Maryland State Of Mind; 603

Funding for Maryland state of mind is provided by the 13 institutions of the university system of Maryland. Coming up next on Maryland state of mind Dr. Di travel beneath the waves inside the modest human powered submarine. And these Aspiring engineers make these Run Silent Run Deep and are those corn flakes safe. We look at the genetically modified food controversy that may affect what goes down and what comes up in the field of agriculture. And is there any sweeter version than that from the pen of a poet Meachem silver sages who write with wisdom and wit and reflect upon the molted magic of some at work whose medium of fire and sand for years a dazzling and sometimes startling body of work. It's all coming up next on Marilyn. State of Mind. Welcome aboard. Maryland state of mind. I'm your captain. Well actually your host Scott Zeid.

Modern submarines are marvels of technology and today most of them use nuclear power. Now also in the past I've employed a variety of power sources. The most unusual mode of locomotion is the human powered ship. It seems only appropriate that college engineering students have become fascinated with building and racing. The strange great engineering students at the University of Maryland College Park are no exception. The challenges inherent in such a vessel taxed every engineering comes that they knew and then said could they actually build and repel such a device under the waves. Well let's find out as they manned the turf below. Humans have had a fascination with moving under their own energy since careers soared too close to the sun. But whether it be through the air over land. Or under the sea. People have gone to great lengths and even risk their lives to move under their own power.

And so it was engineering students from the University of Maryland College Park sort of fascinating way to apply their skills. By designing and building a very unusual craft. A human powered submarine. Here at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at current Iraq the sub named torpedo is getting a shaking down run. To see if all systems are go. The class is a new addition to the Mechanical Engineering Department. It was started two years ago by a couple of students who saw a human powered sub on a visit to the carter rock facility. The mechanical engineering department. They offer electives in manufacturing and design and the students and faculty have the ability to develop

courses that they'd like to see happen in the curriculum. The students are always looking for courses in which they can do something. For most of their career here they learn theory they learn concept whereas a course like this which is totally an elective it's something that the students help design as far as what's involved in the course they're free to apply everything that they've learned in the manner that they choose. So the first semester was pretty much the design phase where they did a lot of the research through literature through talking with experts in the area on how to do this and what needed to be considered. And then they went into the laboratory and to use the computers and they designed this sub from the floor up basically all the systems that they needed before we ever started putting it together. This is the hole that we designed in the first semester of the human powered submarine class. This be comprised of. Two different Air Force shapes. Basically every Air

Force shape's been tested a million times. You know we have great drag data on. It was really as technical as finding one that was fat and little we knew we had to fit a lot of stuff in there so we grab the Phalen. We wanted to design this thing on the computer we wanted to make sure that would fit together in really helpful and trying to see if people would actually fit inside of those air tanks in here they're in a different position now there's a composer and a navigator. The class this semester has actually changed their orientation. I went through probably 10 iterations of this hall trying to fit it around to people. So we were building is freely flooded submarine which means that's filled with water when it comes down to the bottom of the pool. So what that means is that the pilot and the Propulsid have quit breathing on contain apparatus. Once it's built you've got to find out if your creation really works.

And that means putting it in the water. To perform this test. The class had access to a unique on campus facility. The Space Systems lab houses a three story neutral buoyancy tank. Here the class could not only test out the subsystems they could also practice another skill that is very important to making human powered subs work. They had to learn how to make the sub and the two divers who would operate it neutrally buoyant. A state of neutral buoyancy is achieved by adding or subtracting weights or flotation. The idea is to establish a balance where you either rise towards the surface or sink to the bottom you just float at any level you choose. When the new boy and operators enter the neutrally buoyant sub the

whole system should remain neutrally buoyant. Part of the allure of building a human powered submarine was the chance to raise that international submarine races are held each year. The races have been held at Carter rock in the David Taylor model basin. One of the goals of the subclass was to enter Pido in the next scheduled competition. For. Team torpedo to have a chance at winning a race. They had to practice pedaling the sub at speed. This water is called for this. The class was able to use one of the Navy's testing facilities at Carter rock. You're going down. Don't grab a hold of the pulsars on any of our boats to do anything. Is anyone to break. And lifeboat and Dan Dozier who work at Carder are active members in the world of human powered submarines. They have two subs at the naval facility.

