They’re baaaack! For the fifth time in the last six seasons, UMBC volleyball has captured the America East Championship. After a comeback in five sets against Binghamton during Friday’s semifinals, the Retrievers were primed and poised to take on UAlbany in the final at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena on Saturday afternoon. UMBC came out on top after four sets, ultimately defeating UAlbany 3-1. This was familiar territory for the Dawgs, marking their third victory over UAlbany in the America East Championships since 2020. 

Digging in their heels

Head coach Kasey Crider acknowledged this season wasn’t without difficulty and highlighted the perseverance of his team. 

“Championships are always hard. They take a sustained effort over months and years, and are chock-full of doubt the entire way. This one was no different,” he shared. “We started the season poorly and needed some things to break our way over the course of the season, but at the end—when it was ‘win-or-go-home’—we put together our two best performances of the year.” 

Crider’s leadership paid off, and, in addition to capturing the title, he and his staff were named America East’s Coaching Staff of the Year. This is the second win for Crider and his staff in the four years he’s been at the helm for UMBC. 

Aces across the board

Crider wasn’t the only Retriever to take home additional accolades. Junior libero Hannah Howard, information systems, was named the America East Defensive Player of the Year for the second time and America East Championship’s Most Outstanding Player after her incredible performance in the championships. Her career-high 32 digs put her in a tie for sixth for the most digs in UMBC single-game history. 

Four Retrievers earned All-Conference honors for the team, including junior outside hitter Jalynn Brown, biological sciences,who joined Howard as an All-Conference First Team selection.

“Winning a championship is our way of showing the world how hard we have worked, all the time and effort spent in the gym, recovering, scouting, and all the extra things,” said Brown. “I love being able to inspire so many people in the community and show what it looks like to achieve your dreams.” 

Attacking the next

For the spectators who felt the electricity in the Arena over the weekend, Crider has a simple explanation: “Sports aren’t magic, but that’s about as close as it gets.” 

The Retrievers will return to NCAA tournament play and will learn their draw during ESPNU’s selection show on Sunday, November 30 at 6 p.m. Follow UMBCAthletics and UMBCvolleyball on social media for updates.

Members of UMBC’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, for their annual regional conference this November, where multiple members presented their work in the Technical Research Exhibition. Sophomore computer engineering student Amir Walton-Irvin, a Meyerhoff Program Scholar and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Scholar, earned first place for his research presentation.

Walton-Irvin investigates brain connectivity and health disparities in the Machine Learning for Signal Processing Lab of computer science and electrical engineering professor Tülay Adali. He uses statistical signal processing techniques to identify subclinical biomarkers that may predict neurological diseases such as stroke and dementia. 

At the conference, Walton-Irvin gave a 5-minute technical talk about his research, followed by questions from the competition judges and audience.

“Presenting research is a huge part of engineering and science that makes it accessible,” says senior mechanical engineering student Kayla Magruder, vice president of the UMBC NSBE chapter, who also gave a talk at the conference.

“I’m extremely grateful for every opportunity to share my work, and being recognized for it is an incredible feeling,” shares Walton-Irvin. “Moments like this motivate me to keep pushing research that can improve people’s lives, and I’m excited for what the future holds.”

Other UMBC students who attended the conference include mechanical engineering senior Caly Ferguson, mechanical engineering sophomore Nathan Bolima, computer science and financial economics junior Glen Larbie-Mansah, and computer engineering junior Jessica Slaughter.

UMBC’s NSBE chapter supports members with conference preparations and also offers activities such as mentoring, networking, leadership development, and community outreach.

Sarah Darby regularly gets in thousands of steps walking backwards around campus. “I have never felt more burn in my legs. It’s like you’re using muscle groups that you don’t use when you walk forward. I was sore,” says the sophomore political science and psychology major after she got her dream job as a Grit Guide last spring. Generally tours last a little under 90 minutes, and Darby said that her legs adjusted pretty quickly. 

