Deaira Lloyd is a double major studying Anthropology and Sociology and will be receiving her Certificate in the Social Dimensions of Health. She is in the BA/MA program of Applied Sociology and will be graduating this spring.

Prior to joining Retriever Essentials, Fariha, the Program Coordinator/CCMA AmeriCorps VISTA, invited me to join the team as a Student Ambassador. Interestingly, around that time, I wanted to become more involved on campus and was reading about various organizations at UMBC. I felt that her initiation was my calling. 
 
I was not aware of the duties of the role, the term “food insecurity”, or the number of students at UMBC that suffered from it. After our first meeting last fall, I was intrigued to learn about the term and what I could do to eliminate it throughout college students’ experiences. 
 
My role as a Student Ambassador, PRAC Leader, and Food Pantry Manager has awakened me to the little things that add up to a life changing outcome. Initiatives such as the save-a-swipe program, donating non-perishable food items, and the volunteers transporting goods to numerous food zones has taught me the importance of working together to support a greater cause. It’s crucial that students who suffer from food insecurity are able to have a sense of belonging on campus, especially to a group that acknowledges and supports them.
 
Retriever Essentials has taught me that you can always help someone. Sharing a message, a canned good, time, support, anything, is worthy. This experience has made me perceive life more delicately as I witness students coming into the pantry creating their own food bag. You truly never know the struggles that someone is experiencing, and how your service helps them by simply being there. 
Being able to support a community of students who are in need of nutrition and other necessities is a very gracious, thoughtful, and moving feeling. I’m excited for the continuous expansion and purpose of Retriever Essentials, and I’m thankful for this humbling experience. 

Dr. Shannon Sauro has been appointed as an associate editor of the international peer-reviewed journal Language Learning & Technology (LLT).  The journal publishes work related to technology for second and foreign language education.  Among open access journals, LLT has been ranked #1 in the world for linguistics and #3 in the world for education.  Overall, it is ranked 11 out 184 journals in linguistics and 32 out of 243 journals in education by ISI Journal Citation Reports.

- Carter G. Woodson

Save-a-Swipe is a partnership between Retriever Essentials, Chartwells, and Campus Card Services which allows you to donate 5 or 10 swipes from your meal plan that can be used by students who are experiencing food insecurity. Please share your extra meal swipes with your peers in need before the swipes expire.

Sign up to donate your excess meals until Feb 14, 2020, Friday. 

Click here or go to the link below to make your donation. 

To apply:

URCAD.umbc.edu

(200-word abstract required.)

Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) features research, scholarship, and creative work carried out by UMBC undergraduates. Student work is shared through oral presentations, posters, artistic exhibits, performances, and film. Over 300 presenters participate annually. Researchers work with faculty mentors on independent research, or research that is part of the mentor’s on-going projects.  They are from all disciplines, and can be working on a thesis, capstone project, part of a scholars or honors program, or they can be unaffiliated.This campus-wide celebration of achievement affirms UMBC’s commitment to the twin goals of research and a distinctive undergraduate experience.

All current undergraduates who have conducted research, scholarship or creative work in the last year may apply to present their results at URCAD. Mentors, fellow students, friends, family members, high school teachers and students, graduate school recruiters, and the general public are invited to attend.

ALUMNI SPEAKER: 
Keisha John, URCAD 2020 Alumni Keynote Speaker

Our guest speaker is Dr. Keisha John, Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, Graduate School of Arts &Sciences, University of Virginia
While at UMBC, Dr. John wasa Meyerhoff Scholar, and worked with her mentor, Dr. Rachel Brewster as one of the first undergraduate researchers in her lab. You can read more about her here