One of them built by a group of high school students. I guess the guts of any sports car is the is the engine the power train. This is kind of a modified stair climber of our own design. But basically kick with your feet. The propeller turns. Control surfaces up front to dive and rise and you have a rudder in the back that allows you to go left and right. So the joysticks to control surfaces and you basically fly the boat in the water. An experienced pilot makes flying look easy.

As for Team torpedo their day was not without problems. On their first run. They shared a pin in their drive shaft losing power to the propeller. But with a team of engineers you can never be far from a solution. Soon the sub is back in the water ready for another take off dam. This time flight is achieved if only for a few glorious minutes. At the end of this year. These engineering students will pass on their version of this torpedo. I'm really proud of it. I mean a lot of people helped build it but I was one of it was a great class. I learned a lot. And we accomplished a lot.

It's a growing controversy and it's coming up. A Maryland state of mind. Artists have long loved the medium of glass for sculpture is fluid lines it's transparency or opacity all inspire artisans to forge Crystal creations. So what is its Elsberry State University where an impressive new program and studio art glass is taking shape and molding students into art is a fire art. Now as you'll see the contemporary glass movement is not bound by practical applications only by the artist's imagination which can be startling and sometimes even shocking but no matter how their workers perceived it can definitely be described as a glass act. You. Open the furnace the first time.

I've had students who were who are tenuous about fire open the furnace the first time they're scared as how the real one raw live and you could just put a big hole in your hands. Ideas when you open you want to open it up flat. They drive at Glass how to start working it. And you see it in their eyes. They got to do it again and then eight hours blowing glass a week isn't enough for them. Right on it's going to be a sherry glass. Bye. I just I get a rush out of it. It's a big hot glass is an ancient addiction. But glassblowing as art is newly arrived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At Saulsbury State University two young faculty members are making a name for

themselves and for their school with a new program in the art of class. Danny Marder and Jennifer counting are transplants to Tidewater trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and the tilers School of Art in Philadelphia. They came as missionaries with a message. Hot glass can be a contemporary and sometimes controversy art form. I'm a sculptor. Glass is the material that was really most exciting to me so I would make my work in glass but it was sculptural work. A lot of the forms come from. Like that Chicago school splitter of surrealism. It's things that come from your mind that come from your dreams that come from your sketches. That's a lie. It's not the material that moves in that. They have it has that. Kind of character to have a history of being a photographer.

And I see glass as being directly related to performance and to photography and that you choose the moment free is. Jennifer counting handles hot glass on a smaller scale lamp working images of animals in her home studio. And creating a controversial collection found glass holding found objects including Eastern Shore animals frozen in death unusual art with a dark urban edge. What do I think about this. All great art invokes emotion and yes this is art. Whether I like it or not. You

know. I that explores death as a celebration of life. I was just in awe after I began this collection of the physicality. That's a bigger creator or a bigger artist has made. And I wanted to present that to people to have them be in wonder and in awe as well and certainly inspired hopefully by what life is can to young artists was so much urban edge teach. Eastern Shore students had to turn hot glass into fine art. SEE students making art. My hope is that the students will take. Art and embrace it. It's a choice

that they can make. Fine art. The key to turning glass into a form of art is learning glassblowing as a form of craft. The biggest thing about him coming from an urban area I guess would be his intensity as far as the critiquing work. He had an overwhelming presence sort of like I didn't know what he was talking namea he was talking over my head a little bit. Everything starts with either a bubble or a gather. Physics command to do a certain thing. It was. Kind of clueless and I was like geez am I going to make it through this. So you need to learn how to make a perfect sphere. You need to learn how to make a cone you need to learn how to make an inverted cone you need to learn how to make a long neck bottle you need to learn how to make a run down or a plane. Sometimes you feel like you just want to walk away because you're like man you know I feel

