The Commons Terrace is packed with students and visitors alike. Black and gold are everywhere: on shirts, hats and all over the stage, which has taken over the Quad. This is the first Pangea hosted in the newly remodeled Quad and marks this summer’s completion of the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building.
Pangea, UMBC’s cultural and ethnic showcase, wraps up the end of the Fall Welcome Week. The festivities include performances from many of the university’s cultural organizations, tabling, raffles and catering provided by local food trucks, Chowhound Gourmet Burgers and American Halal Food — a favorite of President Freeman Hrabowski III. Absent from this year’s Pangea was the smell of free food wafting in the air.
The list of performing organizations is not limited to the African Student Association, The Vietnamese Student Association, The Filipino-American Student Association, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., The Hispanic Latino Student Union and the Caribbean Students Council’s dance team, says Island Gyalz.
“Being my first time at Pangea, I thought it was really great and amazing to see how diverse UMBC is,” says junior psychology major Lauren Roundtree. “It made me feel more connected to the school. The performances were also very fun to watch.”
Between performances, to get the student body involved in a bit of school spirit, the two onstage student hosts raffle off exciting prizes such as Nintendo Switches, Fitbit watches and a variety of games. After a brief intermission, a dance contest between six students launches on stage, and the winner receives the very generous prize of a Microsoft Surface.
Yasmin Carter, a senior theatre major, leads the crowd in the University of Maryland, Baltimore County pep cheer, “Go big dogs!” Students erupt in a series of barks, woofs and howls. When asked how she saw the event affecting school spirit, Carter answered, “Pangea IV was really jam-packed with a lot of diverse performers and audience members. It was the first time I saw hundreds of students come out to celebrate and to be entertained by UMBC’s diverse members and clubs.”
The size of the crowd that came out to support this diverse UMBC event is certainly impressive compared to past years’ events. Student attendees filled the entire section between the Quad and Commons. “The energy was great the whole night,” Carter adds. “It really meant a lot to me when I looked out into the audience toward the end of the show and saw so many diverse and engaged faces. Overall, Pangea was an amazing event and I hope that it continues to only get bigger and better in the future.”
Photo credit: Students perform at the Quad for UMBC’s annual Pangea. Photo by Alex McKenzie.
]]>Sam Adebesin is currently studying abroad in Costa Rica. The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.
Many people believe that the world is full of beautiful places and long to see them. But seeing other countries merely as vacation spots hurts one’s chances of having meaningful experiences. Students who want to break the illusion that other countries are just an escape or solely an adventure should consider studying abroad.
Studying abroad can seem like an exclusive club. I wasn’t aware of the image of the experience until I spoke with other people about it. There’s a perception that studying in another country is a luxury for rich, white liberal arts students, which can be alienating to those who want to do it. But whether that perception is accurate or not, it doesn’t have to be. People hear about the stories of someone jetting off to Paris or Florence for a semester and get excited. However, once they take a look at the prices, their hearts sink to their stomachs. They come to terms with the fact that they could never afford to go to such places.
Other times, people feel distressed by their restrictive course load. I felt that same sinking feeling multiple times as I searched for a place to study abroad. The right set of variables never seemed to fall into place, whether it was the wrong classes, atmosphere or financial logistics.
Then — Costa Rica.
I saw that I could go through an organization affiliated with my university, take the classes I needed there, and go on exciting excursions that screamed adventure. I tried to calm myself before I got too excited. I took a deep breath and clicked on the fees tab of the website I was browsing.
As I peeked through one open eye, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I saw that I could travel to Costa Rica at a price that was comparable to that of my university. It had everything I needed. I could even take Spanish classes and be surrounded by the language, though no previous Spanish experience was required. That was how I learned how expansive abroad opportunities are if you put in the work to look.
Not everyone can study abroad for a multitude of reasons, but if you can, you definitely should. My experience so far has taught me that opportunities are more prevalent than people think. It’s important to at least explore the idea before writing it off.
I was thrown by the number of scholarships I discovered. It was a shock that so many organizations were willing to pay students to see more of the world. For all the benefits that one can reap, having access to additional scholarships is just icing on the cake.
