AU students involved in this year's Freshman Service Experience received a crash course in the issues facing America's urban areas, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said last Thursday during a speech in Bender Arena.
Fenty spoke during FSE's closing ceremony, which ended a three-day period in which 475 freshmen volunteered at 37 sites around the D.C. metropolitan area, according to information provided by AU.
People such as the students who participated in FSE were the only ones who could fix the problems facing urban areas, Fenty said.
"There are real issues going on," he said. "And if they're going to be fixed, they're only going to be fixed by people like yourselves - like myself - really getting involved, rolling up our sleeves and making sure that we do everything possible to make our community better."
One aspect of the District's infrastructure facing problems was D.C.'s public schools, Fenty said.
"You saw some of the issues we have to deal with in our school system," he said. "You saw that some of the walls hadn't been fixed in a long time, some of the places where there aren't computers, et cetera. Although the District of Columbia is our nation's capital, although there's a billion great things happening, still there's a lot of people who need services, who need to get a great education."
While D.C. public schools need to deal with a number of problems, Fenty said, the District's city government is trying to fix them.
"We do have a government that is making good progress on the schools," he said. "We are saying, as Chicago, Boston and New York have said, that in order to make progress in the schools, we think we need to have the mayor in control."
The city government took control of D.C. public schools from the D.C. Board of Education in June after the city council approved a school takeover plan sponsored by Fenty, according to The Washington Post.
Fenty said he welcomed the students to continue volunteering in the District as they continued their education at AU.
"We have a lot of talented people who have already gotten involved, but we'd love to have more people like yourselves who already have the public service spirit," he said.
Katie Olson, a senior in the School of Public Affairs and an FSE coordinator who helped schedule Fenty's appearance, said she felt Fenty's speech at the ceremony helped the freshmen see they were helping to make a difference.
"I thought it was a good speech, although it was fairly brief," she said. "But I think the point of his speech was more to give a quick 'thank you' to the students."
Kaitlyn Maloney, a freshman in the School of International Service, said she liked that Fenty came to address the volunteers.
"He seemed very energetic, like he wanted to be here," she said. "He seems like someone who could really inspire people"