Surely in the 1960s, when UMBC only had four academic buildings and no residential life yet, the tours were quicker, or at least shorter, right? Frances Allen Nickolas ’70, American studies, says: “Not really.” According to Nickolas, one of the early tour guides on campus, the tours would usually take over an hour as the interested visitors wanted to see the new school that had sprouted up in Catonsville over the last few years.

“We would talk about the majors UMBC offered and share perspectives from our own majors,” says Nickolas. “We would tell them about our experiences with the courses of study and the professors. I truly loved it because I got to meet different people all the time, and I just really enjoyed it. Because UMBC was much smaller in those days, later I’d run into some of those visitors again, but as students this time.”

This is something the modern tours have in common, says Darby, a Sondheim Scholar who enjoys giving her tours an in-depth view of her majors and favorite areas on campus (The Commons and the Library). But the thing she values most is getting to know these potential Retrievers. “I have made so many genuine connections with people when I’m out on tour—I enjoy making jokes and making them laugh,” says Darby. “Some people might think it’s ‘just a campus job,’ but I love seeing the high schoolers’ reactions to campus. It’s rewarding in a way that none of my other jobs have been. I really love it.”

Brick making is an inherently pay-it-forward process, says Marian April Glebes, M.F.A. ’09, a conceptual and mixed-media artist. In the past 10 years of her Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument project, Glebes has made thousands of bricks and then invited community members to imprint their stories into the clay. Later, the bricks are used in mobile monuments around Baltimore City and beyond. Glebes, who won the 2025 Rubys Alumni Award through the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation for this work, asks: How can we support social and spatial change in order to build a new kind of community-driven monumental public space?

I come to historic preservation by way of my M.F.A. in imaging media and digital arts (IMDA) from UMBC—with an additional masters degree in city and regional planning and historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania—my home in Baltimore City, and by making bricks as public art. As an artist, a preservation planner, a homeowner, an educator, a gardener, and a community and economic development practitioner, all of my research and methods investigate how we make a place and how a place makes us.

In 2015, I was the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Patricia and Mark Joseph Education Center. The Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson Confederate monument still stood across from the BMA’s Spring House in Wyman Park Dell in the Charles Village neighborhood of Baltimore. Aligning with and inspired by protest in support of social and civic justice movements, The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument operated within these complex intersections.

Almost a decade later, my camera was the only familiar thing at Baltimore City’s Department of Transportation facility on a frigid dawn in November 2023. I held it tightly as if it would prove to signify my role in providing archival documentation of a monumental move. The temperature had dropped to a mere 22 degrees, but the top-secret site was teeming with activity while the project was just beginning. 

“I like to do an easy one first,” the director of field operations says. But with the removal of any Confederate monuments, these or other “monuments to hate,” there is no easy one.

In the back corner of a DOT storage yard, I watched as the historical record was made and unmade, as preservation theory and practice was suspended and turned on their side, as conservation techniques and concepts were followed to the letter and simultaneously reinvented, starting with the Roger B. Taney statue. 

Baltimore’s contentious monuments shipped out to a storage facility near St. Louis on their way to Los Angeles for an exhibition at The Brick (formerly LAXart). In Baltimore, I stayed with the problem through a project I started a decade ago—creating a countermonument out of personalized, handmade bricks. 

Memory is mutable. Social contexts shift. This is the wicked problem in living heritage and what to do when it dies. I’ve had a unique position with singular access to process and understand this ongoing debate in Baltimore City while unofficial researcher-in-residence at the Commission for Historic and Architectural Preservation (CHAP). Each community is unique in its response on what to do with their Confederate monuments, and Baltimore’s perspective is vital to the discourse. Eric Holcomb, the former director of CHAP, invited me to the conversation, positing that perhaps it could or should be for the arts and artists to influence this unfolding preservation conundrum.

At UMBC, as M.F.A. candidates, our artwork was considered research—and therefore had to be contextualized and placed within the canon. To work responsibly, we were encouraged to know our audiences and our references and understand our place in time. Inspired by the people and places of Baltimore and by conceptual art’s blurring-of-art-andlife thinking of the 1960s, The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument maintains the ethos of rigorous research, material gravitas, and community connection engendered by my IMDA studies. Existing in the contexts of the Baltimore Uprising, the 2017 monument removals, social practice art, and civic engagement, I interrogate our circumscribed understandings of monumentality.

