News Release

Charles R. Westgate, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Hopkins, is directing an engineering, science and mathematics program for tenth and eleventh graders at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute June 20-July 15. Team-teaching with him are two Poly teachers and three recent Poly graduates who are studying engineering at Hopkins, Morgan State University and the California Institute of Technology.

The program, funded by Westinghouse, Baltimore Gas and Electric, and Bell Atlantic, is designed to encourage participation of women and minorities in the hard sciences. The Poly students will build small robots and study solar energy cells, learn advanced computer skills, and network with professors from area institutions. Each week, there will be a competition to see who creates the best working "invention" from a pile of parts.

Teach Baltimore, a Hopkins student-created community outreach initiative entering its second year, is an interesting example of a program that meets the Clinton administration's mandate for community service within the structure of college work-study programs. Teach Baltimore puts Hopkins and Morgan State undergraduate tutors in Southwestern High School and George Washington Elementary School June 27-August 1, and will continue through the school year.

1993 Hopkins graduate Matthew Boulay founded the program, which aims to improve math, reading and writing skills among "at risk" students. It also extends to them mentoring, cultural and work opportunities. For example, tenth graders in the program have the option of paid afternoon work renovating houses in southwest Baltimore--and help opening a bank account for their earnings.

Pre-first graders have an opportunity to improve their readiness skills through the JHU Tutorial Project's Summer Pilot Program. Volunteer student tutors from Hopkins and area high schools will teach math and reading to children from Waverly and Margaret Brent Elementary Schools during sessions running June 23-July 8, and July 18-29.

The 3-year-old program, which aims to build self-confidence and a love of learning, is sponsored by the university, the city of Baltimore and private donations. It is overseen by Weslie Wornom, the Hopkins staff coordinator of the 36-year-old JHU Tutorial Project. The Tutorial Project was cited by President Bush in 1992 as one of the nation's "thousand points of light" for its tradition of community service.

Hopkins senior Tsao-Wei Liang will hold an intensive drawing workshop for a small group of Barclay Elementary students on the Homewood campus July 11-29. Liang hopes the drawing class will show whether young children with an aptitude for art can successfully tackle challenges adult artists face; drawing from still-life, portraits and landscape. The students will make drawings before and after instruction to measure progress.

Liang is funding his first-time project through the Lewis E. Goodman, M.D., Award, which the university gives annually to encourage the interests of a pre-medical student beyond the field of medicine. Liang is a regular volunteer in the city schools through Hopkins' Project Outreach, and studies drawing under Craig Hankin in the Homewood Arts Workshops.