down if I'm not doing right. If you can learn the basic forms and how to manipulate the material to make these basic forms and you can make anything. So concentrate on that form. Forms are so important. The shapes are just amazing that what you can obtain the shapes that come out of it. If. You can make a perfect clear cut. Then color is going to be a whole new thing. It's really amazing to be able to shape things so spontaneously and so neat to work with something like that. You know that that's going to be. Good to go. Right. To. The bottom. So excited I just focused more of my class time on glassblowing than any of everything else.

I think that having a hot glass program and a state school is isn't it is a tremendous draw. This is a brand new program in Salisbury steak. We have a fully functioning hot glass studio two furnaces a very large gloryhole a small gloryhole copious oven space. They have the freedom to pretty much create anything they want to create. Hot glass has its first home on the eastern shore here at Solsbury State University. What more could come out of this new studio the making of new art and the making of new artists. Perhaps even artists with an Eastern show on. Their memories provide the meaning and their poetry provides the words. Meet these senior scribes. Later in our show. I don't know if you believe them.

But. You know food really is one of life's great pleasures. It feeds the body and sustains the soul and it's just plain delicious. But a new technology has entered the agricultural arena. The genetic modification of plants now. And it's making many people nervous about the basic sustenance of life. Some environmental primarily in Europe are challenging the AG industry's assurances of safety. Scientists at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute work with genetically modified foods. And should offer information. We all understand the controversy. This is one issue that has indeed become. Food for thought. In 1996 genetically engineered seeds were first introduced in America. Farmers eagerly embraced the seeds created by taking the gene code from another plant or animal and inserting it into the genetic code of a target plant.

The reason was simple. These plants that were resistant to pass and that killed noxious weeds saved on costs and labor. In four years. Biotech seeds accounted for 36 percent of American corn. Fifty five percent of soybeans and 43 percent of its cotton. The biotech crops were planted in North and South America China and Australia. The parent companies that develop these seeds Monsanto. Novartis Dow Chemical and DuPont. We're developing a second generation of modified seed that they believe would revolutionize how we feed the world. When environmentalists in Europe. Became alarmed. These environmental advocates began destroying fields of genetically altered test plants after a distrustful European public scorn the miracle seeds

and demanded and modified grain. The European Union reduced its purchase of American corn to one million dollars down dramatically from 305 million in 1996. In America farmers began to question whether they should plant the genetically modified seed. The biotechnology companies launched a $15 billion advertising campaign to convince Americans that their products were safe as a medicine she could survive a childhood disease. A cotton crop helps protect itself from certain pests. Because discoveries in biotechnology are helping to treat our sick. And protect our crops. What are we to believe. Might scientists have a more objective view. At the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute researchers manipulate genes hoping to mask connections which will lead to new transgenic products. Well over the last as I said 15 or 20 years there have been a

large number of studies trying to identify risks associated with transgenic crops and it's easier to demonstrate a risk than it is to completely eliminate the possibility of some future problems. And so over the last 15 or so years it has not been possible to demonstrate a clear risk associated with it. That doesn't mean that you should say that it's completely over but I don't believe that there is sufficient. Data to suggest that you should show this technology and not employ it. There is no substantiated just at this point. There's so much work that's done at the band. And then in the greenhouse and in the field the consumer needs to understand those steps in the process from the time of conception is what I'm going to prove. Let's say right by adding vitamin K. What does that mean. By the time the consumer eats it. So if you gather all that stuff and the consumer understands that there are many checkpoints. It just doesn't go through. Hey the van I think they're going to understand that they understand

