BSE Students Participate in 19th Annual Service Day

Freshmen in the College Park Scholars’ Business Society & the Economy program (BSE) spent their first full day on campus helping those less fortunate. More than 80 BSE students spent the morning hours of Aug. 28 painting, cooking, landscaping, organizing and sorting, and/or serving a meal as part of the 19th Annual College Park Scholars Service Day. 

The BSE students spread out to work at several Montgomery County sites dedicated to helping the homeless.  The BSE students, led by director Mark Wellman, were just a small portion of the 1,000 young men and women Scholars who traveled to 30 different site locations to perform service of some kind. In the prior 18 years, 16,760 students, faculty and staff have performed almost 60,000 hours of service at 543 sites scattered throughout our community as part of the Annual Service Day. 

Later that day, the BSE students gathered at Community Vision, a facility run by Interfaith Works (IW) of Montgomery County to reflect and share their experiences. IW’s CEO, Shane Rock, and director of homeless/housing services, Priscilla Fox-Morrill, thanked students for their efforts and challenged them to excel in their studies so they might be in a position to advocate for others. 

College Park Scholars is an academic residential community for select freshmen and sophomores. Invited freshmen matriculate into one of 12 interdisciplinary programs, each housed in the Cambridge Community on North Campus. The curriculum and activities for each program -- and for Scholars overall -- provide the interpersonal benefits of a small college paired with the intellectual advantages of a major research university.

Each Scholars program is directed by a faculty member appointed by the sponsoring college’s dean and supported by a small staff. Programs each admit about 75 first-year students annually.

Click here to learn more about the College Park Scholars program.