good morning everyone. joining me this morning is dr. shar lean duke at prince college. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. i delighted to be here. >> good to see you a familiar face with the nbc 4 family. you have been partners. i want viewers that know about it and don't spend a lot of time in that county. tell us about this institution and when it got it's start. when it got it's start and the type of students that you certain? >> well, i tell you that prince george's community college was accepted on the campus of a high

school. at one time we were of the board and we started and to the faculty members. today we're 44,000 students and we sit on approximately a 200 acre site in largo, maryland. we have 250 full time faculty members, and probably another 8 or 9 adjunct faculty. >> this community college is one of the most diverse institutions in the state. you have students from more than 120 countries? >> yeah, 120 different countr s countries. that's about the washington metropolitan area. it draws a diverse population through the world. we're lucky that we sit in a place that's going to take advantage of a higher education.

93 percent are prince george county residence, and we pride ourself on the fact that they live in the county and that quit frankly when they graduate and transfer, they're staying at home adding to the economy of prince george county and the region. >> educated in prin george's county. i i love that. tell me a little bit about the value in the students that say that i want to be educated in the county and commitment to the community. there's a comfort level too knowing that you have got a great school like prince george's community college that's close by. when i say i am newly out of high school and the parents out there that's some type of nervousness about letting your kids go far away. this is providing a great education and home. >> you know we're the freshman and sophomore years of the four year education. we have the opportunity to have a number of partnerships with

four year colleges and universities across the region and country. if we think about the university system of maryland, our students are transferring to university of maryland park, they're going to morgan state university, american, catholic trinity. it provides a way of staying home but also having access to the best education i think that the country has to offer when you think about all of those four year colleges and universities in our region. >> yeah, a great platform and spring board to go to these wonderful institutions that you mentioned. how many of the students that graduate go off to receive a bachelors or masters or higher? >> well, every year 40 percent of the population graduates or transfers to a four year institution. we bring in annually probably about three to five thousand

first year freshman, and they're thinking about prince george's community college as a spring board to the world of work or to the transfer institution. >> now i am sure that you have to answer this for me. i know that you're biassed, but what makes your students different than any other community college. what's the students there? what's that sum apart there from there? >> well, from what i see in our students is a desire, motivation to learn, under stastanding the county. it's more african american county in the nation and we have the challenges and opportunities, and i think that bring george community college represents an opportunity. our view is simple. we want with to be the first place that people think about higher education in prince george's county. >> where do you see pgcb in the

next five years? >> well, the physical presence of the college is going to slow down. we're heavily in vested in technology and online learning from a number of perspectives. getting the associative degree to using technology and to plant the physical things that we do on campus. looking at programs that really stretch far and wide across the county from southern prince george county to northern prince george county. i think that recognizing that we have the key partnerships and can put our students to work. >> dr. charlene duke, thank you so much. the first segment of many more to come. you're watching viewpoint this morning. we will be right back. ♪

thanks for joining us on you poirn point this morning. we're joined with charlene duke from prince george community college. we talked about what the college is and the type of students that are there at the university or college. i want to learn a little bit more. i want to tell me about the initiative that pgcb has. it's not about the students but really dividing the students up to we have veterans and students with special needs that we have to support and do more for. tell me more about them? >> well, we have a pretty substantial veterans program. we were proud to have been awarded veterans upward bound grant from the u.s. department of education. what that allowed us to do is develop a process and system to let veterans transition into academic life. we were supported in that

initiative by the united way of the national capital area. we were able to create a space for veterans where we can come together and receive the services and wrap around services skpals feel very comfortable when they moved out into the classrooms and interacting with other students. they're men and woman that we should honor and we want to make sure that when they came to pgcb, they would find a place and feel at home. >> my next question is how much veterans? >> 4,000. we have their families. their spouses, partners and dependents that are with us as well. >> there's so much part of the process too. >> absolutely. >> is there a support for the spouse, wives and children? >> yeah, we have a center where

