Belmont University is continuing its investment in Nashville-area African-American youth through its partnership with 100 Kings. For the tenth consecutive summer, nonprofit organization 100 Black Men has held its summer camp 100 Kings on Belmont’s campus.
The annual six-week camp is the summer portion of an eight-year mentoring program through which 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee adopts African-American fifth, sixth and seventh graders and offers them academic enrichment , experiential learning opportunities and mentoring. About 70 percent of “Kings” qualify for reduced and free lunches. Upon completion of the program and graduation from high school, they are eligible to receive up to $20,000 in scholarships from 100 Black Men.
“The goal is to get them to graduate from high school and college,” said 100 Kings Director Donovan Robertson.
This summer’s experiential learning has included building a house at the Adventure Science Center with If I Had a Hammer and a car wash. Kings spent two weeks in Belmont classrooms learning about the tools and skills needed to build a house as well as accounting and marketing.
“Through the class we have taken them through every part of starting your own business, like net worth statements, how to talk to investors and pitch your idea, organizational planning. I really feel like they are walking away from this program with the skills they need to launch their own businesses and understand finances in the real world. So they would have the competencies to create jobs themselves and see that they could bring something of value to the community and be their own bosses,” said Clarissa Donaldson, director of the 100 Kings Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy Summer Program. “This whole experience has been an answered prayer and a blessing. I am only a junior undergraduate student, and I am really interested in economic development through education. So it has been awesome to be in a leadership role, create a curriculum and see the spirit of these kids every day.”
Dr. Steve Robinson, associate professor of physics, recently had a paper published. “Optimizing Youth Baseball Batting Orders” was published in the Volume 12/2013/Edition 1 issue of International Journal of Computer Science in Sport.
Belmont University’s Office of Communications and Office of University Marketing and Special Initiatives earned seven 2013 Tennessee College Public Relations Association Awards during the association’s June meeting in Cookeville, Tenn. The awards were:
Class of 2016 pharmacy student Amy Schnees received a Mary Molina Education Scholarship. This $2,500 award is given to doctoral students who excel academically. Applicants must either work for or be a dependent of an employee within Molina Healthcare. Schnees worked closely with Belmont Pharmacy Assistant Professor Dr. Edgar Diaz-Cruz to prepare her application. This summer Amy has been working with Dr. Amy Ham and colleagues at Vanderbilt University to study resistance of targeted drug therapies for colon cancer.
