Hotelier, Philanthropist Harris Rosen to Host Student Volunteers

 

For more information, contact:

Mary Deatrick,DPR

(407) 332-5212, mary@deatrickpr.com

For photography, visit http://www.rosenshinglecreek.com/photoGallery.asp

 

ORLANDO (March 10, 2008) – This spring, as thousands of college students flock to Orlando for a fun-filled spring break at the theme parks, a group of 9 Cornell University college students will spend their school holiday mentoring elementary, middle and high school students from a disadvantaged Orlando neighborhood.

 

From March 15th to 22nd, Ivy League students from Ithaca, New York, will spend their spring break working with at-risk youth in the Tangelo Park neighborhood of Orlando. The students will be hosted by hotelier and philanthropist Harris Rosen, who created the Tangelo Park Pilot Program to benefit children and teens in the once drug- and crime-riddled neighborhood.

 

Created in 1994, the three-fold educational community service initiative provides free preschool for every two-, three- and four-year-old child living in the Tangelo Park neighborhood, full college or vocational school scholarships for every graduating high school senior in the area, as well as a Neighborhood Center for Families at which parents can take parenting courses and obtain counseling and other resources to help them become positive role models for their children.

 

The collegians will spend their days mentoring students at Tangelo Park Elementary, Southwest Middle School and Dr. Phillips High School and working with preschool students at various Tangelo Park daycare facilities, and then spend their nights at Rosen’s luxurious AAA Four-Diamond hotel, Rosen Shingle Creek. The students’ entire one-week stay, excluding airfare, is sponsored by Harris Rosen and the Rosen Foundation.

 

“Not too many college students would give up their spring break to work in the schools with impoverished youth,” said Rosen. “All of us involved in the Tangelo Park Pilot Program commend these students for their desire to make the world a better place and for their courage in choosing the road less traveled. While I’m sure their college buddies will have some interesting spring break tales to tell, this group is going to be making a real difference in the lives of hundreds of youngsters.”

 

Cornell students learned about Rosen’s Tangelo Park initiative after the philanthropist spoke at an entrepreneurial program at the university last year. After students inquired about how they could help, the Ivy League University then added Tangelo Park as one of seven locations for Alternative Breaks, a program designed to provide student volunteers the opportunity to participate in alcohol and drug-free, community-based service trips during their spring and winter breaks.

 

Participants in the Alternative Breaks program engage in reciprocal service in communities with whom they otherwise may have had little or no direct contact with, learning about a variety of social issues, such as urban and rural poverty, racism, hunger, homelessness, the environment, domestic violence and juvenile delinquency. Students are immersed in culturally enriching experiences that challenge them to think critically about the social and environmental issues that shape society.

 

While at Tangelo Park Elementary, the college students will spend their mornings in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms, working with students and assisting teachers. One morning will be spent creating art projects with youngsters at several of the Rosen-sponsored daycare providers. Afternoons will be spent working on various service projects for the school, working with special areas students in physical education, art, music and computers, and tutoring high school students from Dr. Phillips High School. The group also will spend an afternoon at the Tangelo Park YMCA working with tots and daycare providers to create a musical performance.

 

The students’ busy week continues with an evening of science and math activities with Southwest Middle School students as well as a Community Panel Discussion with Tangelo Park Project’s board of directors, including Harris Rosen and several other community leaders who have been instrumental in the success of the program. The week will close with a Friday evening appreciation banquet for the students, which will be attended by the Tangelo Park Project board of directors, the school principals, Orange County Public School officials, the planning committee for the spring break program and Harris Rosen.

 

During their week in Orlando, the volunteers will enjoy a complimentary day of fun at SeaWorld Orlando. During their stay at Rosen Shingle Creek, the students will enjoy complimentary meals at the hotel’s many restaurants, including the fine-dining steakhouse, A Land Remembered.

 

About the Tangelo Park Pilot Program

 

To date, 310 teens who have graduated from high school have received full college or vocational school scholarships and 367 children have participated in the free preschool program and are now in elementary school. Forty-nine students are currently enrolled in the free preschool program.

 

Prior to the program, the vast majority of high school students from Tangelo Park did not go on to college and the drop out rate was close to 60 percent. Today, the high school drop out rate is less than 4 percent and 60 percent go on to college.

 

Since 1993, Tangelo Park Elementary students’ reading, writing and math scores have steadily increased. And in 2004 and 2006, the school earned an “A” rating in Florida’s A+ plan and satisfied all the criteria required by the Federal No Child Life Behind Act.

 

At the high school level, Dr. Phillips High seniors’ grade point averages have increased from about 2.45 to 2.7 -- their GPAs in 2004 ranged from 2.1 to 3.89. Also in 2004, 91 percent of Tangelo students graduated with a regular diploma.

 

Presently, the University of Central Florida is involved in a systematic study to determine the costs and benefits of the Tangelo Park Program to determine its return of investment. To date, the return appears to be $7 to society for every $1 spent.

 

About Harris Rosen

 

Harris Rosen, a long-time Orlando resident, is the President and COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, Florida’s largest independent hotel chain which includes Rosen Shingle Creek, Rosen Plaza, Rosen Centre and four value-priced properties including Quality Inn International, Rodeway Inn International, Quality Inn Plaza and Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista, for a total of approximately 6,500 guest rooms.

 

Rosen is a trustee at the University of Central Florida and donated the land and provided the funding to build the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Rosen also donated $3.5 million to build The Jack and Lee Rosen Southwest Orlando Jewish Community Campus, named in honor of his parents. He is an active conservationist and makes many other charitable donations.

For more information, contact: Mary Deatrick
(407) 332-5212, E-mail:mdeatrick@cfl.rr.com
Photography available at our Photo Gallery page