the veterans can go and take a breathe er where they're moving between classes. they can talk to one another and sort of reconnect during that am de academic day. we have staff that are responsible for the veterans population. >> you have something special for the people that have the mind set to go on and really have a business. they want to start something and have the spirit. tell me about that. >> well, the program was supported by david and susan hillman, and the hillman program is just that. it gives young people an opportunity to say you know what i think that i want to be a business owner in this region. i want to give back in that way. what we do is help them through the process. what are the programs that they should be majoring in? how do they understand how to take a business from point of con september to actual sags and what are all of the step that is have to occur in between.

we get them internships with the small business owner so that they can be right there and see things happening on the ground. >> that i think is really what makes the difference is making that connection really getting in some place and getting your feet wet and getting your hands dirty and seeing what it's about and whether or not the idea is right for you. >> absolutely. >> you may think about it and say maybe not. that's what they're for. >> yeah, that's what they're for. >> is there one over another that's near and dear to your heart? >> well, i think that probably in the last five years we started the diverse male student institute and that program is given to young men of color to ensure the african american. we're talk about making sure that the young men enter the higher education and they persist and retained and leave on the other end with the skills and credentials that really

which is really what they wanted to do when they said that they wanted to step in the doors. it's a five year program and it's one of the highest that we have across all pop police station in the college. they're moving on to the four year institutions or being able to thrive and survive. >> dr. dukes a special partner to us here at nbc 4. we want to talk more about that in just a moment. viewpoint continues in just a moment.

thanks for joining us again for viewpoint. i am joined by dr. charlene duke of prince george community college. prince george's has something really exceptional and pretty new because you have your first

graduating class of middle college. tell me about this, and the type of students that you have. >> well, i will tell you now that probably seven or eight years ago the prince george's county public schools and prince george's community college came together and started to talk about what innovative options could we provide to young people and their families and the counties. we did some research and decided that we were going create an early middle college high school. >> early middle college high school. >> it's known for the academy of science. it's the first of the kind in the state of maryland, and probably in the dmv as we would call nit the community colleges, so we accepted the first class in fall of 2011. 109th graders that came on to the campus and actually took high school courses and college courses simultaneously.

>> what a workload. >> yeah, what a workload for them. bright students and 50 percent of the students maybe low income or first generation college, so 50 of those 100 students had had no experience with college or they were low income, so the thought of college and paying for it was probably far from the mind and the mind of their parents. four years later of those 100 students 92 stayed with us. eight of those we want back to a comp rehe comprehensive high school, and those received the high school de pla moes on may 21st, 2015. so they're 18 years old with high school and associate degrees. >> they were accepted to 140 different colleges and universities to begin the junior year and they took with with them $9 million in scholarship

fund. >> that's in credible. this is a school that's on the campu campus? >> absolutely. they come to prince george's everyday. they are dropped off private transportation or public transportation. it's a tremendous partnership with the prince george's county public schools. without the support of the supper in ten dent, we would not be able to talk about the successes that we have over the last four years. >> what do you think being on a community college campus as a 9th grade er, what does that do for a student and get the mind used to the hustle and bustle and the amount of workload that they have as they move on to the junior and senior year? >> i think that two things happen. one is that we're saying to students that you can do this.

the dreams that your mother and father and grandparents have can be realized through the program. it's a program quit frankly that's of no charge to the students. >> really? >> so that -- absolutely. resources by the public schools and provided by the college and then the grants and other opportunities that we have had. students do not pay tuition. they do not pay for the books. they do not pay fees. all of that is provided for them along with the technology laptops and ipads that will help to make them successful. it's about suring up the expectations that they can do this and have the actment and there are people around them that support them and will hold them up in this. >> and i am sure giving them a lot of responsibility earlier

on. >> absolutely. the expectations is that they will perform. they're sitting in classes with other college students. by the time they get to 11th and 12th grade. this is not given to students. >> to where when they move on to their yuan your year, they're already used to the environment. they're use today the workload and not intimidated. who all is eligible for this? i know that you mentioned the first class was 100 students. do you have a cap or limit as to how many students are in the school? >> well today we have an academy with 400 students and with each one there are 100 students. it's a small school within the institution. i will tell you that these young people are doing mighty things. we're very proud to be apart of this, and we have had the opportunity to showcase it across the nation. >> i love that. thank you so much. coming up next we're talk about

the blue bird blues festival right here on viewpoint.

