By Vanessa Reis 

Hundreds of children gathered on the second floor of Stamp Student Union Friday for Maryland Counts Day, an event held by the organization America Reads*America Counts.

The organization is a partnership between the University of Maryland and Prince George’s County Public Schools and aims to provide “a high quality mentoring program that enriches learning opportunities for both college and elementary school students,” according to the organization’s mission statement.

“[The day is about] celebrating the end of the school year, encouraging them, showing them what we’re all about and making them feel at home at the University of Maryland, since we usually go to them,” said Tsiyon Berhanu, a freshman neurophysiology student and volunteer with America Reads*America Counts.

Sabah Rana, a sophomore architecture and art history double major, said volunteering is a great opportunity to help kids whose schools don’t have the resources to give them all the attention they need.

“I love being able to build relationships with the kids to the point where they really do enjoy you working with them, and… you can see the progress that you’ve made. Whereas before they didn’t really know their multiplication tables or didn’t have them memorized, by the end they can tell you things like what six times 11 is,” Rana said.

According to America Reads*America Counts, the organization’s mentors spent 1,455 hours each week in elementary schools during the 2016-17 school year. That year, the organization partnered with 18 Title I Prince George’s County Public Schools and helped over 4,000 of these schools’ students and their parents. 44.9 percent of fourth grade mentees’ math scores increased by at least 20 percent, according to data from that year. 

“[America Reads*America Counts is] assisting students, underprivileged students, in struggling neighborhoods and schools that are Title I,” said Joseph Willoughby, a junior chemistry major and classical mythology minor at the university. Willoughby has worked as a mentor with America Reads*America Counts for the past five semesters. “[Most of the kids] have never been given the proper resources and means to be able to excel in education,” he added.

Maryland Counts Day is packed with fun activities that “are meant to help show them how math is related to different professions they could go into, or kind of their everyday lives,”  said Rachel Gentry, the graduate coordinator for the event.

Some of the campus organizations partnered with America Reads*America Counts that helped provide activities for this day include Engineers Without Borders and Terrapin Works.