BSE Scholars Participate in 2011 Service Day
Freshmen in the University of Maryland’s College Park
Scholars:
Business, Society and the Economy program began their semester on
August 29 by helping their community at two homeless shelters in Silver
Spring. Scholars Service Day is an annual event in for students in each
of the 11 Scholars programs offered by the university.
Each group participates in individual service opportunities, helping
the community while bonding with their new classmates.
The BSE Scholars began their day at Community Vision, a shelter that
provides case management, job training, vocational services, substance
abuse programs, recreational groups and therapeutic groups. While at
Community Vision the students created posters, cleaned and reorganized a
storage area, helped with landscaping, worked in the kitchen and ran a
manicure table.
Doug Falatka, a freshman accounting major and BSE scholar was helping his
team of scholars reorganize a storage room. They removed clutter and moved
shelves around to make the room more accessible to the shelter.
“Maryland is really big on helping the community,” Falatka, a Towson, Md.
native, explained as to why the Scholars Program participates in its annual
Service Day.
Smith student Edward White, a finance and marketing major, chose to
participate in BSE Scholars because of the program’s relevance to his major and
for the networking opportunities and trips within the program. White, a
Westminster, Md. native, said he is most excited for the Berkshire Hathaway trip
the program does and hopes he is able to go.
Stephanie Toth, a Smith School freshman who is currently undecided on what
specific major she will pursue, agreed with White: “I think the program will be
a really good supplement to my business major.”
Toth and White worked in the kitchen uncanning food for the shelter. “It was
great to interact with the community and it was a great bonding opportunity,”
Toth said. “It was really nice to meet my team a little more.”
Later in the day, students went to the Carroll House, which provides
transitional housing in a shelter environment for homeless men, to help prepare
brown-bag lunches, create bulletin boards and help clean the shelter.
Jessica Bauer, Writer and Editor, Office of Marketing
Communications
