After visiting the lively and spirited campus of the University of Maryland (UMD), I acquired a sense of what Maryland Day was about, and what the school really has to offer. However, I believe the real question is, what does Maryland Day mean to the university’s students?
“We are just trying to show our school to the community, and show people what we do in the school, other than normal school activities, and the most exciting thing about our school is the pride that everyone has here, its super exciting!” explained Tonie Johnstone, a Finance major in the Business school.
Another student, David Saburdieo, a Spanish and Linguistics major, also shared his insight. “I’d say Maryland Day, is about bringing people from the surrounding community, and having students and everybody involved to celebrate what goes on here at Maryland.” When asked what he liked most about the school, he said, “I definitely love the size of the school; having such a big school makes it so that anything that you want to do or study is available here.”
I realized that UMD has a huge variety of activities and clubs for the students to be involved in! I visited the various parts of the campus, and found out that Maryland even has their own bowling alley called “The Terp Zone,” an art exhibit, and a vegan/vegetarian supermarket called “The Coop,” which was quite interesting.
Maryland day was packed with six “learning neighborhoods” spread across the campus. It included a Terp Town C where visitors could go catch live performances and learn about the college and the arts alley, where people observed other’s artistic talents and met the school’s artists. There was also the Biz and Society Hall, where students surrounded themselves with exhibits on public policy, Businesses, and social sciences, and AG Day Avenue, where visitors learned about agriculture and farming, and the sports and rec row. The science and tech way featured fun-filled explorations in physics, biology, engineering, chemistry and mathematics.
I even came upon an interesting club on campus called the “Pollina Terps,” dedicated to re-introducing the Baltimore Checker spot Butterfly, an endangered species.
“We want to raise awareness for the Baltimore Checker spot Butterfly, an endangered species, so our goal is to bring back the white turtle head plant which is the only flower that they eat, but the problem is that the deer also eat this flower, so we want to make a secure environment for them, to bring them back and re-introduce them to the population,” said club leader and Biology major Shayne Madlla.
The school also has a pledge on campus called the “Small Footprint Pledge” which many students seem to support. Its mission is to get more students to be environmentally friendly, by doing anything from hand washing their clothes in cold water for a month to signing the board and taking the pledge.
The event occurs annually on the last Saturday of April.
Article by the MoCo Student Staff Writer Mikaylah Sayles of Gaithersburg High School