the process. And our own mouth stands of the scientists and the manufacturers of plant. Life. Then they're going to be I think better educated or equipped to make that decision whether or not they will buy that in a store. I been work with sweetcorn ever since 1972 when I first started. Twenty nine years ago and now it's a crop that requires. Heavy use of insecticides. To get the air quality at a level that consumers will accept. So now that we put the gene in to the sweet corn and itself produce its own insecticide and it provides incredible very effective control. And reducing insecticides by 90 percent. So. In many cases 100 percent no insecticides are usable. What it means for food processing industry the sweet corn processing industry is. A significant reduction in insecticide use. Less risk to the prayer that the people that are going to spray less liability and

at risk of drif of insecticides that might cause everything spray by ear. It's just a more efficient system to control insects and more environmentally safe. What are some of the opponents major concerns and how do biotechnology spokespersons respond. The fact is what consumers want what people want is sustainable agriculture. Agriculture that doesn't use toxic chemicals or genetic engineering survey after survey shows that if consumers had a choice of everything else was equal people would buy organic foods. Foods that would produce sustainably that's the kind of agricultural future that we should be pursuing. Not dangerous genetic technologies but safe technologies that work in harmony with nature. What Much of this controversy is about. You see it in the paper so often really has little to do with the technology. My concern for example about globalization concern about multinational corporations concern about trade

folks that are basically anti-technology are raising their voices again. The Food and Drug Administration should be doing their own testing and they should be doing independent test scientists who have a monetary interest should be the ones who are doing the testing. These crops are going to be out there forever not just for a season or two. So we really need to look at long term what's happening in the environment. We don't have any more land collimated land areas that we can look to to help feed what everyone agrees is going to be a rapidly increasing world population. And we've got to rely on new technologies. To be able to get the increased yields that we're going to be necessary to feed a song in the next 30 years. This is a technology that will. Have made major strides in helping that take place. And so to curtail this technology to make the case that this is not necessarily. Is heresy. So genetic engineers are just nudging Mother Nature to work a little faster. And the question is when they do that not doing is it stable. And will the benefits

outweigh the risk. And that's the key question. That is something only time can definitely tell. Until then you the consuming public must thoughtfully choose the food you eat. A science class in the grass and it's helping them day later on Maryland's state of mind. Age often confers the perspective of wisdom and ability to see which one has been and to take meaning from it. This insight has always been best expressed in words and verse. This has given rise to a delightful publication of poetry written by people around the country who have lived life fully and express it quite beautifully. Now what should be no surprise that this journal emanates from the University of Baltimore an institution renowned for its adept use of language in its School of Law. But these mostly silver haired poets bring to the page

lifetimes of experience years of reflection and memories to share. My mother goes with me wherever I go. Now that she is dead. She sits beside me in therapy. She is a passenger in my jeep. My mother walks with me in the woods. We like that. And she listens on the phone when I call my daughter. My mother loves me now that she is dead. And slowly I'm learning how to say. To love her back. Carolyn Benson. Like musical notes in the air or artistic impressions on canvas. The written word is one of our species unique abilities to communicate thoughts

ideas or emotions. And while romance novels or tales of adventure may fill many bookshelves. New styles of writing elicit more emotion than the poem. When we care about the words we use. We care about the words we choose to say to each other. It's. Enormously important and I think poetry is about the individual word. For 10 years now. An outlet for writers and poets has been published by the University of Baltimore. While known for its law programs the school's literary journal passenger has captured the hearts of young and old alike. All right. Last week we had this quote How do I know what I think until I've written that it seemed a little. Tired on this page right. Pasadena is a literary journal publishes poetry fiction essays. It began in 1989 and the name Pasadena was a made up word. We were trying to think

of how what we could call a magazine that was for people traveling through life that found themselves surprised by what they wanted to say and what they had to say. So we made up the word passage or as a combination of passages and passengers feeling sad. Right Kendra said Would you like to help. Passenger Ragozin described that it was a journal that was being put out by the University of Baltimore this area and that it involved older writers and bringing in people who probably hadn't published before. I hope that some of the work I wrote my first book when I was six I thought it was pretty good but nobody else did. So but put a little damper on my enthusiasm for a while. But I kept writing all my life and since I can't sing i sure do it I guess maybe that's it.

