Photo courtesy of the Register of Wills. Isaiah Watts checks out his new SpongeBob SquarePants backpack.

Published on: Wednesday, September 01, 2010

By Pamela Alston

Cereta A. Lee, Register of Wills for Prince George’s County, donated backpacks filled with school supplies to two local families Aug. 19 as part of the office’s fourth annual school supply drive.

Among those in attendance were Register of Wills staff, including Lee, Chief Deputy Kelly Del Rio and Robin Hynson.

“This year we received an abundance of school supplies, and we had more than enough to give away,” Del Rio said.

This year’s school supply drive served the Watts siblings: Dashawn, Stephon, Serina and Isaiah, as well as the Terry siblings: Rinada, Rinasia and Jhanaya.

Photo courtesy of the Register of Wills. First grader Rinada Terry inspects the school supplies inside her new pink book bag.

The families arrived at the Register of Wills’ office around 2:30 p.m. to receive the supplies and discuss the forthcoming school year.

The Terry family was contacted by Lee and selected through their church to receive supplies. The youngest of the Terry sisters, Rinada, a  first grader at Clinton Grove Elementary School, was especially enthusiastic about her supplies, exclaiming: “I got a pink book bag!”

Her older sister, Rinasia, a fourth grader also attending Clinton Grove Elementary School, was equally excited to receive her pink and purple book bag completely filled with supplies.

As for the Watts family, this supply drive sponsored by the Register of Wills is a familiar one.

The Watts Family was chosen in 2008, when Isaiah and Serina Watts were featured on the front page of the Enquirer-Gazette. Isaiah and Serina, were only 4 and 6 years old at that time, and Lee could not believe how quickly the two students had grown when she saw them at this year’s supply drive.

Lee’s mantra remains the same, “I believe in helping the youth.”

While the young students opened their supplies, Judge Vickie Ivory-Orem made a small speech about future aspirations and goals of the students. Ivory-Orem shares in Lee’s vision of staying focused in school as well as the importance of education.

The judge asked this proverbial question regarding education: “Do you ever stop learning?”

To which, Rinasia answered, “Never! After you graduate from high school, you will attend college and after graduating from college you will begin work.”

Ivory-Orem then asked, “Will you stop learning at that point?”

Rinasia responded, “No, because when you enter the world of work, you will learn from your mistakes and from working with others.”

“Excellent answer,” replied the judge.

The supply drive ended with light refreshments as Lee asked each student what they wanted to be when they became adults.

Since the Register of Wills’ office collected an abundance of school supplies this year, Del Rio said the Register of Wills office will send the additional donations to a local elementary school and churches.

Lee concluded by stating, “We can only hope that next year the Register of Wills will have the opportunity to serve more families and have an even greater supply to service those in need— since clearly, our will is to serve.”