music: "thunder clatter" by wild cub ♪ ♪ ♪ most weekends only last a couple of days.

some last a lifetime. hampton. we go together. always get the lowest price, only when you book direct at hampton.com good morning and joining us is dr. dukes with prince george's community college and a partnership that we really cherish. we value pgcb for so many reasons. we like to have a lot of fun with you guys, but we're partners for doing a lot of good things for our community. speaking of which we have one that just seems to get bigger and bigger and bigger every time that we have this. this is our shred-a-thled it ev >> yeah, we think that we will see thousands of cars lining up route 202 and turning on to prince place and into the community college.

a partner place that would not happen with nbc 4. allowing us to let the community come in to shred the documents. >> we start at 8:00 a.m. you have been out there many times, and you're face is familiar here you say you bring the documents and we shred. >> people line up for this hours in advance. >> hours in advance. we have some people lining up at 4:00 a.m. because they want to get through the line. they want to get the documents shreded and then they want to talk about the number of boxes. >> because i am here early maybe can i get one more box in there. tell us about that. how many boxes are people about a loued to bring and the items. if they're making that you are calendars for the shredded event we from to 8:00 to 11:00. financial statements and tax

records and you want to get rid of them with peace of mind. not just put them in a trash bag. i think that people here in the area are more in tuned with the fact that we're seeing breaches of information. people want to just have peace. >> absolutely. >> about their documents. >> absolutely. even for us at the college the kind of breaches that are occurring in college's and universities across the country that we're aware of the need to provide a secure environment, i think if that happens think of what we have to do in our own homes for the access. we don't have the access to that technology. it's a great event. as you said it gets larger and large er every year. i tell people to bring three boxes, but i know that as we get closer to the event, we will be very specific about the number of boxes that an individual can bring. >> and are there certain things that you want to mention to folks on what they can bring and

items that they should probably be left at home or a land fill or trash can. >> well, paper will always take paper. i think that you should be careful of things like batteries and any kind of disk or whatnot. those things tend to be items that we don't want to accept. we have people on site helping with determining what you can bring in and can't. they will also let you know how many boxes per car. not necessarily per person. >> okay. per car. that's good to know. let's talk a little bit about a favorite around here the blue bird blues festival. i think last year jim was there and pat lawson and tracey wilson was there and tell me about what this means to prince george's community and the community. >> it's the 23 year of the festival. 23 years, and it's an event, and it's opened free to the public

inviting people to bring the families and children and bring your portable shares. we will have the food vendors. we will have people that are selling clothing and all kinds of items. the important thing is that we're going continue to celebrate the blue. not just in prince george's county, but in the region. we have had any probably up to 10,000 people who come to the campus and we have three venues, so that they're able to listen to the jewels and the heart of the connection. we have darryl davis and pearson. some of the names are familiar. we're very excited about this. >> when is the festival again? >> it's saturday september 19th. starts at 12:00 noon. come early. >> thank you some. we appreciate you and your partnership and thank you so much for joining us this morning for viewpoint. we will see you again soon. (plays throughout)

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♪ helping protect that world takes state farm. right now on "news 4 today" a serious accident. what we're learning about the crash that sent a person to the hospital and had the suitland parkway closed overnight. plus, the developing story we're watching right now after a body is found in a charred car in southeast d.c. good morning. hope you're having a great sunday morning so far. a beautiful start to your sunday morning. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein is here with us. what can we expect on this day ahead, tom? >> how about the best day