Entrepreneur program includes good GPAs

Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006

Thank you for the fantastic article, ‘‘Aspiring entrepreneurs get a leg up: College, university team up for new program in Prince George’s,” that was published in The Gazette Sept. 21. The writer did a wonderful job capturing the generosity of the Hillman family and the commitment of both the University of Maryland, College Park, and Prince George’s Community College. In addition, the article conveyed that the new Hillman Entrepreneurs are truly an inspiring group of students.

There is one correction we would like to make, however. The article mentions the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program is for county students who ‘‘don’t meet the academic requirements to attend a four-year school.” This is simply not true. While the program is not intended as a GPA-based academic scholarship, the students selected are qualified to attend a four-year higher education institution. In fact, the Hillman Entrepreneurs, 12 of whom have GPAs higher than 3.0, will be transferring to the University of Maryland, College Park, next fall.

Students attend Prince George’s Community College for a variety of reasons. Those who attend as a stepping stone to their bachelor’s degrees do so because of the low-cost tuition, which is about one-third of the tuition at a public four-year university; convenient class schedules offered on the evenings and weekends as well as online; small class sizes; considerable faculty-student interaction; and the opportunity to participate in numerous programs, internships and activities.

Prince George’s Community College is a great place to start for students pursuing their bachelor’s degrees.

Lisa Rowlings, program director, Hillman Entrepreneurs Program, and Robert Garrison II, Hillman Entrepreneur, Largo