Monuments exist in social contexts that have often changed dramatically since the time they were created. Because of this, their meaning does not come only from the objects themselves—or only from how people view them—but from the shifting relationship between the two. The counter-monument was birthed by artists in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall and has not been widely accepted or brought into practice. In 2017, as monuments were being removed from our public spaces, artists again began erecting counter-monuments in protest of white supremacy.

The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument is centered in process, people, and making. To date, we have engaged over 15,000 people in Baltimore, made over 2,500 unique bricks, and collected over 1,000 personal stories from Baltimore residents. The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument is a new kind of monument, a monument not to the past, but a monument as an act of collective power that anticipates what will come to be.

The Mobile Community Brick Factory produces handmade bricks using local hand-processed clay and historic water-struck methods. This means of brickmaking is an inherently pay-it-forward endeavor—the bricks made one day are destined for someone else’s future hands. Participants personalize and inscribe their stories onto these bricks—words and messages about place, power, home, and experience. These story bricks are woodfired and become The Mobile Community Brick Monument, an ongoing series of exhibitions that create shared spaces.

While the bricks become pathways, garden beds, benches—some are embedded in sidewalks in Baltimore—I collect oral histories from brick constituents through ethnographic methods. In Baltimore, over 150,000 people have visited The Mobile Community Brick Monuments, finding connections to stories that are like their own.

At The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument, we believe ordinary voices matter, especially those that aren’t usually heard, that public space should be built by the people who use it, that heritage is alive, memory is mutable, and history is ongoing—made by daily lives. Our bricks represent pasts, presents, and futures that would otherwise remain untold and unwitnessed, built, shared, and spoken by urban residents. All are welcome and included in the process—a different kind of monument—a living space that honors the past and is built collectively by the people who live in and use our cities.

—Marian April Glebes, M.F.A ’09

When we think of toys, we imagine a finished product, a remote-controlled car, a mini piano, or a glitter-filled beach ball. The internal pieces that make up the toy are only seen if the toy breaks. However, for some children with disabilities, the feel, sound, and shape of a toy’s exterior can be as important as the internal components. Features such as a multi-button remote, pressing piano keys, or grasping a ball can reduce accessibility to developmentally essential play.

Molly Y. Mollica, assistant professor of mechanical engineering (ENME), challenges sophomores in her ENME 204 class, Engineering Design with Computer Aided Design (CAD), to create an accessible toy for an individual with a specific disability or a toy for collaborative play between children with and without disabilities. CAD helps students create, modify, and analyze technical drawings and 2D or 3D models.

Team Goat Cheese, a five-student collaboration that included Adam Harper, a mechanical engineering and theatre design sophomore, was voted the ENME 204’s Most Creative Design and the Most Viable Product by UMBC faculty, ENME 204 teaching staff, and needs experts. Their competitors also voted them the Most Creative Design for designing two accessible toys for children on the autism spectrum: a soft, stuffed sea turtle and a bald eagle with weighted body parts, textured fabrics, and interchangeable parts. 

Integral to their success was the involvement of community members on the autism spectrum. “Many of us have someone close to us on the autism spectrum,” said Harper. “We asked them what kind of toy they would have wanted when they were seven or eight.” Harper’s close friend shared that they never had a stuffed animal because the stuffed animals on the market never met their sensory needs. 

“Students have the opportunity to design in collaboration with needs experts—including physical therapists, special education teachers, and potential product users,” said Mollica. “In some cases, the resulting designs are developed enough to be shared with these experts to help address real challenges in accessible play.” 

Designing with needs experts

The team’s online market research found that stuffed animals with sensory designs, such as weighted bodies, textured fabric, and scents, can help reduce anxiety, increase focus, and ease transitions for children on the autism spectrum, fostering greater engagement with peers and family. Another key takeaway of their research was that many sensory toys included only one sensory feature, limiting their effectiveness for children who benefit from multiple tactile inputs. 

