Scholars News Desk
College Park Scholars Reaches Out to Those Affected by Hurricane Katrina
September 23, 2005
COLLEGE PARK, Md. For a team comprised of students from the American Cultures program in College Park Scholars, Service Day '05 was especially meaningful. As breaking news of hurricane Katrina was broadcast over the airwaves on Monday morning, August 29 th , this Scholars team, along with a group of College Park Scholars alumni, busily packed Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) boxes at the Capital Area Food Bank in Northeast Washington, D.C.
The true impact of the storm was yet to be revealed. By the end of the week, the Scholars admissions and registration staff had spoken to a dozen families, reaching out to students who were blocked from matriculating into their freshman year at Tulane University.
On Thursday, September 15 th , through a joint-effort with the Residence Halls Association (RHA) and the Department of Dining Services, College Park Scholars students raised $2,634 for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Students donated funds directly from their meal plan. This strategy, designed by RHA's Chief Information Officer Jesse Chen, enabled students, without cash on hand, to participate in the relief effort. Chen, a sophomore Business, Society, and the Economy Scholar, envisioned the plan along with College Park Scholars Associate Director, Martha Baer Wilmes.Outreach at College Park has not been limited to the Scholars program. Writes Lesley Macherelli, mother of a newly minted 'Tulane Terp', "I knows several Tulane families who were equally blessed by the stunning, immediate and generous response that UMD had to this disaster and our children. We are so proud to live in a state that boasts an institution that, notwithstanding the size of the bureaucracy necessary to run such an organization, could act so decisively, so compassionately and so immediately."
Approximately 104 students from colleges and universities in the gulf region have been admitted to the University. Student groups are welcoming displaced students into their organizations and conducting relief fundraisers. The Departments of Resident Life, and Fraternity and Sorority Life are opening their doors to provide housing. Academic departments and programs have added seats to classes and seminars. According to President C. D. Mote, Jr., "I join with the campus staff, students and faculty in the call for personal support, as well as sympathy for all those affected by the disaster."
For information on assisting in the relief effort, consult the College Park Scholars Website at; http://www.scholars.umd.edu/execdir/katrina.cfm
