Pam's Latest Op-Eds

Bergen Record
December 31, 2008
By Pamela Lampitt

In just a few years, NJ STARS has been wildly successful — almost too much so.

Over the past decade, New Jersey has faced a real problem — "brain drain." Many of our top students, the cream of our academic crop, have been leaving the state in droves, deciding to attend colleges in neighboring Pennsylvania, Delaware or New York, if not even farther out of state.

The Garden State was left with two choices: act, or watch even more students put down roots in other states.

It was with this problem in mind that the Legislature established the NJ STARS program.

Created in 2004, NJ STARS gives our best and brightest students merit scholarships to cover tuition at New Jersey's county colleges, with the opportunity to work toward a bachelor's degree from one of the state's four-year public colleges if they continue to achieve academically.

Top 20 percent

Currently, students must rank in the top 20 percent of their high school class and maintain a 3.0 grade point average throughout their college studies to be eligible for a STARS scholarship. This truly is an opportunity-focused program, with merit-based aid to students kicking in only after a student has exhausted all options for need-based aid.

The Times of Trenton
November 29, 2008
By Pamela R. Lampitt

Having a child is an anxious experience, but most parents prepare in every way possible even before the birth of their kids. They consult with doctors. They select hospitals and doctors after hours of careful study and review. They buy whatever products are needed to keep their baby strong and healthy.

When the child starts to walk, parents baby-proof the house.

They learn about their child’s school and, when their child boards the school bus for the first time, they meet the driver.

But the greatest test of parental anxiety comes much later, when teenage children take the car keys for the first time and head out onto the road. Parents who have spent years doing all they can to protect their child enter a new world of uncertainty. Where they once were able to carefully control both their kid’s actions and the outcome, parents are faced with simply having to trust that their children will make the right decisions.

As a mother of two college-age children, I know firsthand the white-knuckle experience of watching a child take off in a car by himself or herself for the first time.