Don't dream. When I became stone I thought I'd be lonely. For good I know that violence would cluster and push for and shade at my base but liking would hug me and field mice and earthworms and beetles with tunnel beneath me to winter down or know that I'd go on breathing and dreaming. That time is both taker and. And in the year of the hundred year flood. I dance once again along the river every morning. I mean I would generally say we've published people as young as probably in their 20s but we've also published many people from say 60 to 90. And our family. I wrote my first home when I was 10 and I wrote my second poem when I was approaching 70. Actually Pop us coffee. If I could forget about the plot collecting in my arteries from the coffee he fed me

from the time I was five it hates me from my stomach out in that kitchen worked out. My parents never hear of Dick and Jane who drink only plain cold milk. I have a lot of respect for the mad people in their 60s and 70s tend to be reflective about themselves and life. They become. A little philosophical. And. That's what was happening to me. Well there are generally people that have had they've had families they've had careers they've been very busy being many things to many people. And now their time and what they want to do in this time is make meaning of their life. We have to put a call out for submissions so we post listings in various writers directories we're looking for stories and poems about immigrants for example. And then the mail starts coming. So we read them all and then we have to sort them out and then we have to only pick a few for

the publication which is very tough. So we select the work and that's when the press comes out. Chris is a graduate assistant and he's also a graphic designer. He is brand new to our program he's learning graphic design and this is a opportunity for him to really develop his skills so that they can get down. Boil it down to a local lab and. Look the book exciting thing. LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

LOL LOL LOL. That 50 year old black and whites tell me he had an impulse toward husbandry in these photos he holds wrigglers a cat a child a barefoot squirmer a thumbsucker. The earliest taken in the bush. His huge hands on him standing before a starving cow a saddled horse and a half cleared paddock the horse all bit faded from the photo. Now is the drought's would later airbrush them all from the landscape of gum tree and burn grass. Johno do. You Ruthie's writers by mail. You don't know them. You get a picture of them sometimes but you meet them by their words from all over the country. And not only do you get to meet them but you get to find out what's going on with them in a deep way.

So it's a very important connection with people. We come together around passage. That's what keeps me going. That looks great. Congratulations. Thank you. They're not waiting for a label. This generation is making their mark Now later in our show. The Chesapeake Bay is a living laboratory full of complex ecosystems all hanging delicately in the balance. Now while many scientists probed the bay's Hell there's one group that's particularly interesting for their youthful enthusiasm. A program coordinated by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences enables school kids and teachers to conduct scientific tests in the day such as the delicate seagrass so critical to its health. The program is good for the Bay. It's good for the teachers and it's great for the kids who are discovering a splendor in the

grass. For centuries. The beauty of the Chesapeake Bay has attracted millions who come to live near rich shores. Fish and sail its waters. But this popularity has come at a price for water quality in many areas of the bay is threatening the lush habitats of many aquatic animals. A piece of Bay grass suspended in a few drops of water from the Chesapeake magnified 400 times under a microscope reveals a teeming community of plant and animal life. They are part of a vast world of tiny organisms or plankton that dwell on each blade of these richly nourished grasses. Scientists call these living colonies apathetic communities of. Flight meaning the plants. This is a community of organisms that lives on the planet.

Dr Laura Murray is an environmental scientist at the University of Maryland. Horn point Research Laboratory in Cambridge Maryland there she studies bay water quality and what is called S A V submerged aquatic vegetation or sea grasses as they are known grasses are barometers for water quality. What we're trying to do is establish what we call an early warning system for water quality monitoring in which we use artificial plants ribbons that we place into the water and allow them to colonize for a period of time and then look at the growth that accumulates on these plants while developing her proposal Dr. Murray met seventh grade science teacher Patricia Chambers a Townson university summer research student. And Georgia D'Andrea you MBC studying to be a science teacher. Together they collaborated and developed a way to gather real data from the field and bring