Pursuing education in another country can be daunting but it can also be extremely rewarding. You can immerse yourself in another culture and you don’t have to go to some Instagrammable location that strikes envy into the hearts of your friends. That isn’t what studying abroad is about. At least, hopefully.
You can see other perspectives, become more knowledgeable about the world at large, and examine how other people live their lives. Not only does this have the practical benefit of being a topic of discussion in a job interview (especially regarding language acquisition), but it also benefits the soul by seeking opportunities to meet new people with an entirely different origin story.
It’s becoming increasingly important to have a better understanding of the world around us, especially as other nations or even continents are made to seem less than others— less valuable, less civilized.
As visitors, students, and immigrants are made to feel unwelcome in countries including the United States, opportunities to interact with people from various cultural backgrounds is threatened. So those who can take advantage of this opportunity should take it into their hands to go out and explore the world. There’s a great deal to learn.
]]>We accept players of all skill ranges and experience! We will use this info to find you a team or group of players where you can enjoy yourself!
]]>Though the sudden implementation of many new dining options on campus has been met with enthusiasm, it has also raised a number of questions: Why were so many new dining establishments, as well as the new Teaching Kitchen and Student Choice Corner in True Grits, slated to open at the beginning of the 2019 school year? How exactly did the university choose what brands to bring to campus? And how is all of this being funded?
To answer these questions let’s look to Chartwells, a dining services company that is part of the Compass Group of Businesses, which operates all of the dining facilities on campus. Through Chartwells, all on-campus dining is entirely self-sustaining — all expenses are paid for by the money earned either through meal plan purchases or purchases made directly to the establishments according to Tom DeLuca, Resident District Manager for Chartwells at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. In other words, no student fees or state funds contribute to on-campus dining.
Chartwells has provided dining services to UMBC since 2008, and their contract with UMBC was renewed last year in 2018. That contract renewal included proposals for new establishments and initiatives on campus, which is why UMBC is currently seeing such a heavy influx of new dining facilities on campus. Most of these proposed changes were influenced by feedback from the Student Dining Committee as well as other surveys and focus groups. Halal Shack, for example, was Chartwells’ answer to students’ requests for more international dining options, DeLuca explained. The new Dunkin’ on the ground floor of The Commons was introduced because Dunkin’ “has got great brand recognition” — significantly moreso, DeLuca said, than Au Bon Pain, which had been the staple breakfast spot in The Commons for ten years before it was removed this past summer.
The upcoming Chick-fil-A expansion, in contrast, was reportedly prompted by Chick-fil-A corporate. “As a company, they’re moving to the full-service, counter-service model on all the college campuses that they serve,” DeLuca said. “They’re getting away from the grab-and-go option.”
But with so many national brands on campus, how are students’ meal plans paying for the food they are eating?
When a student buys a meal plan, a small portion of that money — about 30 percent, according to DeLuca — goes to UMBC, mostly to cover administrative costs associated with Campus Card Services, meal plan distribution, utilities and more. The remaining 70 percent goes to Chartwells.
Chartwells is the franchisee of each of the national chain locations hosted on the UMBC campus. Franchising is a process by which the franchisee is allowed to use the name, products and business practices of a corporation, typically in exchange for an initial fee and a percentage of all revenue. DeLuca declined to share what that percentage is, confirming only that it was “a small percent, […] less than 50 percent.”
So, how much of your meal swipe is actually making it back to Starbucks HQ? If a venti iced vanilla latte costs $4.65, 70 percent of that cost (about $3.26) goes to Chartwells, and because Starbucks gets no more than 50 percent of that revenue, you are paying Starbucks $1.63 at most.
Photo: Students wait on line at The Commons’s new Halal Shack. Photo by Elizabeth Baummer.
]]>Hurricane Dorian, downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 3 storm, is still hitting Grand Bahama Island, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tragically, at least five people were killed on the Abaco Islands. The storm is expected to move toward the Southeast American coast, causing storm surges on the Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina coasts. The resources below may be helpful to those preparing for Hurricane Dorian.
Online Resources and Local News
Articles
Back in theatres is the director’s cut of Ari Aster’s second full-length feature film “Midsommar.” The folk-horror film is filled to the brim with truly disturbing material that is hard to sit through even once. Beyond the shock is a simple relationship horror story.
