PHOTOS BY GLENN TRIEST
Randi Gartenberg loves helping children.
Bedside Manner
ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR
IR
andi Gartenberg plans to be a
doctor. But despite a heavy
course load, the recent Michi-
gan State University biology
graduate managed to add
thousands of hours helping
others to her pre-med curriculum.
In addition to class work, the 22-year-old
Farmington Hills resident:
* did summer research at the University of
Michigan and at Case-Western Reserve Uni-
versity in Cleveland;
* serves as a Big Sister to a 10-year-old in
Lansing's inner city;
* counseled battered and abused women and
children at East Lansing's Economic Crisis Cen-
ter;
* worked as a physical therapy assistant for
five years at the MSU Health Center;
* taught children with disabilities at Beau-
mont Hospital's Barnum Center in Birmingham;
* worked as a nursing assistant in pediatrics
at Beaumont;
* was a dance instructor for children;
* tutored a 7th-grader with learning disabil-
ities;
* volunteered with the Special Olympics and
taught physically disadvantaged children how
to ski.
Ms. Gartenberg loves children. She becomes
excited when she describes her "little sister" Jeni,
a 10-year-old in Lansing who lives in a house
with her father, mother, three sisters and nine
other relatives.
"No matter how busy I was," says Ms. Garten-
berg, "I always had time for her. You can always
make time for the things you want to do."
Despite studying four hours a night and at
least one night on the weekend, Ms. Gartenberg
taught Jeni to paint and took her on outings in
the Lansing area.
She also found time for a learning-disabled
7th-grader in Holt, south of Lansing. As the boy's
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
think the best way to deal with
situations is by laughing."
!
—Randi Gartenberg
tutor, Ms. Gartenberg worked with him on sci-
ence, math and reading.
"He's so cute," she says of the 5'11" boy who
towers over the diminutive Ms. Gartenberg. "He
is really a good kid who just doesn't do well in
school.
"I brought my basketball cards, and had him
figure out averages as a math assignment." She