CSM President Dr. Maureen Murphy welcomes fifth-graders to Destination College.
“Raise your hands to show me how many of you are here at the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) for the first time,” asked CSM President Dr. Maureen Murphy of a multi-purpose room full of fifth-graders this morning. After the entire room of students stretched their hands into the air, Murphy offered a prediction. “That’s what I thought,” she said. “Well, I promise you, it won’t be the last!”
From left, Patuxent Appeal Elementary students Carter Murphy 10 and Hayden Marrero, 11, go “digging in bones” as part of there session in CSM’s biology lab.
Murphy’s comments came during her welcome to students from Patuxent Appeal Elementary Campus as they began their day at CSM’s Prince Frederick Campus for “Destination College.”
Destination College offers elementary students the experience of being a ‘college student for a day,’ and gives them a fun, interactive glimpse of the college’s nursing, robotic and physics program and labs with a goal to get young students to start thinking about post-secondary education at an early age. Each year, CSM’s Prince Frederick Campus hosts nearly 400 students from Patuxent Appeal, St. Leonard and Barstow elementary schools.
When Murphy asked, “Did you know you were going to graduate from Destination College today?” she was met with a round of loud applause. “And when you graduate,” she added, “you all will receive a certificate that grants you acceptance to CSM upon completion of all high school requirements.”