COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- State officials are encouraging Ohio's college and university students to help check on the elderly and others affected by power outages from the weekend storms.

Students are asked to go to the homes of elderly and other Ohioans to see if they need help dealing with extreme heat and prolonged outages.

Ohio Emergency Management Agency officials said the state Board of Regents chancellor and the director of the state Department of Aging sent the letter Tuesday to colleges and universities asking for student volunteers, and some Ohio State University students had already begun volunteer efforts.

The Ohio Association of Gerontology and Education is identifying coordinators at the schools to direct student volunteers, who are expected to travel in pairs to make the checks.