Ohio University students have a dorm room or apartment to go back to each night and relax, but some people in Southeastern Ohio — and the world — don’t have that luxury.
Three Days on the Streets, an event put on by the Campus Involvement Center and Good Works, Inc., will simulate to students and staff the challenges of being homeless in Southeast Ohio.
The event will consist of three 15-minute days and three five-minute nights. Participants will be presented with a personal profile representing a struggling individual and will then be given challenges that they need to overcome, such as finding food or shelter.
“We’re going to try to make it as realistic as possible,” said Sarah Devonshire, a senior studying biological science and Service Living member who will be helping to conduct the simulation. “You’re given an identity, you’re acting as a real person.”
There will be about 15 individuals that run the simulation and play the roles of potential obstacles. Sixty participants will then have to interact with these “obstacles.” Some individuals will find themselves in contact with jails, hospitals and food banks.
Students will only be faced with possible time in a jail or hospital as a struggling individual in the simulation, but the reality is, for some people, a constant threat.
“People don’t realize that it’s an everyday struggle (for homeless individuals),” Devonshire said.
The simulation is also meant to teach participants about the misconceptions of homelessness. Maggie Krueger, president of Service Living, a senior studying journalism and a former Post reporter, said there is a stigma that it’s the individual’s fault they’re homeless.
“This is a local issue,” Krueger said. “If you see someone who is living in poverty you treat them with respect.”
Krueger also said the event is going to show students why it’s so hard to get out of poverty and homelessness. Roadblocks in the simulation will represent the reasons why so many people in Southeast Ohio continue to live in their current conditions.
After the event, an in-depth discussion will take place. Participants will reflect on their experiences and talk about anything they learned throughout the process.
Devonshire mentioned that although the event is just a simulation, and by far not the real thing, the effort put into the event will help incite the way OU students think about poverty and homelessness. Service Living hopes that students are left with a whole new mindset on the subjects of poverty and homelessness after the simulation.
“As students we often live in a bubble on campus,” Krueger said. “We should get to know the region and history of the place we’re all living in for four years.”
@tiffanytouville
tt315212@ohiou.edu
If You Go:
What: Three Days on the Streets
When: 2 p.m., Thursday
Where: Baker Ballroom
Admission: Free
