Scholars News Desk
STARS Shine in Lakeland
May 3, 2009
Lakeland STARs, an after-school enrichment program sponsored by College Park Scholars, received a Certificate of Appreciation on April 2, 2009, from the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism, “. . . to ensure the vitality of community in which you volunteer.” . In 1997, College Park Scholars established a collaboration with Paint Branch Elementary School and the College Park Youth and Family Division, to create Lakeland STARs, an academic enrichment program where children are matched, one-on-one, with a volunteer tutor, and meet once a week. Each academic semester, STARs serves approximately 50, first- through-sixth graders.
Paint Branch Elementary School is located in the Lakeland Community, a century-old, African-American neighborhood across Route 1 from the College Park campus. One of the goals of the program is to excite elementary school-aged children about the possibility of college; at every session, tutors provide homework help to the children. The tutors and children also engage in enrichment activities unique to the campus, such as visiting the University's Farm, the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts, and experiencing “Physics is Phun” in a physics teaching laboratory. To honor the principle of reciprocity embedded in service-learning, tutoring alternates between the University and Paint Branch elementary school. This past academic year, tutors logged a total of 2,735 service hours. Since the Program's founding, Lakeland STARS tutors have contributed more than 20,000 hours to students of Paint Branch Elementary School.
This past September, a unique opportunity resulting from the visit of Lt. Governor Anthony Brown to College Park’s Youth and Family Services Division, provided students and tutors the opportunity to give personal testimony, as evidence of a successful “early intervention and youth program.” Each year, College Park Scholars exposes both tutors and Paint Branch students to civic engagement. They prepare and petition the College Park City Council for funds to provide shuttle-bus transportation, STAR-Store items, a teacher stipend, and snacks for the participants. The City has consistently been supportive of this town-gown collaboration, as it was this past year, when Lakeland STARs was commended by the City of College Park.
For more information on Lakeland STARS or this release, contact: Kevin Baxter at bax@umd.edu or 301-314-2777.
