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Community Corner

WHIZ KID OF THE WEEK: Alex Benford

University of Maryland student is a mentor for elementary school students in Prince George's County. She plans to help children throughout her life.

Whiz Kid's Name: Alex Benford

Whiz Kid's Age: 19

Whiz Kid's School: University of Maryland

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Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: She tutors fourth graders in math at  Mount Rainier Elementary School in Prince George’s County.

Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: She plans to tutor again next year and has dreams of opening a nonprofit organization for kids.

Alex Benford loves working with and helping children. That’s why she jumped at the chance to become a regular math tutor for some fourth graders at Mount Rainier Elementary School in Prince George’s County during her first semester in college last fall.

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Alex works with the children as part of the America Reads * America Counts program, a partnership between the University of Maryland and Prince George’s County Public Schools.

Its mission is "to provide a high-quality mentoring program that enriches learning opportunities for both college and elementary school students," according to its website.

Alex, a Pikesville resident, works with the same small group of children twice a week for about six hours total. She finished the program in the fall, is back again this spring and expects to return to the job and to Mt. Rainier once more in the fall.

“I have this thing for kids,” she said. “Anything that I can do for kids, I’m there.”

Alex plans to major in journalism and minor in Italian—she loves the language and studied it in high school at Carver A&T—but said she hopes to always help children in some way.

With that goal in mind, she said she wants to eventually open some kind of nonprofit organization to benefit children.

That's something she’d love to do down the road. But for now, she’ll keep working with the kids, who were very disappointed when Alex missed a day—something that warms any teacher's heart.

“I love doing this,” she said. “It’s just a great feeling.”
  

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