BSE Scholars Participate in 17th Annual Service Day

With classes looming only days away, the College Park Scholars at the University of Maryland piled onto buses and headed out into the community to participate in the program’s 17th Annual Service Day on Aug. 27, 2012. Scholars from the Business, Society and Economics program headed to Silver Spring, Md., to donate their time to a local homeless shelter.

Carroll House Men's Shelter provides transitional housing for 32 homeless men, according to Sara Cherner, director of Carroll House. “This facility offers case management and referrals to help residents gain independent living skills. The shelter also provides donated breakfasts and dinners for the men, as well as access to kitchen and laundry facilities,” she said.

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.

Thirteen students made the trek to Silver Spring, helping clean up the shelter in whatever way was necessary: “Before getting down to school business, they cleaned doors, planted flowers and made table decorations,” says Cherner.

Students on last year’s trip also helped at the Carroll House, making their Service Day even more of a tradition in the College Park Scholars: Business, Society and Economics program.