Team Goat Cheese used this as their inspiration. “We felt we could do better,” said Harper. “We decided to create two cartoon-like stuffed animals with multiple sensory inputs.” First, they used CAD to design interchangeable body parts. After several trial-and-error sessions, they created a lock-and-release mechanism for interchangeable parts. The eagle’s head, wings, and legs all come off the body. The sea turtle’s front and back flippers and head are also interchangeable. If a child doesn’t like the texture of the bald eagle’s head, they can swap it for the turtle’s head, creating a completely different sensory experience.

Sewing tactile play 

Choosing the materials was also a process. The team chose soft brown corduroy for the eagle’s wings due to its unique texture and geometry, and extra soft sweatshirt fleece for the eagle’s head and tail feathers. The beak and talons are a yellow iridescent mesh fabric with metallic gold squares fused onto it, noted Harper.

(l-r): The eagle’s right wing insert, stuffed eagle without weighted wing pockets, and the fabric for the beak and talons. (Images courtesy of Harper)

The turtle’s body was made of minky fabric—a soft, velvety green plush, polyester fabric—with raised almond-shaped dots that felt like soft scales. The shell was made from a soft brown fleece. 

Harper—the team’s secret weapon as the only member who knew how to sew—owned a sewing machine and had years of experience sewing, welding, sawing, and constructing theatre sets, so he was in charge of sewing the final product.

“For the weighted components, I double-stitched corduroy pockets and filled them with glass microbeads, then placed them inside the wings, head, and body. I filled the rest of the body with polyester fiberfill—a synthetic fiber used for stuffed animals,” said Harper. “It was many hours and days of sewing and making pouches and remaking pouches and seam ripping and fixing.” 

“Our goal is to prepare the next generation of engineers who understand the engineering design process,” said Mollica, “are proficient in engineering design tools, value input from needs experts, and are equipped to create high-quality products that are accessible to as many people as possible.” 

While photos of the eagle and turtle stuffed animals still exist, the physical toy is no longer in the team’s possession—it has been passed on, and they hope it’s now in the hands of a child who is happily creating turtle-eagles with their friends. 

Learn more about UMBC’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Abbie Fakoya is at the front of the room, smiling and encouraging over 40 UMBC faculty, staff, and students to follow her dance steps. Many of the attentive dancers were either new to the intricate K-pop choreography, learning this sequence, or, like millions of fans around the world, ready to show off their synchronized dance moves to “Golden,” the 2026 Grammy-nominated Song of the Year, from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters film. 

The global success of the film drew fans to the KPop Demon Hunters: A Conversation on Media, Culture, & Globalization event organized by the Asian Studies Program in collaboration with several CAHSS departments at the Skylight Lounge this fall. Fakoya, a biochemistry senior and the event coordinator for UMBC’s K-pop Dance Club, was not surprised to see the long line of people waiting to participate in an evening of Korean culture, dance, and food that celebrated Korea’s vast snack culture thanks to the D.C. Korean Foundation and a delicious Korean-fusion catered dinner by Baltimore’s own Dooby’s restaurant 

“Seeing the movie accurately portray the food and cultural practices I grew up with in a positive way—like the noodles, the Korean spa the characters enjoyed, and Korean shamanistic practices—reminds me of my own childhood experiences, and doing those same things now when visiting family in Korea. It is really inspiring,” said Angelina Jenkins, assistant director of UMBC’s Mosaic Center for Cultural Diversity, a member of the expert panel.

Growing up with K-pop

Fakoya became interested in K-pop in elementary school, at a time when she felt that liking K-pop—especially if you weren’t Korean—was not as well received. Friend and club historian Esha Shah, an information systems junior, agrees. “This year has been very exciting. We’ve had a lot of interest in the club because of the movie,” said Sha. “I remember when I was in elementary and middle school, kids would give me side-eyes for liking K-pop and singing in Korean and ask me why I wanted to be Korean.”

