Charles Nailen/The Hoya LaTanya Bell (COL ’05) discusses college with young students as part of the Kids to College program.

The John Carroll statue, Village A and even the university president’s last name may all seem familiar to Georgetown students, but not to the 150 middle and elementary school students who visited Georgetown last Thursday. Running around campus to find out about these as part of a scavenger hunt, these inner-city youths were here for Shadow Day, the culmination of a six-week college awareness program called Kids to College. K2C is sponsored by the Educational Community Involvement Program – a division of the Center for Minority Educational Affairs. Volunteers for the 10-year-old program are regular Georgetown students but specifically come from the Patrick Healy Fellows Program, a selective mentorship program for Georgetown students of color.

“The Patrick Healy Fellows adopted the K2C program as a community service component,” Shadow Day Coordinator Stacey Tsai said. She explained that successful Georgetown alumni mentor the Patrick Healy Fellows, and the students in turn serve as mentors for area youth.

For the past six weeks, the 13 program volunteers left campus at 7:30 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday to visit four urban, inner-city schools in the District: Ronald H. Brown Middle School, Houston Elementary, Merritt Elementary Extended and Burrville Elementary.

The program requires the middle and elementary school students to work on career projects and papers. Craig explained that the kids have to choose a career, research it, interview someone in that career and write a paper on that career. Students who finish the project are then eligible to participate in Shadow Day and present the paper to their peers and program volunteers.

In addition to the scavenger hunt and career presentations, the young visitors were given campus tours, ate in the Darnall and New South Dining Halls and attended special lectures given by Georgetown faculty members, including government professor Anthony Arend and Deanna Cooke, Assistant Director of Research at the Center for Social Justice Research.

Tiffany Craig (MSB ’03), a Patrick Healy Fellow and volunteer, said she enjoyed her experience. “I think it’s a great program to introduce kids to what college is,” she said. “Knowing that many don’t graduate or go off to college, this is a good opportunity for them to see what we do, see what activities we’re in, [so they can] have it in their minds right now.”

Tsai also said she thought the program was a wonderful opportunity to do something good for society. “Instead of people complaining about the world, [this is a chance] to learn and educate ourselves about the realities of inner-city school and encourage these students,” she said. “People constantly complain about affirmative action and kids not being prepared for college and are never doing anything about it. Instead of wasting time, do something about it.”

Tsai said she is involved in K2C as a way of being active about issues in education.

Craig also pointed out that many of the students are not inspired outside of the program to go to college. Craig and Tsai agreed that they want to tell kids that college can be and is an option.

In an effort to teach the young students about college, the volunteers plan lessons that will get the children thinking about what it takes to get into college.

“My favorite lesson is `Picture Me In College’,” Craig said. “The kids have to fill out a worksheet based on college and list what they need to be and do in order to get to college.”

Craig and Tsai who have both been involved with the program for the past two years, said the program helps young students realize all the work and skills necessary in order to get into college and even to have a career. Both agreed that these students have a lot of potential and just need to know that they should think about graduating and going to college. Tsai also said the program helps to get them thinking about a wide range of careers.

“When we first asked the kids what they wanted to be, many said they wanted to be rappers and play in the NBA,” Tsai said. “We tell them that’s good, but [they should] have a back-up plan.”

Tsai said not only have the kids learned, but she has also learned through volunteering in the program.

“I get frustrated sometimes,” Tsai said. “While some of them are perfect little angels, others appear unmotivated. But I’ve learned to be very patient. You realize you can’t always view stuff through your perspective. People act the way they do a lot of times because of their environment. I try not to judge people, but to understand them.”

Tsai said K2C recently received funding from the Department of Education to expand the program. The program will be called Gear Up and follow these youths for five years. K2C is also working on obtaining a grant from the Sallie Mae Foundation to reach more sixth graders in the Washington, D.C., area.

Essentially, Tsai feels the program helps kids realize that college is a bare minimum requirement in today’s society.

“It’s so important to encourage kids to go to college. They shouldn’t sell themselves short,” she said.