research science into the classroom. The program began as an effort between more important laboratory and University of Maryland and Worcester County Public Schools and which we received a grant from the Maryland coast based program to look at the relationship between water quality sea grasses and empathetic growth and artificial substrates to use as a monitoring tool for water quality. The apathetic community is comprised of algae as well as organisms. We see a name that Toad worm that is feeding on the algae. It comprises part of the Pacific community in this area here there's a larger amount of growth on the plant. The amount of organic and inorganic buildup on aquatic plants is a cause of concern for Dr. Murray. Excessive empathetic material on the grasses

stunts their growth because it blocks sunlight and if unchecked can have a catastrophic effect on the habitat that these seabeds provide the biomechanics of aquatic life also depend on a delicate balance between levels of nutrients algae and dissolved oxygen among other things too much or too little of any of these components degenerate. The water quality of the bay and could cause plants and animals to die. But ep of phytic buildup when analyzed can also assist scientists in determining what the imbalance is in poor water quality areas. I'm teaching my children how the scientist might be or how the scientist might go out and work. And it's been really a nice experience because the children have been able to see what a scientist might really do and they feel like they're really part of something they've got to say in this. They've collected this data they've put it down on paper and then they know it's being sent back to one point laboratories to be used by a real scientist who's going to be

able to analyze this and draw some conclusions. So it makes it very real. How about those of you that walked downstream or upstream. This all stems from an environmental unit that I had developed with the students. And rather than keeping them just in the classroom looking in the textbook looking at situations that they read about they might know happened somewhere else. Keeping it accurate and keeping it exactly right. It's more of what. In the real world we should talk to as. James than it really doesn't matter if you're off you know leaders or something. But more general is actually the real thing. That matters and it's more. Challenging which is good. This program helps me especially working with Pat I get to say all the logistics of how to bring you know how this can actually work. I know nothing about ecology before I started this and now it's as if I majored in it myself. Now I can teach that to our students and they find it very interesting because it has to do with their own environment their own world.

I know this is going to make way for what's really nice about it is that I've been able to develop lessons that I can bring back to my classrooms in the fall and show my students new ways in which they can see firsthand what's going on in the streams and in their world around them. This is what we found on our ribbon. Through this program and the helping hands of Pat Chambers and her students. Dr. Laura Murphy has been able to gather considerable data to help in her study of water quality and perhaps approved by the work to preserve the Chesapeake Bay in the future. I think what they are doing that it's carrying it out after all. They might all boring later. But. I'm hoping they will. Go one

other. One. It makes me feel. Like. I'm learning that it. Could be getting worse. But don't tell them that they are not get a good word for it with the warning that leave it with get away with it like it or lump them in the baby. They go in the 1970s and 80s or trying to find an identity until it does the media has unceremoniously dub them Generation X in the most recent arrivals generation mixed suggesting that their lack of definition is a sign of these times. But one group of college kids

at Frostburg University is out to challenge this watercooler wisdom. They're a dedicated group of volunteers making a difference in many people's lives not just their own because they're definitely making a name for themselves. Most people have a certain image of what college is all about. But could this be college too. In fact for 80 freshmen at Frostburg State University community service is an integral part of the college experience. The Frostburg students are participants in the national Americorp program. And this is a great way for students to really apply what they're learning in the classroom to the community. Our students serve at over 10 service sites. They focus on three

issue areas unmet human needs education. And the environment. On an average a mere crewmember will put in about 12 hours a week at their site and currently they have given over 13000 volunteer hours to the community. The students get their nickname. Alvin Hall stars from the fact that they live together in the same dorm Allen Hall. From this base. They fan out through rural Allegheny and Garrett counties. Attending to a range of community near. The Thomas be finance center in Cumberland invited the whole stars to paint murals in the rooms of psychiatric patients. We wanted to brighten up the environment. We wanted to make things more cheerful and bright. The center's staff admitted to having some nervous moments as the amateur artists marched in with their paint cans.

