HIGH POINT, N.C., Dec. 11, 2015 – High Point University students enrolled in Dr. Sadie Leder Elder’s Introduction to Psychology class participated in a class activity with a big impact. Through the course’s “Helping Behavior Activity,” the students assembled gift bags filled with toys for students at Parkview Elementary School.

Michelle Bodie-Anderson, community and school student support specialist at Parkview, visited the students to discuss the needs of the local children and the impact that this donation will have on them.

HPU students Brittney Meadors (left) and Keiara Powell (right) decorate the gift bags that they assembled for a Parkview student.

“I am so thankful and excited to take these gifts back to my students at Parkview Elementary,” said Bodie-Anderson. “This group of students that I work with at Parkview may not have a Christmas otherwise, so I am hoping that these bags of gifts will make their holidays brighter. I am grateful to HPU and the partnership that we have with them.”

The students in the psychology class were moved by the words of Bodie-Anderson and began to understand the broader impacts of the activity and the lesson.

“It is incredible what Mrs. B.A. is doing for her students at Parkview; I am blessed to even be a part of it,” said HPU student Graham Billings.

“I am so excited to participate in this program,” said HPU student Christian Cottrell. “Anything that this class can do and continue to do for the students at the elementary school will make a difference in their lives. I love being able to do this and I can’t wait to do more.”

Clockwise from top, HPU students Taylor Daniel, Madi Koos, Veronica Dinger and Courtney Martin decorate the gift bags they made for Parkview students.

This activity was part of a larger lesson of social psychology as it relates to helping behaviors and altruism. Elder often uses activities like this one to demonstrate real-world applications to the lessons they learn in the classroom.

“Over the past six years this Helping Behavior Activity has become a signature project for my Introduction to Psychology class,” says Elder. “Students have completed incredible feats, including making blankets for sick children through Project Linus, preparing care packages for victims of natural disasters and writing heartwarming thank you cards to U.S. troops stationed around the globe. I am particularly proud of this semester’s students as they embraced this project with open arms and have made such a difference in our own local community.”