The Charles County Charitable Trust recently awarded the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) $33,112 to expand CSM’s Project SUCCESS – a reading, writing and math tutoring program for students who need to improve their skills to continue enrollment to college-level courses. CSM’s Project SUCCESS also addresses academic preparation by helping those students in the college’s developmental courses achieve success through academic and student support services.
The Charles County Charitable Trust funding will be used to purchase required hardware and software for the Project SUCCESS resource room and enable at least 250 students entering the college at the remedial level improve their reading, writing and math skills through the use of 20 new computers, equipped with scanners and assistive reading, writing and math software.
“CSM is committed to meeting the needs of its students by increasing the number of graduate, transfer, and/or work-force ready students,” said CSM Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs Robert Farinelli. “This Charles County Charitable Trust grant gives us a tremendous boost for our Project SUCCESS program which is aimed at helping our students who are struggling academically.”
According to a preliminary report published in July by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, a City University of New York initiative that provides a semester of intense remedial instruction and assistance before students enroll in a degree program is key to helping struggling students overcome significant academic shortcomings, and ultimately finish their college pursuits.
“This grant will help CSM maintain high quality and effective developmental academic and student support services [and help students to succeed],” wrote former Director of CSM Learning Support Services Dr. Dorothy Collins in the grant request to the Charles County Charitable Trust.
To learn more about Project SUCCESS, talk to a CSM academic advisor, or to enroll at CSM, visit www.csmd.edu. Learn more about the Charles County Charitable Trust online at www.charlesnonprofits.org/grants.