When we first started this project you're thinking you know what are the rooms going to look like. These are students we were concerned about the quality of the painting. But as the exuberant masterpieces began to emerge hospital staff relaxed like this. Shape. This. Is what you are. This is the patients who are also intrigued by the works. And some even ask for particular scenes. There was another room and when the other pods were the client asked us to put an angel on our wall. And then she actually sat in the room with us and talked to us while we painted. These interactions helped dispel some of the students initial fears about working in a psychiatric facility. Everybody met don't have signs saying oh I'm mentally disabled or anything like that. They're just normal people that have some problems and some of the patients responded with touching thank yous and the client

told us that our paintings were so beautiful that he would pay a million dollars for us to have to do them again. While the students didn't receive a million dollars for that job they do receive 4500 dollars a year in tuition and room and board credits although most say that's not the main reason they volunteer. You make a lot more money going out and getting a part time job or something like that. The reason biology major Jennifer colza joined hall stars was to get hands on experience in her field. She's part of a team that takes care of injured birds of prey housed at Rocky Gap state park. While we're here at the aviary we clean the cages we feed the birds we make sure that the maintenance is done on the birds. But even more rewarding is a chance to help. Naturalist Ernie Poland put on public wildlife education programs.

I feel I'm in front of a group and can show them face to face what a bird looks like or what it feels like to touch a turtle. You're touching somebody. And the more people are moved by wildlife the less likely they'll be to harm them. At least that's the message Dangi Gonski hopes people will take from the poignant side of the red tailed hawk whose wing was shattered by a hunter's bullet. It's hard when it really doesn't have any bounds anymore and that's what it makes it really hard to present to people and it makes it it's almost painful but also by keeping that animal alive. I kind of feel like it's going to prevent other ones. From getting in the same situation. Other halls stars work as tutors at an after school program in Grantsville. We offer tutoring and we have a very great relationship with the school and the parents. Rosa Smith relates to that situation and knows firsthand how much difference a dedicated volunteer can make.

All my life I've been in different go like that in which volunteers. Have been. Instrumental in getting to college where I am today. And. They. Have to give back. Because so many to me of course the whole stars have to make sacrifices to fit in 12 hours of service every week. It's difficult to handle you know dealing with service especially carrying a full class so that cuts out a little bit more of my free time. You know in my party time. And I'm OK with that because. I felt that I had and I just can't see myself now. Jill Edmiston spends three afternoons a week volunteering at Frostburg St. Vincent de Paul nursing center. The experience relates to her sociology major his skills I've learned here a lot of people skills and learn how to comfort people more. And I've learned to do many

things at once. From the nursing homes perspective. The students provide important personal contact with residents. The residents love to have their nails done and the students have been great with us and there are people who are able to open their own mail or read their own mail. But residents aren't the only ones to benefit. The lady that was reading with me she said I never had a daughter but if I had a daughter I don't want her to be like she came back one day. That's probably the biggest compliments I've ever had. In fact Edmiston recommends volunteering to everyone. I know that when I come in here the face lights up as soon as they see me and the other volunteers in the they know they're going to get visited today. Someone's going to give them a hug and pay attention to them. And that's just great. Everybody can do that. Then. That would be a lot happier. If you'd like more information about any of the stories seen on Maryland state of mind visit our

Web site at w w w dot dot org or call 1 800 4 7 7 8 4 3 7. Open wide. Our teeth are so important to our daily health that it's easy to take them for granted now of fluoridated water and regular dental care has resulted in fewer cavities for most children. Not all of it for economically disadvantaged kids. Tooth decay is still the most chronic childhood disease but a progressive program by the University of Maryland School of Dentistry is determined to change that fact. They're taking dental care to the youngsters along with an informative program for the parents that's guaranteed to produce. A smile a mile wide. Since the first television commercial touting the virtues of fluoride in oral care

