Guests enjoyed dances choreographed and performed by UMBC students.

There is no question that one of the secrets to UMBC’s incredible success is our dedicated donors. This past fall, we took an evening to say a special thank you to a very important group of our supporters, the Hilltop Society. These generous leadership donors support the university annually with gifts of $1,000 or more, providing powerful support for research, teaching, student activities, financial aid, and more. Their leadership gifts make an incredible difference to the University—and to every student at UMBC.

In November, we invited Hilltop Society members to join us in the new Performing Arts and Humanities Building. That night, they had the opportunity to meet the students and faculty they are supporting. They also enjoyed dances that were choreographed by some of our talented UMBC students.

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski visits with donors Joy and Kingsley Achikeh and scholarship recipient Marta Stachorowski.

Two UMBC students, Markus Proctor, interdisciplinary studies, and Emily Grace, English, shared their stories with donors. Grace, a humanities scholar, shared her experiences as a member of UMBC’s Engineers Without Borders, a program that gives students a chance to create a more stable and prosperous world by addressing people’s basic human needs, such as clean water, power, sanitation, and education.

Proctor, recipient of the Joseph and Freida Faiman Eisenberg/VPC, Inc. Scholarship, told donors that after a stellar high school career that included captaining robotics teams and internships at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, he set his sights on college. Although many schools offered Proctor admission, UMBC was the only school that also offered him much-needed financial aid.

Markus Proctor, scholarship recipient, shares his story.

That support and UMBC’s culture turned out to be just what Proctor wanted. “UMBC is not too big or too small, but it is the right size to build truly amazing relationships with professors and administrators,” says Proctor. He went on to share that his current and future successes—and those of so many UMBC students—hinged on the support of our donors.

“I have to admit, it is difficult to put into words how thankful I am for your support, however, just know, the magnitude of your impact on our campus is appreciated by every student,” Proctor said, echoing the sentiments of all our UMBC scholarship recipients.

—Meredith Purvis