 "Photo: Vince Salamone")
Gary Hersey, who began tutoring at College Park's Paint Branch Elementary School in 2005, recalls one of the first questions he was ever asked by the elementary school children: "Do you have any kids?"
Hersey, now a senior government and politics major, said he quickly realized the students there weren't familiar with university students and didn't understand they had options such as going to college.
Last night, the College Park City Council honored Hersey for his eight consecutive semesters of working with the College Park Scholars' Lakeland STARS program, spending several hours a week with the young students and helping them prepare for a college career.
Eight other student participants the city commended last night affixed "I Love College Park" bumper stickers to their clothes and called the Lakeland STARS program a great way of giving back to the community.
"It was an amazing experience," said Vince Fillah, who graduated in 2006 after eight semesters with Lakeland STARS and now continues to participate in youth programs in Montgomery County. "I'm trying to continue that legacy wherever I go."
The name of the initiative refers to College Park's majority-black Lakeland neighborhood - where the program is run - and pairs it with the acronym "Students Taking Active Responsibility," which refers to the goal of the program. It began in 1996 as part of the university's College Park Scholars program.
At last night's meeting, Tabetha Mwita, who oversees the program, said the group has received tremendous positive feedback from the elementary students. She read the City Council a letter from a fourth-grade participant who said his tutor is helping to prepare him for college.
"One of our goals is to inspire the children to go to college in the future," Mwita said. "And it's working."
But, she added, that doesn't mean some of the tutors didn't struggle along the way.
"[My fifth-grade student] wouldn't talk to me for the first few weeks. He would just turn away," senior hearing and speech sciences major Kerry Fitzpatrick said. "He would say depressing things like he was only interested in watching T.V., so I would have no interest in him."
Fitzpatrick was eventually able to bond with this student after she brought along "a black male friend to bridge the gap."
The Panhellenic Association and Maryland Interfraternity Council were also commended by the council last night for their Earth Day litter pickup and tree-planting efforts in northern College Park.
District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin estimated there were between 50 and 75 students working alongside him and some other city residents and staff members to beautify a stretch of Rhode Island Avenue, adding the students were instrumental in getting 18 tall trees into the ground.
No representatives from those groups attended the council meeting.
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