The two met in 2022 at the RAC for a packed K-pop dance workshop, featuring the then-top K-pop song “Dope,” by BTS. It was the first in-person dance workshop after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. “UMBC’s K-pop dance club moved its dance workshops online during the COVID-19 lockdown because K-pop artists were still posting songs and dance videos,” said Sha. “When students came back in person, there were so many people who wanted to participate that the club had to keep rotating participants in and out of the workshop.”

For Jenkins, a life-long K-pop fan, being among Retrievers who champion, appreciate, and embrace Korean culture was also a welcome change from her experience growing up in Pennsylvania, where she was one of the very few students of color in her high school. “I’m super excited to be here as I am what I consider to be a one-and-a-half first-generation American, Korean American, who not only does their work through the Mosaic Center,” said Jenkins.

“I am also a third-year Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, College Park, looking at culture studies, Asian American identity development, and how films like KPop Demon Hunters allow young Asian American students to really understand what this means to bridge the gap between American culture, Korean culture, and this idea of globalization.” 

Alongside Angelina Jenkins, Mea Lee, a doctoral student in the Language, Literacy, and Culture Program at UMBC and a librarian at Anne Arundel Community College, highlighted the film’s cultural integrity. Lee emphasized how breaking Asian stereotypes and incorporating authentic cultural references can empower not only Korean communities but all minority groups in America.

She explained how Korean folk narratives and art were skillfully woven into the storyline, enriching the film’s depth and relevance. One example is the blue-striped mystical tiger, Derpy, and the magpie, Sussy, with three eyes on each side of its head, who are paired together to act as messengers and protectors. These elements not only honored tradition but also created a bridge between folklore and modern fantasy, allowing the narrative to resonate with diverse audiences. 

K-pop’s influence beyond the screen

The panel, moderated by Fan Yang, professor of media and communication studies, director of the Asian Studies Program, and the faculty leader of UMBC’s Global Asias Initiative, discussed the spiritual, gender, linguistic, and artistic Korean cultural references throughout the movie, along with the Westernization of K-pop.

“The experience of being a human and a demon—struggling with duality— is very relatable. I’m an American,” said Lee, “but I also want to live within my Korean culture. It’s a balance between how much I really want to be an outcast in either culture, versus how much I’m going to accept. It’s a constant struggle.” Lee continues, “It’s a similar duality that Rumi, the main character, faces as a half-demon and half-human. Life isn’t always so clear. We spend most of our lives in the grey area. It’s a balance. At least I don’t have to fight four dancing demons.” 

Fakoya and Sha have also witnessed the Westernization of K-pop, with a shift from Korean lyrics to mostly English lyrics—like in KPop Demon Hunters. First, they didn’t expect to like the movie because it was marketed for children, and most of it was in English. “I don’t speak Korean, but I like to memorize the Korean lyrics and the dances,” said Sha.

They were won over by the movie’s attention to detail of the K-pop culture they’ve been a part of since childhood. Now, they’ve found themselves as ambassadors encouraging students who “don’t want to like it because everyone likes it now,” to explore the genre beyond what’s popular. “There are different sounds and niche groups just like in any type of music,” said Sha.

In preparation to lead the “Golden” dance workshop, Fakoya memorized the Korean and English lyrics and choreography. “K-pop is so cool. It’s just a habit. I love it,” she said, after masterfully and patiently showing everyone how to be a K-pop demon superstar.

Learn more about UMBC’s K-Pop Dance Club’s next showcase.

For more IEW events, follow us on myUMBC or visit www.cge.umbc.edu/iew

Visit the IEW Expo for these feature performances by UMBC Dance and Music students and faculty: 

12:20PM : Trinity Bechtel (Dance, Linehan Arts Scholar, '28) 

1:15PM: Dr. Seyoung Jeong (Voice) and Dr. Eun Suk Cha (Piano) 

Thank you to our performers, as well as Brandon Russell and Shanness D. Kemp from the Department of Dance for coordinating these global arts performances. 

On November 7, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS) gathered for the college’s second annual CNMS GradFest.  

Prableen Chowdhary, Ph.D. ’24, biological sciences, currently a postdoc with Rachel Brewster, professor of biological sciences, and a member of the student-led planning committee, expressed hope that GradFest would “spark conversations and collaborations across disciplines.”  