products the American Dental Association says the way to a healthy smile is brushing with fluoride toothpaste flossing daily intakes of fluoridated water proper diet nutrition and regular dental checkups as any Hollywood star can attest. The smiles we love are the result of healthy teeth and while cavities and gum disease have declined dramatically over the years. Tooth decay remains the single most chronic childhood disease and bad teeth can affect more than a smile with dental pain. As you can imagine you're not eating well and you're just not feeling well. You're not gaining weight normally And so there's a problem with general body health. When you when you have two things. To help put a cap on tooth decay the University of Maryland dental school has launched an ambitious program is delivering quality oral health care services to needy children in urban and rural areas

to me I wear my coffee low income as a double whammy. First of all the prevalence of DELICH have is higher perhaps due to poor prenatal attrition. For the 14th if the diets are not as good so they have more cavities. And secondly there's less access for care so they can't find it. Although much of the public assumes that the poor have access to dental care through Medicaid. The reality is very different almost 300000 children. In. Maryland are on Medicaid. And so the state is actually paying for their dental care. However they're paying such a small percentage of normal rate. That we can't find providers for them. And low income families find the costs of a dentist prohibitive. I can't afford to go or pay her off to work like kids in my neighborhood never get dental care is. Truly wrong. You know as.

My daughter I want to believe that there were people that were created for me or for you you don't want to open your mouth. You know you don't want to talk repeat. Your problem later on in life in school. And there were people in zero. You come here you get the same quality dental care and went to school. And that's why. I. Feel. Like United States of America and you have a lot of DKs to. Wear. Dental care is often unaffordable. The University of Maryland dental school is increasing access to care and education for children and families through its outreach programs but does it make a difference beyond a smile. Oh there's a great difference. And usually people they don't realize that kids also we have self-esteem is part of their self-esteem. Mothers see having kids. You. Can see like a kid does like a lot of cavities no fault of their

teeth. That was my only to tell like kids make fun of me in school his size at school. Know. Action. Well like everything we consider patients who to they come we explain to them everything and we have like uses small kids like that too. We play with them. I think people should have more instructions. Be patient a just to give you an example just like well anyway when I explained to her Well you know those baby teeth especially in the box they're going to last until the kid is nine sometimes 10 years old. Then what are you going to do if you don't have all the kids. There are a lot of problems to take out a baby tooth to close. And when you have a permanent funding to come they'll have space you have a surgery too little too big for him as it can happen after four students dentists and faculty being a part of this

program that combines hands on experience classroom theory and practical training. Has rewards that can't be measured in economic terms. This is very common actually. We see this in about three quarters of the population that we treat we see large cavities in the back teeth. We have to put a cap on. We go over. And die because if you fix the teeth you don't fix would cause the problem then it's just going to come back. On the other hand I find it very rewarding because we're doing something that you know that you can help them in your you and try and make their experience as fun as possible so that they want to come back. There are a lot of shocking mouths that come to the doors of the dental school and that's why we're here to deliver care. My goal as a student is to become a very good socially responsible dentist. I grew up in East Baltimore so it will allow me to get back to the community. And also if you come from outside of that area it will

allow you to see the reality that there are people out there that have major dental disease that's untreated. For. Teaching our students to become. Conscious of the Sociology and understand the situation that these children need and provide the care. That's number one. Secondly for producing those graduate students that are interested in teaching children so we have a fellowship program that we are sending our pediatric deaths to. These areas and they're providing care and it's a combination of the state health department are helping with that program. We're working on grants. Contracts. To find better ways of providing care. And we're working with state legislators to try to find solutions to this problem. By increasing rates to Medicaid. One of the key issues for them school is a service component. We were working in a city and there are many children that are under-sheriff that the only thing we have to educate teachers Dennis that we have this

perfect. So it is a critical issue for this school and for other schools. We hope you've enjoyed this voyage around the frontiers of knowledge with the university system of Maryland as our navigator. We'll be back in the fall and we hope is another interesting direction that your Captain Scott Simon. Funding for Maryland state of mind is regarded by the 13 institutions of the

university system of Maryland