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Orlando Hotelier and Philanthropist Harris Rosen Hosts Cornell Univ. Students for “Alternative” Spring Break
Students Spend Break Mentoring Disadvantaged Kids in Orlando
For more information, contact: Mary Deatrick DPR
(407) 332-5212 mary@deatrickpr.com
Photography available at http://www.rosenhotels.com/media
ORLANDO (April 23, 2008) – While most Orlando hotels were focused on filling rooms at maximum nightly rates during March’s Easter and spring break holiday, one Orlando hotelier and philanthropist was giving away rooms for free — at a AAA Four-Diamond property, no less.
Harris Rosen, President & COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts in Orlando, recently hosted a group of nine Cornell University college students for one week at the luxurious Rosen Shingle Creek hotel. The students visited Orlando as part of an Alternative Breaks program and spent their school holiday mentoring at-risk elementary, middle and high school students in Tangelo Park, a disadvantaged Orlando neighborhood.
The Tangelo Park neighborhood is a cause near and dear to Harris Rosen’s heart — in 1994, he created the Tangelo Park Pilot Program to benefit children and teens in the once drug- and crime-riddled neighborhood. The three-fold educational community service initiative provides free preschool for every two-, three- and four-year-old child living in the Tangelo Park neighborhood, full college or vocational school scholarships for every graduating high school senior in the area, as well as a Neighborhood Center for Families at which parents can take parenting courses and obtain counseling and other resources to help them become positive role models for their children.
The collegians spent their days mentoring students at Tangelo Park Elementary, Southwest Middle School and Dr. Phillips High School and worked with preschool students at various Tangelo Park daycare facilities. They spent their nights at Rosen’s luxurious AAA Four-Diamond hotel, Rosen Shingle Creek, and dined for free at Rosen Shingle Creek restaurants, including the classic steakhouse, A Land Remembered. The students’ entire one-week stay, excluding airfare, was sponsored by Harris Rosen and the Rosen Foundation.
“I’m honored to have worked with this exceptional group of college students,” said Rosen. “They worked enthusiastically and tirelessly during their entire spring break and truly brightened the days of the students and the teachers at the each of the schools and daycare centers they visited. It was incredibly inspiring to see youth giving back to other youth and making a real difference.”
Rosen was not the only one who closed the week feeling inspired and energized. “The Cornell students really changed their view of what service is,” said Chuck Dziuban, Director of the Research Initiative For Teaching Effectiveness at the University of Central Florida.
“They saw that with strong involvement and leadership from the business community, and visionaries like Harris Rosen, neighborhoods can successfully change their own dynamics from one of poverty and crime to one of hope, education and self-reliance. I believe Tangelo Park is the prototype model for urban reform in the United States.”
Cornell students learned about Rosen’s Tangelo Park initiative after the philanthropist spoke at an entrepreneurial program at the university last year. After students inquired about how they could help, the Ivy League University then added Tangelo Park as one of seven locations for Alternative Breaks, a program designed to provide student volunteers the opportunity to participate in alcohol and drug-free, community-based service trips during their spring and winter breaks.
Participants in the Alternative Breaks program engage in reciprocal service in communities with whom they otherwise may have had little or no direct contact with, learning about a variety of social issues, such as urban and rural poverty, racism, hunger, homelessness, the environment, domestic violence and juvenile delinquency. Students are immersed in culturally enriching experiences that challenge them to think critically about the social and environmental issues that shape society.
While at Tangelo Park Elementary, the college students spent their mornings in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms, working with students and assisting teachers. One morning was spent creating art projects with youngsters at several of the Rosen-sponsored daycare providers. Afternoons were spent working on various service projects for the school, working with special areas students in physical education, art, music and computers, and tutoring high school students from Dr. Phillips High School. The group also spent an afternoon at the Tangelo Park YMCA working with tots and daycare providers to create a musical performance.
The students’ busy week continued with an evening of science and math activities with Southwest Middle School students as well as a Community Panel Discussion with Tangelo Park Project’s board of directors, including Harris Rosen and several other community leaders who have been instrumental in the success of the program. The week closed with a Friday evening appreciation banquet for the students, which was attended by the Tangelo Park Project board of directors, the school principals, Orange County Public School officials, the planning committee for the spring break program and Harris Rosen.
During their week in Orlando, the volunteers also enjoyed a complimentary day of fun at SeaWorld Orlando.
About the Tangelo Park Pilot Program
To date, 310 teens who have graduated from high school have received full college or vocational school scholarships and 367 children have participated in the free preschool program and are now in elementary school. Forty-nine students are currently enrolled in the free preschool program.
Prior to the program, the vast majority of high school students from Tangelo Park did not go on to college and the drop out rate was close to 60 percent. Today, the high school drop out rate is less than 4 percent and 60 percent go on to college.
Since 1993, Tangelo Park Elementary students’ reading, writing and math scores have steadily increased. And in 2004 and 2006, the school earned an “A” rating in Florida’s A+ plan and satisfied all the criteria required by the Federal No Child Life Behind Act.
At the high school level, Dr. Phillips High seniors’ grade point averages have increased from about 2.45 to 2.7 -- their GPAs in 2004 ranged from 2.1 to 3.89. Also in 2004, 91 percent of Tangelo students graduated with a regular diploma.
Presently, the University of Central Florida is involved in a systematic study to determine the costs and benefits of the Tangelo Park Program to determine its return of investment.
About Harris Rosen
Harris Rosen, a long-time Orlando resident, is the President and COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, Florida’s largest independent hotel chain which includes Rosen Shingle Creek, Rosen Plaza, Rosen Centre and four value-priced properties including Quality Inn International, Rodeway Inn International, Quality Inn Plaza and Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista, for a total of approximately 6,300 guest rooms.
Rosen is a trustee at the University of Central Florida and donated the land and provided the funding to build the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Rosen also donated $3.5 million to build The Jack and Lee Rosen Southwest Orlando Jewish Community Campus, named in honor of his parents. He is an active conservationist and makes many other charitable donations.
For more information, visit www.rosenshinglecreek.com or call (866) 996-9939