tl20080324-01 "Nick DiMarco Associate News Editor Walking down the hallways of a school that requires security camera clearance to enter, Stacy Justice passes hundreds of pow-der blue lockers. The walls are adorned with hand-painted characters, the polar opposite of the graffiti covered buildings throughout the Cherry Hill community. One of 48 Towson students working with the Cherry Hill Learning Zone program, Justice, an elementary education major, works with disadvantaged youth in one of Baltimore City�s most troubled areas. The median annual income of homeowners in the community is just $17,464 and the majority of households are headed by single females, according to the program�s Web site. Cherry Hill has the highest concentration of public housing in Baltimore. And to help the children in the community, Justice does what she can, even if it�s just reading them a book. After her mentor teacher, Margaret Hoffer, who is in her second year at Patapsco E l e m e n t a r y / Middle School, completed the morning les-son, the floor was passed to Justice. She began to read from �Miss Smith's I n c r e d i b l e Storybook� by Michael Garland, all the while wrangling atten-tion from 6-year-olds. She periodically stopped to ask the class who the characters in the book were. Eager hands shot up in the air with answers. �I love the kids at this age. You get to influ-ence them right from the beginning. Their young experience [determines] whether they will like school or not,� Justice said. �They�re going to be our future some day. They�re going to be the ones leading the world.� The Cherry Hill Learning Zone initiative is a partnership between the Baltimore City Public School System, Baltimore City government, www.thetowerlight.com The Towerlight Published by and for the students of Towson and Baltimore -- twice-weekly Monday Now on TheTowerlight.com: Read about a student�s experiences studying abroad in Italy in her blog, �When in Rome�... Photos by Patrick Smith/The Towerlight Above, student teacher Stacy Justice reaches out to help a student in Margaret Hoffer�s first grade class at Patapsco Elementary/ Middle School in Baltimore City on Monday morning. Justice has been student teaching in Cherry Hill since January. Below, a student works on a project as a part of Justice�s phonics lesson based on the fairy tale �Jack and the Beanstalk.� Nurturing minds, a community Off-campus OneCard may launch this month Bill Bateman�s Bistro, Charles Village Pub among restaurants who will accept points Student Stacy Justice supports youth, neighborhood in Cherry Hill Learning Zone See TEACHING, page 10 See CARD, page 10 March 24, 2008 Student thanks brother for kidney donation with concert Arts, page 16 Women�s lacrosse defeats Richmond, 17-12 Sports, page 23 Sharon Leff Editor in Chief After months of sorting out electronic and banking issues, the University hopes to launch the OneCard for off-campus use by the end of March. James Sheehan, vice president for administra-tion and finance, said in addition to Bill Bateman�s Bistro at 7800 York Road, students will also be able to use their OneCard at Charles Village Pub, 19 West Pennsylvania Ave., and Ridgely & Ferrens Marketplace, 11 Allegheny Ave. �It has been a challenge to set up a process that works well for the students and is also auditable and meets all the state regulations and require-ments,� Joe Oster, associate vice president for auxiliary services, said. Towson President Robert Caret first mentioned taking the OneCard off campus at his Fall Address in September. Oster said Auxiliary Services started on plans to move the card that afternoon. �[We have] 10 free setups which means the organization doesn�t have to pay to get hooked in and get the equipment,� Caret said. �Others would be able to sign on, it would just cost them whatever the start up costs are.� While students will be able to purchase crab pretzels or cheese steaks with their card, Bud Lights and Cosmopolitans will be off the menu. �The vendors are required not to sell alcohol on the card. There�s no other way than the honor system. If we find out a vendor is selling alcohol, we will turn them off,� Oster said. To incorporate the new feature, Towson con-tracted with Off-Campus Advantage, the same organization that handles the current OneCard contract. �We really wanted to do it through them because that way we didn�t have to [go through] a third-party vendor,� he said. �[We could] amend our contract with them instead of going out and start-ing a whole new contract.� "
