Our Crowdfunding Groups
The Terp and Eagle Science Club (TESC) provides free after-school STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) tutoring to 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students (Eagles) at Carole Highlands Elementary School in Takoma Park, MD. TESC aims to promote an interest in the sciences and engage students in both core and abstract learning inside and outside the classroom. TESC also offers positive role models for the elementary school students by placing importance on higher learning and a college education. This school year, 58 elementary students are participating in TESC and the permission slips are growing weekly.
TESC tutors are University of Maryland student volunteers who are science majors-passionate about serving their community. Volunteers range from freshman in introductory biology courses to graduates who want to continue to give back.
Volunteers receive a background check, an introduction to tutoring at the elementary school level, as well as a peer support system to help them learn alongside other tutors and create a successful learning environment.
In Fall 2013, Dr. Marcia Shofner, a faculty member in the UMD Department of Entomology offered the students in her "Principles of Biology II" course the opportunity to meet and mentor students from Carole Highlands Elementary School. The elementary school students visited the UMD campus to experience college life, participate in one of Dr. Shofner's biology lectures, and get paired up with a college mentor. Following a visit by the elementary school students a year later in Fall of 2014--which turned out to be the first time many had been on a college campus even though UMD is only a few miles from their homes--the children wrote a paper about their impressions of college. Many of the elementary school students expressed positive thoughts about college and wanted to learn more. So in Spring 2015, a group of UMD biology students created the Terp and Eagle Science Club (TESC), an after-school STEM mentoring and tutoring program. Today, the club has grown to more than 30 mentors who continue to teach and inspire students from Carole Highlands Elementary School.
In a short time period, the program has gained significant interest from Terp science majors and Eagle students, but we need your help! Currently, our volunteers must provide their own transportation, which limits the number of UMD students who are able to volunteer. Raising transportation funds will increase the number of Terps who can tutor and the number of Eagles who can be mentored. We also want to expand our program by purchasing enrichment activities for Carole Highland students, such as science experiments, math games, art projects, and music activities.
Your support of TESC will directly impact local youth, and promote their interest in STEM education!
One returning 6th grade student to the club commented about TESC, “I need more help and I can get it here. Math is hard for me. I want to be a teacher. I am going to college”.
TESC would like to thank Joe Devito, Jen Sabol and Chris Poldervaart for their tireless help in the production of the video.
Gifts in support of the University of Maryland are accepted and managed by the University of Maryland College Park Foundation, Inc., an affiliated 501(c)(3) organization authorized by the Board of Regents. Contributions to the University of Maryland are tax deductible as allowed by law. Please see your tax advisor for details.
Pays for introduction material for one TESC student. This include a notebook pencils, pens, markers, etc.
This will cover transportation for one tutor session, allowing for 20 students to be tutored.
This will cover transportation for two tutor sessions, allowing for 40 students to be tutored.
This will pay for one month of enrichment activities for students when they finish homework. These include science experiment materials, art supplies, and other math games.
This will pay for 20 students supplies to join TESC including their notebooks, pencils, markers, etc. Donors at this level will be invited to our TESC reception to see the impact their donation has made at the end of the semester.
This would allow us to provide transportation for tutors for six weeks AND purchase supplemental material for our students. These include science experiment material, math games, and reading activities, which the students could bring home to work on after TESC. Donors at this level will be invited to participate in an enrichment science experiment at a tutoring session in the Spring! They are also invited to our TESC reception.