County students recognized for academic excellence with cash and trips
By Cassie M. Chew
A week before the end of the school year, about two-dozen Prince George’s County students already earned summer travel and spending money.
Twenty-three elementary, middle and high schoolers earned a $50, $100, or $250 Mall at Prince Georges gift card and four of these students received Southwest Airlines roundtrip tickets for themselves and three friends or family members for travel anywhere the air carrier flies.
They did it by earning good grades, making the honor roll and getting to class on time.
Leslie Ikpeze, a student at Arrowhead elementary school, receives a certificate, a $250 Mall at Prince Georges gift card and four Southwest Airlines round trip tickets for academic achievements this school year / Photo: Cassie M. Chew
In its third year, the county’s Scholar Dollar program continues to provide awards and special incentives to students that excel academically during the school year.
At the end of each grading period, top students received discount cards that entitle them and their families to save up to 20 percent on purchases at the Mall at Prince Georges stores. At the end of the year each student’s name is entered into a drawing to win the gift cards and air travel tickets.
“I want to commend you for your outstanding achievement throughout the school year,” William Hite, deputy superintendent of schools, tells the students and their families at a recent ceremony to recognize the winners at the Mall at Prince Georges.
“I challenge you to be tenacious and to achieve your next goal,” says Alonzo Washington, community liaison for Will Campos, district 2 councilman.
The three-year-old program is set to expand next school year to six more malls-- Beltway Plaza, Boulevard at the Capitol Center, Bowie Town Center, the Centre at Forestville, Iverson Mall, and Laurel Commons, formerly known as Laurel Mall.
“We had parents who said that they couldn’t get out to the Mall at Prince Georges,” explains Walter Dozier, special assistant to the county’s chief administrative officer and educational liaison. Dozier also says that with more participating malls, there will be more chances for students to become end-of-the-year drawing prizewinners.
Officials at the Laurel Commons, set to begin major redevelopment into a multi use residential, retail and restaurant complex, see the partnership as an opportunity to promote the development and invest in their neighbors.
“We want to create excitement for the educational community,” says Timothy Fitzgerald, a representative for Laurel Commons, at the ceremony.
Thus far the mall has “adopted” Laurel High School and Fitzgerald says that the scholar dollar program connects academic excellence to getting the material things that you need and want in life.
“We have to look at education as the necessary interruption for us to get to the next level,” he says.
In addition to Prince George’s, malls, some of the county’s small businesses also may have interest in participating.
“Often we think of retail because it is something tangible, but I think that any business could be involved,” says Charlotte Ducksworth, director of the small business initiative at the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation during the ceremony.
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