
"A penguin!"

A few lines drawn on a whiteboard are all it takes to get the active minds of students from Park Elementary School churning. Their high-spirited version of "Pictionary" was part of a visit that six fifth-graders and two staff members made to the University of Kansas School of Medicine–Wichita recently.

In addition to snacks and games, the students took home something more tangible: notebooks, pencils, erasers, crayons, backpacks, and other supplies to help them get through the new school year.

The medical school, its staff, and students have looked for ways to help neighbors for nearly as long as the campus has been in existence. In 1997, those efforts became more formalized under Kay Albright, then director of university relations, and the Employee Activities Committee.

The decision to help Park Elementary was based on a number of factors. In addition to being located nearby, Park's student body comes from some of the lowest-income families in the school district. Many have a primary language other than English and virtually all qualify for reduced or free lunch benefits.

The medical school first hosted a Christmas holiday party for second-graders at Park in 1998. Featuring gifts, refreshments, and a visit from JayDoc Santa, the event proved so successful that it became an annual tradition.

A couple of years later, the school began hosting the event on its own campus, adding entertainment in Roberts Amphitheater to the lineup. The relationship has grown, with the medical school holding graduation ceremonies for Park students at the Courtyard Grill, inviting students to trick-or-treat from office to office at Halloween, and sponsoring numerous fundraisers in the form of mitten trees, book fairs, and more. Staff and medical students have also served as mentors to their young counterparts.

During their most recent visit, Park students sipped from juice boxes and snacked on crackers before settling in -- if that's the right word -- for a highly competitive game of Pictionary that went something like this:

"A shoe!"
"A horse!"
"A puppy wearing shoes!"
"A person!"
"A dog!"
"An ugly dog!"

"There is nothing funny about my answer!" second-grader Ja'Maya insisted after one of her guesses provoked laughter from her fellow students.

Later, Ja'Maya offered that "a doctor or nurse is what I want to be."

Courtney Beuttel, a social worker at Park Elementary, helped choose students for the visit and accompanied them along with counselor Heather Zogleman. "I hope they understand appreciation, and know that there are people out there in the community that are there to help them," Beuttel said, adding that students would prepare a thank-you note for the medical school.

Kimberly, a Park student making her second visit to the medical school, left with her arms full of school supplies and one of the best guessing records in the Pictionary game.

"It's just really fun," she said.