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Isaac Williams, an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Maryland, College Park, had a special group of students this spring.

"I wish that I could get students that excited every day," he said. "They were really a joy to work with and really engaged in the material."

His students were a class of kindergartners at Paint Branch Elementary School in College Park. When Paint Branch lets out for the summer today, it will have completed the first year of its partnership with the university. The program gives Paint Branch students a chance to experience college through professor-taught lessons and field trips to the university.

"This project is a good model of what you can do when you get together," said Jay Teston, principal at Paint Branch. "It's the flagship university of the state, so there's no reason we shouldn't be known as the education city."

The university has nine professional development schools in Prince George's County which it uses as teaching labs for College of Education students, according to Amy Neugebauer, the partnership's project manager.

Paint Branch is its first PDS Plus school, giving the school an expanded partnership with several of the university's schools, colleges and other facilities.

"We look at the curriculum, and [Neugebauer] is my contact as to how we can bring in the university," Teston said.

Among this year's programs, a professor from the physics department taught third- and fourth-graders about light and sound. Williams and the School of Architecture helped kindergartners design and build a model city and a lemonade stand.

The College of Education sent student observers to sit in on lessons at the school. Next year, they will send student teachers. The program is done almost entirely on a volunteer basis.

"There's no money exchanged," Neugebauer said. "The College of Education raised the money for my position, but that's really the only [money involved]."

Neugebauer and Teston plan to expand the partnership next year by bringing in more programs, such as the university's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, for year-long, grade-specific lessons.

"There will be a series of projects that kind of build on each other," Neugebauer said. "The kids might write their own story, then turn it into a play so it constantly builds into a bigger and bigger event."

Organizers hope the program will inspire Paint Branch students — many of whom live near the university but seldom visit — to value education and set a goal of attending college.

In March, Paint Branch students visited the campus to watch a performance by Gymkana, the university's acrobatics troupe. One particularly inquisitive student peppered Neugebauer with questions about the university, ranging from its gyms to its classes.

By the end of the day, he wanted to know what would be available "when" he became a student there.

"He had internalized the possibility of going to school," Neugebauer said. "And that's huge."

E-mail David Hill at dhill@gazette.net.