Prince George's County native Jazz Lewis came to the University of Maryland as a freshman only sure of one thing. He wanted to serve. College Park Scholars ended up being the perfect home for the future Maryland state legislator, now serving in the Maryland House of Delegates as Majority Whip, allowing him to challenge himself academically but also expand his vision of what service could look like.
An email invitation in late spring from College Park Scholars' Executive Director Marilee Lindemann for Lewis to return to the place where he learned about himself was accepted eagerly.
Dekelboum Hall inside the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center was buzzing with over 1,000 first-year Scholars gathered together for the first time as a whole. The 2025 cohort heard from program alumni, Provost Dr. Jennifer King Rice, and UMD's President Darryll Pines sent warm video greetings in his absence. Lindemann shared a view from the top before Delegate Lewis took the stage.
Lewis's relatability and candidness about his experience in his first year drew in the freshmen audience. He shared that he secured his first internship with a County Councilmember because of what he learned as a Public Leadership Scholar. Because he had been where they sat, his encouragement for the first-year students was to rise to the challenge before them but to "do all of this, mind you, with self-care and grace that you don’t have to be perfect, you just need to be the best version of you."
A collective sigh of relief could be felt as Delegate Lewis reminded the freshmen that they were indeed at the right university, in the right living-learning program, and that they did belong. He closed his time in front of the class of 2029 sharing, "welcome, Scholars. Trust in your choice. Lean into this program. Take action. And remember that the future isn’t waiting for someone else—it’s waiting for you. Congratulations, and get to work."
Their thunderous applause echoed in agreement with his charge.