The UCF Report, Vol. 18 No. 13, January 26, 1996

              Volume 18* No. 13* J
-UCF
Report
an. 26,1996 JL The newslei
UCF's Alumni
Association launches
campaign to increase
membership on
campus. See page 4.
newsletter for faculty and staff
Defense Transition Services expands Transition to Teaching
UCF's Defense Transition
Services recently celebrated a
major benchmark: 48 people
are now enroUed in its Transition to
Teaching program with 20 more
scheduled to enroU this summer and
another 10-12 for this faU.
At a luncheon which brought the
main players together for the first
time, Alzo Reddick, the brainchild and
director of Defense Transition
Services, hailed the program as "an
experiment to win the war in our
inner cities."
For the last six years, Defense
Transition Services has provided
assistance to businesses as well as
individuals affected by the
downsizing of our miUtary. The
Transition to Teaching program helps
former miUtary personnel who are
interested in becoming teachers in
elementary or secondary schools. The
program gives whatever assistance
they need in earning their teaching
certificates and finding jobs.
Soldiers to Scholars is a program
within the Transition to Teaching
program. It assists participants with
their housing expenses if they choose
to Uve in an at-risk neighborhood
where they serve as community role
models. A grant from the Florida
Housing and Finance Agency
provides the funding. Currently, the
housing is located at the Rio Grande
Apartments in downtown Orlando.
Doug Jamerson, secretary of
Labor and Employment Security and
formerly the commissioner of
Education, was on hand to commend
the staff of the Defense Transition
Services. In addressing the participants
in the Transition to Teaching program,
he said "your presence in the
classrooms will project those values
you learned from your experiences in
the miUtary and education that wiU
have a positive impact on your
students. Student wiU emulate your
commitment and enthusiasm."
Jamerson went on to promise his
department's commitment to the
program.
"We wiU work hand-in-hand with
you. We're going to make this program
work and repUcate it across our state.
A Warm Reception Staves Off Chilly Beginning
President John Hitt and Iinda Chapin, Orange County chairman, serve hot cider to UCF students on a cold
day during the first week back at school for the spring semester. The reception gives students a chance to
meet President Hitt and other high-ranking officials from the area.
You wiU be the catalyst to make it
happen," he declared.
According to Montague Watkins
Sr., the program director for
Transition to Teaching, participants
receiving subsidized housing are also
responsible for working regularly at
the Tutoring Center with at-risk
children from the neighborhood.
"They'U be working with the
schools in the area," Watkins said,
"concentrating on computer Uteracy
and basic skills. They're required to
donate five hours a week." He is
hoping that local companies and
organizations wiU donate computer
equipment that they no longer need to
Please see SERVICES, page 3
Former poet
laureate to
speak at UCF
Mark Strand, the U.S. Poet
laureate of 1990 whose
poems have appeared in
such books as "Reasons for Moving"
(1968) and "Dark Harbor" (1993), wiU
give a poetry reading at 8 p.m. on Feb.
19 in the Visual Arts Building
Auditorium. He is one of several
authors to be featured by UCF's World
Writers Series, which is sponsored by
UCF's EngUsh Department and The
Orlando Sentinel.
Strand has given over 400
readings in the U.S. and readings in
Great Britain, Yugoslavia, Spain, Italy,
Hungary, Sweden and AustraUa. He is
a Canadian-born poet who is best
known for his volumes of poetry,
which include: "Sleeping with One
Eye Open" (1964), "Darker" (1970),
"The Story of Our Lives" (1973),
Please see POET, page 3
Marketing students lend a hand in creating 'teaching garden
UCF's marketing club, Pi Sigma
EpsUon (PSE), has a record of
winning national awards for
its outstanding work and projects.
This year, the club is winning the
thanks of students, teachers and
administrators at Blankner
Elementary School in Orlando as
mentors for at-risk students and their
help in creating a Butterfly
Observation/Outdoor Classroom.
According to MeUssa Hashem,
vice president of pubUc relations for
PSE, the club members first wrote to
Polly Roper, principal for Blankner,
asking if there were any projects that
they could help the school with.
Roper had already started a
CoUaborative effort to develop a
garden where students could learn to
appreciate the environment and learn
about ecological Ufe cycles.
"Given the social and economic
chaUenges facing the majority of our
student body, this project certainly had
the potential of rewarding students
and teachers for generations," Roper
said in a letter commending PSE.
She noted that the one project led
to the club's interest in becoming
mentors for at-risk students. PSE
recruited 23 of its members to work
one-on-one with students each week.
Roper caUed the work of PSE
members "truly inspirational." The
UCF students work with the children
to develop long-range goals for their
academic and personal Uves. Many
Please see GARDEN, page 3
Next issue of The UCF Report is Feb. 9 • Deadline is noon, Jan. 31
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