CNMS dean William LaCourse offered advice to attendees as the program kicked off. “Whatever you do in life, do it with all your heart. If you’re doing research, do it like you own it,” he said. “Live in the present and seize opportunities. Enjoy every moment, like this moment today. You can’t change yesterday; when I make mistakes, I’m grateful for grace and forgiveness. And you can plan for tomorrow, but you can’t control it.”

Following the introductions, seven students presented “lightning talks,” five-minute presentations describing their research in engaging, accessible terms for those outside their field. The talks featured students in biological sciences, physics, chemistry and biochemistry, marine biotechnology, and mathematics and statistics. They discussed topics like novel therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer, innovative two-dimensional materials for improved sensors, and previously unobserved plasma jets from black holes.  

GradFest as a stepping stone  

“Part of our goal was to intentionally include graduate students with less presentation experience or early-stage projects,” shared Maria Cambraia, director for research and international affairs in CNMS, and lead staff member on the planning committee. “GradFest gives them a chance to practice in a friendly environment.”  

Following the talks, the ballroom buzzed during two poster sessions, where dozens more students discussed their projects with peers, mentors, and guests. GradFest encouraged presentations of research at all stages of development.  

Muhammad Jalil Ahmad, president of the Mathematics and Statistics Graduate Student Association and a planning committee member, presented a lightning talk and poster on mathematical modeling for complex phenomena like weather or disease spread.  

Ahmad, a fourth-year applied mathematics Ph.D. candidate mentored by Animikh Biswas and Kathleen Hoffman, professors of mathematics, agreed. “Presenting at GradFest is useful before heading to a bigger stage, like a national meeting,” he said.  “Even at a math conference, people are studying different topics, so it’s good to practice communicating with people outside your field.” He added that GradFest offers the opportunity to network with researchers using similar methods for different applications.  

Ian Kirn ’23, physics, a second-year physics Ph.D. student, presented a poster on astroseismology, which investigates earthquake-like phenomena on stars. Kirn chose to pursue his Ph.D. with Eileen Meyer, professor of physics, after doing undergraduate research with her.  “It’s important for different disciplines to talk to each other, because they’re actually all related,” Kirn says. “This event encourages collaboration.”  

Fidelia Asomani, a third-year biological sciences Ph.D. candidate working with Erin Green, associate professor of biological sciences, called GradFest “a good first opportunity to get my feet wet presenting.” Asomani studies yeast, which shares basic functions with complex organisms. “It’s important to invest in studying processes conserved across species,” she says, which can inform human disease treatment.  

The humble heart of a scientist

LaCourse also encouraged embracing humility. “By remembering you won’t always be the best, humility helps you celebrate others’ successes and accept failure—and research involves a lot of failure,” he said. “Humility is a path you walk, not a trait you innately possess, and it leads to learning, growth, and respect.”  

By late afternoon, GradFest had turned strangers into collaborators, boosted first-time presenters’ confidence, and made the ballroom a launchpad for breakthroughs. Attendees left with new contacts and the dean’s words in their hearts—proof that bold discoveries can begin with a humble “hello.”

Learn more about graduate programs in CNMS.

Securing any internship is a huge accomplishment for a college student, but it’s even sweeter when it combines hands-on leadership training with a few tasty perks. Senior Justin Medina and sophomore Gabriel Jenkins joined seven other Retrievers over the summer as part of the Hersheypark Leadership Development Internship Program, a 12-week paid internship that allows students earn an hourly wage while also providing them with intensive leadership training—oh, and full-access passes to the park during their time off.

Tools of the trade

• An open mind (you’ll be trying new experiences and meeting new people)
• Strong work ethic (be ready to be tested)
• Sunscreen and sunglasses (it IS an amusement park, afterall) 
• A watch (time flies when you’re having fun)

Step 1: Figure out what you’re hungry for

Through this unparalleled program, students get to enjoy the monetary benefits of holding down a Hersheypark job of their choice, in addition to undergoing leadership training. Medina leaned into his love of swimming and trained as a lifeguard, learning life-saving skills like CPR and how to handle a trauma kit. Jenkins chose to do ride operations and learned a few things about himself along the way. 

