While other universities push students to finish in three years, 67 percent of Temple students take six or more years to graduate.
While debate continues on whether America’s colleges should replace four-year degrees with three-year degrees, Temple is focused on getting students out in four years.
Currently, roughly 67 percent of Temple students take six years or more to graduate, Senior Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies Peter Jones said.
While schools like Hartwick College in Oneonata, N.Y., are implementing three-year programs and emphasizing the financial benefits for students, Jones explained that he wants students to think of the money they could save by graduating in four years versus five or six.
Tuition for out-of-state students is roughly $40,000 over two years, Jones noted. A student taking six years to graduate loses out on a potential income for two years. That could be $100,000 lost by not graduating on time, Jones said.
To read the rest of this news article for The Temple News, click here. The above picture is of Peter Jones, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies. While I did not take this picture, there is no credit on The Temple News' website.
Sergeant Michael Faust, of the Police Athletic League, called Montanna Stewart over to the parked cart at the GEICO Junior Golf Program’s 9-hole tournament on Friday, August 1.
“Do you like it?” Sgt. Faust asked the first-time camper. She nodded vigorously. “Would you come back?” She nodded again.
Stewart is one of roughly 130 inner-city kids from 26 PAL centers who participated in last week’s program at Juniata Golf Course. Many of those kids are returning campers; many, like Stewart, want to return next year.
PAL, for those who don’t know, is a non-profit organization that has served the community since 1947. It operates 26 centers citywide and serves more than 27,000 kids, ages 6 to 18. The organization sponsors sports, educational and cultural events free of charge, including the junior golf program, and provides scholarships to more than 200 recipients a year.
“I’ve enjoyed watching them play and they’re really getting better,” Sgt. Faust said.
Perhaps the reason the kids are improving is because the week spent at Juniata Golf Course is the final phase of PAL’s 3-part junior golf program.
During the introductory phase, which started in early May and lasts 8 weeks, 300 kids were taught the basics at the Burholme Driving Range and Miniature Golf Course. From the end of June to mid-August, roughly 225 kids work on chipping, putting, driving and golf etiquette with the help of golf professionals in the “Kids on the Hill” program.
Then every officer in charge of a PAL center picked 5 kids who spent three days in Juniata learning more from PGA professionals before participating in an 18-hole tournament at the Spring Mill Country Club in Warminster, PA. On the final day of camp, they return to Juniata for a mini-tournament and awards luncheon.
“Everybody gets a medal for participation,” Sgt. Faust said. “It goes over real good, people are happy to have that.”
Those awards were given out by PAL Officer Ernie Rehr, who has led the team operating the camp in the 11 years since Bob Wheeler, one of the founders of the camp, retired. Wheeler is now manager of Juniata Golf Course and has served for the last 3 years as executive director of the Juniata Golf Foundation.
“This is a tremendous program,” retired Officer Wheeler said. “It’s the only legitimate program that teaches inner city kids. We’ve been doing it longer and absolutely better than anyone else.”
Officer Rehr’s nephew Drew was a camper like Stewart and because he agrees with Wheeler’s sentiment, volunteers alongside his dad Andy, a Philadelphia police officer not officially involved with PAL, now that he is too old to participate.
What Officer Rehr wants campers to learn during their week in Juniata are the lessons golf teaches.
“Golf teaches honesty, integrity, dedication, work ethic. I call it the 3 R’s: respect yourself, respect others and respect the course or the environment,” Officer Rehr said. “If you can get a kid to do those things, you’ve got a well-rounded kid.”
Many who have been involved in the camp or seen kids learn those lessons visited last week. Among them were: retired officer Jerry Hartman, who helped Wheeler found the camp; Steve Head, former PAL kid from the 1950s and 1960s; Bobby Ewing, former manager of Juniata Golf Course and PGA golfer; and Dick Smith, former president of PGA who now runs a golf school with Ewing.
The thing Sgt. Faust said is most important is that each kid feels on the course that they’re having fun. “That’s what we want to hear, ‘We’re having fun,’” Sgt. Faust said.
This 530-word piece appeared on the front page of the August 24th edition of The Juniata News. I shot the above picture, of Billy Schneider and Jerry Hartman with junior golfers, using a Nikon point-and-shoot.
