Students come back to campus during intersession for different reasons, but for freshmen a popular incentive is participating in a one week B'more Program.
With a record high of approximately 200 students this year, the program offers an opportunity for each class of freshmen to explore Baltimore and help the local community in the process. One program, a class called Homelessness in Baltimore inspired more than an understanding of the city, but a new student organization: Hopkins Helping the Homeless.
"On the second day of classes we took a bus tour and saw distressed neighborhoods, such as East and West Baltimore, and, living on campus, we did not expect to see so many vacant and destroyed houses," Maurice Dunn, a freshman who helped to found the group, said.
According to the Census Bureau, about one in four Baltimore residents are living in poverty. The B'more program helped Hopkins students see this figure come to life, which sparked students' desire to make an impact.
On a trip to Our Daily Bread, a soup kitchen in Baltimore, Hopkins students had genuine interactions with Baltimore residents. One of the volunteers who had been working there for six years said she had never seen a group of Hopkins students there before. This was a major turning point for some of the students and gave them the idea to form a homeless advocacy group on campus.
"Having spoken to some of the homeless in Baltimore and hearing their stories, I realize that we as students can help out in many more ways than we could ever imagine. There are so many opportunities for our group to touch the lives of others in the process of assistance. I'm so grateful that I am able to be a part of this amazing process of growth and learning," freshman Andrea Kim said.
However, the group has a long way to go before becoming an official presence on campus. Dunn and other students have been meeting with various Hopkins faculty to improve the efforts of the organization and get it officially approved. Students recently met with Bill Teifenwerth, Director of the Center for Social Concern, to learn about how they can aid the fight against Baltimore's poverty problems.
Currently, there are no organizations at Hopkins whose sole focus is to deal with homelessness in Baltimore; thus, the students are taking the initiative to create one. Teifenwerth approved of the ideas of the club and an application to become official was submitted last week. The next step is to submit a budget and wait for approval.
Hopkins already has numerous student and University-wide initiatives within the Baltimore community and is definitely a large presence in the city. There are various clubs that serve food to the homeless, and many students have worked with homeless populations on various days of service, but a club dedicated specifically to helping the growing homeless population and to raising awareness does not exist yet.
"Seeing how easy it was to volunteer, combined with learning about the problems that exist in Baltimore and the reasons people face homelessness inspired basically the entire class to do something. Our awesome instructor, Scott Gottbreht, offered to be the faculty advisor, and it just took off from there," Carrie Resnick, a freshman, said.
Currently, the club has 87 perspective members and are seeking more. As soon as the organization is official, the club and its new members will set an official meeting time and assign leaders of various task forces.
"The best aspect of being in this club is being able to help build up the structure for something that I believe will leave a lasting legacy not only on this campus but in our cities," Kim said.
The organization plans on making weekly visits to Our Daily Bread and helping with voter registration for the homeless. Another major aspect of this organization will be raising awareness at Homewood and in Baltimore.
"Our goal is to have a steady weekly visit to soup kitchens and to have a fundraiser, most likely some sort of party. The money will go to the funding for the newspaper Word on the Street," Dunn said.
Word on the Street is a new publication in Baltimore focusing on issues important to the homeless population of Baltimore, and it will be written mostly by the homeless or formerly homeless. The first issue is slated to come out in March. Hopkins students will be helping to edit the paper, help with publicity and plan various fundraising events.
It is atypical for a club to start at the beginning of the second semester, but enthusiasm for this group is a testament to the influence of the B'more Program.
"This organization was also formed to break from this sense of complacency and indifference that college students are associated with. Although this club isn't about us, we started it thinking that our passion to help others would change the way others viewed our campus and encourage other students to play an active role in our community, even if this didn't include our initiative," Kim said.
Members hope that the new role that Hopkins Helping the Homeless creates also establishes a legacy, especially for the class of 2015.
"I like that we can help make an impact in the community that we will be living in for the next four years of our lives. Students should look forward to being active in the Baltimore community to help out with this major problem of homelessness," freshman Christy Schnyer said.
