3:46 p.m., March 16, 2009----Sixty-two students from Seaford High School in Delaware and Parkway Center City High School in Philadelphia attended a special campus visitation on Friday, March 6, designed to showcase the opportunities available at the University of Delaware for students who choose to pursue a career in math or science teaching.

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The campus visit was made possible through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. This $1.4 million grant known as Project SMART was awarded to Kathryn Scantlebury, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and coordinator of UD's secondary science education program, and Carol Vukelich, L. Sandra and Bruce L. Hammonds Professor of Education and director of the Delaware Center for Teacher Education.

The grant is intended to assist students from underrepresented groups to become math and science teachers. An additional focus of the grant is to encourage math and science education graduates to consider pursuing their careers in a high-needs school district.

The students from both schools were welcomed by Scantlebury, the principal investigator for the project. They heard presentations from Admissions Office staff regarding requirements to be admitted to the University of Delaware, and they received information about financial aid opportunities. They then took a short campus tour and attended a math or science class in order to get a taste for what to expect should they choose to come to UD.

“The tour was awesome,” said Ronnie Prak of Parkway. “The tour guide provided and answered many of my questions about college life and I didn't even ask him.”

Robert Green, also of Parkway, said, “The part I liked best about the visitation was going to class because I got to see what college classes are really like.”

The students visited one of the following courses of their choice: Jennifer Nauen's Introductory Biology 1, Sharon Neal's Quantitative Chemistry, Bettyann Daley's Precalculus, Stanley Owocki's Introduction to Astronomy, or Anja Lore Leefeldt's Nutrition Concepts.

Following the classroom visits, the students participated in a discussion led by education students from ASPIRE (Academic Support Program Inspiring Renaissance Educators) and learned about enrichment programs, such as FAME (Forum to Advance Minorities in Engineering) that will be offered on campus this summer.

“Everyone was so nice and explained a lot that we didn't know about to us,” commented Theodeline Alexis of Seaford.

Accompanying the students from Seaford High School were teachers Dana Hammaker, Tori Banks, and Maureen Keller. Accompanying students from Parkway Center City were guidance counselor Brenda Shamsi, lead science teacher Frank Grandizio, and head of special programs, Jack Fein. Also in attendance were science student teaching specialists Todd Dunn and Mike Buoni. The visit was planned by Kathy Melvin, Project SMART program coordinator.

Article by Kathy Melvin