After the trauma of losing her parents and sister to a dreadful murder-suicide, Dani Ardor (Florence Pugh) joins her emotionally distant boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) and his fellow anthropology grad students Mark, Josh and Pelle on a trip to Sweden to partake in midsommar festivities at an ancestral commune. The fascinating community unfolds to the bunch as a macabre, incestuous cult.
Though everyone in the audience sees it coming, the commune isn’t a cult at first glance. Christian and his friends are entering upon the invitation from their foreign friend Pelle. The peculiar village in the daylight, with abundant country and white gowns, is pleasantly inviting. The precise and unique actions of all the members and religious codes of conduct are tempting to the anthropology students. It’s only when the frightening rituals begin that they truly understand what they’ve stumbled into.
If you walked into a theatre and picked this film for no other reason than the title, you’d be in for quite a shock. For the nearly three hours the film glides through, it dances past the line of disturbing for the ritualistic violence, grisly images, and strong sexual content that heap the plot. The commune’s practices of senicide, in such a graphic skull-bashing manner, and incestuous heritage are completely unsettling. The third act goes so far with the sexual content and gruesome carcasses that it was unsurprising to see an empty theater by the end.
“Midsommar” does find some substantial solace from the stomach-turning visuals in the complete toxicity that is Dani and Christian’s relationship. Dani’s emotionally damaged state leads her to cling to Christian and develop an even more toxic relationship; Christian’s hesitant invitation for her to join their trip to Sweden allowed him to gaslight Dani and keep her in check. His continual manipulation and faux concern string Dani along. As her only relationship dissipates, Dani is left vulnerable to the commune’s induction that provides what she needs: a family. With a “family” now by her side, Dani lets go of Christian, albeit by sacrificing him to the gods in a burning temple, with a small but certain grin.
The film was recently re-released in an unrated director’s cut that includes an additional 24 minutes of footage that comprised Aster’s original vision. The changes in the director’s cut are not essential or game-changing, but serve to embellish the commune’s various ceremonies and reassert the nature of Dani and Christian’s relationship. An additional scene detailing a ceremonial suicide fake-out is especially tense, validating the non-rating.
What the director’s cut might suggest about the excessive use of mature content is that the movie’s only real purpose was to do what horror movies do best: scare us. Not only that, but the director seemed to have wanted to induce fear by disturbing the audience so much that they wouldn’t even be able to sit through the film.
And while Aster takes full advantage of gore and graphic content, he shies away from common jump-scares used in most modern horror movies. The more mature horror techniques employed are impressive as this is only his second full-length feature film. His previous work, the 2018 film “Hereditary” was also a horror film that played hard into shock value. Similarly, the graphic violence was more utilized, however, jump-scares played a minor role. Aster also formulated his story similarly in the two: both examine a relationship by embedding it in this niche graphic horror genre. In “Midsommar” we observe a deteriorating romantic relationship, whereas “Hereditary” examines a distant mother-daughter relationship. Playing off of common relationships grounds the stories before all hell breaks loose and the viewer is throttled through endless violence.
Photo Credit: A Maypole is featured in “Midsommar.” Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
]]>Do you have an idea and want to win $750 in cash for the most innovative idea?! Are you itching to make a difference in the world?Submit your ideas through the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship Idea Competition by October 10th at 1pm!
Submit through the link below!
You don't want to miss out on this awesome opportunity!
Dear new UMBC students:
You’ve made it through your first two weeks. Now that the excitement is waning and you’re probably having to deal with some unexpected problems, let’s talk about how to work through the hard times no one told you to expect.
Here are some of our editors with advice they wish they had been told the second week of their first semester at UMBC.
Julia, Editor-in-Chief
You grow up so much over the course of your first year in college—it’s almost unfathomable. But, one day next May, you’ll look back and think, wow, I’m different. It’ll be a good different, though, one where you can be proud of how far you’ve come and how far you have yet to go. As a freshman, I didn’t really know where I belonged, and if you’re feeling the same way now, that’s okay. You’ll find it. It might take a little while—for me, it took over a year—but you will reach a point where your life here clicks into place and suddenly you’ll have friends who go to late night with you, professors who recognize your abilities and maybe even a freshman who looks up to you as they find their own way.
