More than 50 Douglass Elementary school students have learned that the power to stay germ free is in their hands — literally.

The kindergarten and first graders have been mentored by students within two departments — Public Health and Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) — at Temple’s College of Health Professions.

The mentoring is part of a collaboration between Drs. Rena Krakow, Brian Goldstein, and Brad Collins called “Kids Write and Create,” which seeks to increase literacy and health literacy in children who live in North Philadelphia. The Public Health students spent the past semester teaching the youngsters how to prevent the spread of germs. The kids then took that hygienic message and created colorful posters about hand washing. With the help of their CSD mentors, the children also “published” books about famous African Americans.

During a recent awards ceremony at the school, the youngsters were presented with certificates recognizing their achievement. In return, they gave the Temple students “thank you” certificates expressing gratitude for their mentorship over the past school year.

This latest activity follows a successful fall semester initiative in which communication sciences students helped the children publish their own story books promoting literacy.