Dasia and about 170 of Lewton Elementary School’s fourth and sixth graders were able to skate on the same ice rink the MSU hockey team uses and take off a few hours of school with the help of Project Green & White volunteers, said Justine McCauley, a special education assistant at Lewton Elementary School.

The MSU student group works with local schools to bring opportunities to children, some of whom might not otherwise be able to have these experiences. Project Green & White has helped put on events including Safe Halloween, which gave the children a chance to trick-or-treat because it might not be safe to do in their own neighborhoods.

The children were encouraged to wear MSU gear to the event and find a volunteer to be their MSU buddy.

Taryn Racine, an accounting sophomore and event planning team lead for Project Green & White, helped organize the event.

“For a lot of these kids, this is the first time they’ve ever been ice skating so it’s really fun to be able to open their eyes to new experiences,” Racine said.

Leah Blake, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Lewton Elementary School and Lansing resident, said she was nervous about ice skating for the first time. She said she was talking about being excited to ice skate with her friends.

Rae Reinhart, a marketing junior and marketing team lead for Project Green & White, said the programs encourage children to think about college from a young age.

Dasia said she wants to go to school at MSU and study to be a veterinarian.

“I think it’s a really super-good college to go to if you want to focus on what you want to do when grow up,” Dasia said.

Melissa Waligorski, a fourth-grade teacher at Lewton Elementary School, said it is good for the children to be challenged and try something new, especially at MSU.

“Every chance students get to interact with the university (and) think beyond high school and middle school (is good),” she said. “(It) makes it real, not just a place they dream about.”