Casey Clayton
Milford Mill Academy Class of 2006
Baltimore, Maryland

During the Summer of 2005, I was one of the students chosen to participate in the University of Maryland's Young Scholar Program (YSP). This highly competitive program offers motivated, successful, and rising high school juniors or seniors who love to learn, explore, and excel an exciting way to spend their summer. As a student in the YSP, I was afforded the opportunity to be a resident or commuter student and to choose a three-credit course from a selection of challenging, college-level courses, in subjects such as architecture, engineering, journalism, etc. I chose Math 199: The Interplay of Math and Games, an integration of my favorite subject-math--with my favorite hobby--games.

I found the YSP fascinating! The experience as a resident student was the best three weeks of my life. In addition to learning inside the classroom, I learned outside the classroom by attending evening seminars on college admission and scholarship application strategies, social events, field trips to places such as the Washington Zoo and the Baltimore Aquarium, and activities that included swimming, bowling, weightlifting, and basketball. Participating in these activities was the best part of each day I spent on campus. I also made many friends from other states and countries from New York to Africa. All of my new friends had great personalities, good living habits, and their priorities set in order. We all got along well, and although we plan to keep in touch, I will miss them a lot.

Overall, I enjoyed my time at the University of Maryland at College Park Campus. I learned how to budget my money, and I learned that I can be organized in a disorderly environment (dorm room). But what I learned most is that, although college is about education, the college experience can also be fun. Anyone interested in more information may visit the YSP website at http://www.summer.umd.edu/c/ysp/. It was the perfect way to spend my summer, and it may be yours, too! I certainly look forward to attending the University of Maryland at College Park as a full-time student.

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