Tess Colwell/The Gazette Don Musgrove of Maryland Business Round Table for Education talks to eighth-grade students Jan. 18 about succeeding in school and work at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville.

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Tess Colwell/The Gazette Don Musgrove of Maryland Business Round Table for Education talks to eighth-grade students Jan. 18 about succeeding in school and work at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville.
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Tess Colwell/The Gazette Don Musgrove of Maryland Business Round Table for Education talks to eighth-grade students Jan. 18 about succeeding in school and work at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville.
• 
Tess Colwell/The Gazette Don Musgrove of Maryland Business Round Table for Education talks to eighth-grade students Jan. 18 about succeeding in school and work at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville.

Tess Colwell/The Gazette Don Musgrove of Maryland Business Round Table for Education talks to eighth-grade students Jan. 18 about succeeding in school and work at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville.

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For some Nicholas Orem Middle School students, a motivational presentation Wednesday was the first time they’d had to put some serious thought into their careers and responsibilities.

“I want to go to college,” said eighth-grader Elijah Connolly, 13 of Hyattsville. “It’s important so we can pay for an apartment and get a good salary.”

The school’s Advancement Via Individual Determination program hosted speakers from the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education, a statewide business group promoting education reform and student achievement, as a chance to engage students in thinking about their goals and opportunities after grade school.

AVID is a Prince George’s County Public Schools college and career preparation program that Nicholas Orem in Hyattsville adapted in 2010. There are 20 other schools in the county using AVID, said Masaley Kargbo, AVID’s coordinator and teacher at Nicholas Orem.

Assistant Principal Aundrea McCall said the school began AVID as a way to target students who need organizational, note-taking or studying skills and those who may be first generation college-bound students.

“This is an effort to close the achievement gap for preparing students to be college and career ready,” McCall said. “Where we sit socioeconomically, our students don’t have all the opportunities that other students in other areas do. Having a program like this, starting in middle school, puts them on the right track as they prepare to move on to high school.”

Don Musgrove, a motivational speaker, told eighth-graders Wednesday morning that while grades are important, so is attendance, extracurricular activities and the types of friends they choose to be around.

Musgrove also spoke on the cost of living and how to live comfortably based on the salaries that various careers provide.

“Most of us weren’t taught this at this age,” he said, regarding salaries, professions and financial responsibilities. “Instead of settling, this gives them a snapshot into their futures.”

Stephen Gurwah, 13, of Hyattsville, said he’s never put much thought into what he wants to do after high school, but after hearing Musgrove’s presentation, he said he would like to apply to colleges so that an employer will hire him.

“He was telling us that we need to look more into the future so we don’t get bad jobs,” he said.

Julia Diaz, 14, of Hyattsville, said she is hoping to get involved in extracurricular activities to show she can take on new challenges, such as attending Suitland High School, a public magnet high school for visual and performing arts in Forestville, for soccer and chorus.

Kargbo said she encouraged MBRT to speak to the school because their message aligns with AVID’s goals of making students “college and career ready.”

“Some of the kids came to me after hearing the presentations and said, ‘did you know [colleges] check transcripts?’” she said. “I believe this has empowered them to walk with more motivation.”

Following Musgrove’s presentation, students wrote what they learned and how they might prepare for the future with ideas such as keeping their grades high to be awarded a good scholarship and researching various career opportunities.

“These are the things that inspire me,” Musgrove said. “I want them to believe they can achieve anything.”

djgross@gazette.net