“I learned I’m more reliable than I thought,” he said. Jenkins was trained on Lightning Racer, the first wooden racing/dueling rollercoaster in the United States. He interacted with guests while ensuring their safety by following the set procedures Hershey Entertainment & Resorts provided, confirmed height and/or weight standards were met, checked that seatbelts and restraints were fastened and locked, and controlled the right buttons to make the roller coasters go and return with a team of other hardworking ride operators. Throughout the summer, his work ethic was recognized and his supervisors gave him additional responsibilities that helped him see abilities he hadn’t tapped into yet. 

“These students were great team members in our operations and fantastic contributors in our Professional Development Sessions, where they uncovered their strengths and how to apply them in their roles at Hersheypark and beyond,” said Jacklyn Mrakovich, college relations recruiter at Hershey Entertainment & Resorts.

Step 2: A taste of the real world

Both Medina and Jenkins packed up their things and spent the summer living in rental housing provided at a reduced rate through the company. The time away from home and campus gave them a glimpse of what post-graduate life could possibly look like. 

“It was a good taste of being in the real world, especially because I moved out there. It really teaches you how to be on your own,” said Medina. He also underscores what a unique opportunity this was: “It basically gave you the 9-5 work experience, but also has a school aspect with seminars and events. While being at an amusement park.” 

Once a week, interns attended various professional development trainings, with coursework and curriculum focused on teaching students to be better leaders and prepare them for the workforce. Although their work didn’t directly speak to either student’s majors (information systems for Medina and graphic design for Jenkins), they still learned invaluable lessons that they’ll carry with them in their professional careers. Which brings us to…

Step 3: Buckle up and enjoy the ride

“You have to go in with an open mind and not be scared, you have to just take the next step forward,” encourages Medina to those thinking about the program. The intangibles of this experience were the things both Retrievers will remember—the networking opportunities, meeting students from across the world, and learning how to be a good employee and a good colleague. 

“It really helped me understand the process of actually doing a job and working for someone, learning how to communicate with co-workers and working with people from different backgrounds,” says Jenkins. 

At a roundtable discussion held as part of the leadership portion, students were grouped by major/area of interest and given the opportunity to meet employees in their field. From this discussion, Medina was able to see how he could apply the skills he learned over the summer to his future career—directly or indirectly.

“I thought more of how it could help benefit me in the future when it comes to IT. If I’m going to be working in groups or if I end up going towards a project management route, that’ll help me as a leader and help me adapt to certain scenarios or circumstances.” 

Not realizing the program’s universal draw, both Jenkins and Medina found themselves energized by getting to know their international peers—a highlight of their experience. 

“We got to work alongside international employees and learned a lot about working with people from different backgrounds,” says Jenkins. “My favorite part was meeting people from across the world.” 

“It was so cool showing my experience and seeing their experience and how we were able to share cultures,” adds Medina.

Step 4: Reap the rewards

The summer wasn’t all work and no play for the Retrievers. Interns got to enjoy some of the perks of living in a town known equally for its chocolate and its theme park. On their days off, they could take a dip in the pool at their accommodations, check out the employee store, or take advantage of the free access to Hersheypark. 

“It just felt different going to the park as an adult and knowing I could go whenever I want. Little me would have been so excited,” says Medina. 

While the swag and all-access passes certainly are souvenirs the interns are grateful for, the lasting impact is what the experience could mean for their future careers.

Of recent alumni, 85 percent were engaged in applied learning like internships, research, service-learning, or leadership during their time at UMBC. Thanks to the work they’re putting into their futures as a student, 93 percent graduate with firm plans for employment or graduate school within six months of graduation.

“I’m continually inspired by the way our students engage in applied learning to launch their careers,” says Marykate Conroy, associate director of internships and employment. “UMBC students are entering the workforce prepared and in demand.”

“The memories and the networking are the two things I’m walking away with,” says Medina. “I have more people to reach out to and even if they’re not directly in my field, they’re so willing to help.”