Addie Creswell's hero is Gabby Douglas - a gold medal winner in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The Aiken Elementary School student created a tribute to Douglas, and her drawing project got help from college student Dennis Harkins, who had come all the way from Suffolk University in Boston.
Each year, Suffolk students are participating in an exchange program with their counterparts at USC Aiken for a long weekend. They learned about Aiken, the South and how the colleges compare.
Later this month, the USCA students will travel to Boston - surely by then without any additions to the 110 inches of snow the city experienced.
About 34 college students visited Aiken Elementary School last week - all of them collaborating with the children in a fun way.
Addie has trained in gymnastics for several years, "and I like making a hero," she said of her drawing.
For Harkins, "It's a great experience to learn how one of Addie's passions is gymnastics. We've also have been learning about the student activities at USCA."
Ahmed Samaha, the USCA assistant vice chancellor of student life, said the exchange program gives the college students a chance to get to know each other and learn about differences and similarities of each campus.
He appreciated that the college students also had fun with the children.
The best part of the project "is that there are no rules," Samaha said.
Suffolk senior Kelly Bogdanski roomed with USCA senior Shaquavia Combs. Both are psychology majors, giving them a lot to talk about.
"It's really great that everyone is so welcoming," Bogdanski said. "That's different from back home."
The USCA campus is much more spread out. Though Suffolk has more students, the campus is mostly buildings in a small area.
"I just wanted to give Kelly a little bit of a down-home feel of the USCA family," Combs said. "She's a great person to have here."
The college students served as good role models, said teacher Charlene Aycox.
"All our fourth- and fifth-graders connected with them," she said. "They've been excited about this all week."
Senior writer Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the newspaper since September 2001. He is a native of Walterboro and majored in journalism at the University of Georgia.