Johanna, News Editor
The most annoyingly rote advice that’s given to college freshmen is, “get involved on campus!” I took that to heart; by the end of sophomore year, I had accumulated two jobs, was an active participant in the Musical Theatre Club and was writing for the paper every week. Soon, my days were almost fourteen hours long, starting with class at 8:30 A.M. and ending with rehearsals that ran until 10 P.M. It was exhausting, but the thought of quitting was worse. I didn’t want to let down any of the coworkers or castmates that relied on me, and I didn’t want to cut out the most fun and interesting parts of my loaded schedule—even if they were also sometimes the most tiring and stress-inducing.
My advice is neither to join as many organizations as you can possibly squeeze into your schedule, nor is it to avoid over-committing yourself. My only advice to you is to know what you need to do to get by. For me, the misery of not being involved in my clubs and internships is much higher than the stress of occasionally turning something in late. For others, getting good grades is their number one priority, and missing an assignment would be far more detrimental than quitting an activity they enjoyed. But you’re the only one who can figure out those priorities, who can make that decision, who can know what’s going to make you the most happy, successful and fulfilled student you can be.
Natalie, Digital Managing Editor
You are going to have to come to terms with failure. I know that’s harsh and is hard to hear, but some things are just not going to go your way. You might do terribly on a test that you studied really hard for. You might forget to do a reading and end up looking like a bumbling idiot during a class discussion. You might even sleep through a class and end up feeling extremely left behind. And yes, I am speaking from experience.
But here’s the thing about failures: they can either burden you or motivate you. Initially, coming in to college, my main goals were to do well in all my classes, get good grades and eventually get into a good graduate school. Any time I failed to meet my own expectations for my performance in an academic setting, I let my thoughts spiral out of control: “I’m going to fail this class. And then the next class. And then I’ll lose my scholarship. And then I’ll have to drop out. And then I’ll end up working at Burger King for the rest of my life.”
So far, these things haven’t happened. I quickly learned that berating myself over failures was—shockingly!—not helpful to my academic success, social life or mental health. Rather, failures are best used as a learning tool, a way to reassess your mistakes and keep them from happening again. Failing an exam or having to withdraw from a course may seem like the end of the world, but I promise that it is not. The earth will keep on spinning, and it’s up to you whether you want to move with it or stay anchored in one spot.
Maxi, Content Managing Editor
When I came to college, I had just suffered a catastrophic knee injury that rendered me completely immobile, hopped up on painkillers and lonely as ever. I grew up in a small town and I missed my best friends, who had always lived right down the road. Of course, the modern age allows us to keep in contact—texts, calls, FaceTime and Instagram allowed me to feel like I was always with them. But here’s the thing: I wasn’t. I was with me, in a new world surrounded by strangers.
In high school my identity was the same as it had been for years. I attended my zoned public school with the same kids for a decade, and I had no concept of breaking out of my confined social status. Why try to make friends with a girl who had run in different circles than me for the better part of my life? I thought things like that weren’t meant to be, but in college, I learned that they could be. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel afraid to express my growth. I took up new interests and worked hard to prove myself to professors, wanting so badly to become the good student that I hadn’t always been.
If you’re like me, you might feel like you’ve been missing something your whole life. Find it here. Sure, it’s a new world full of exciting new people, places and things, but there’s also a new you. The most prevalent advice I received when I went off to college was to explore. Take this time to reflect on who you were before. Identity your faults, then forgive yourself. And don’t forget to call you mom, too. She misses you, I bet.
Ceyda, Arts and Culture Editor
Crisis is individual. Everyone handles change differently, but that does not mean there are not people who are empathetic and can help you, who can save you. Be aware of your resources and those who care for you. There are people who are passionate about your life even when you are not. Talk to your loved ones, text the crisis textline (Text HOME to 741741), call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-272-8255). There is no shame in wanting help. There is no shame in needing help. Take care of yourself. You deserve to.
]]>Do you have an idea and want to win $750 in cash for the most innovative idea?! Are you itching to make a difference in the world?Submit your ideas through the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship Idea Competition by October 10th at 1pm! Submit through the link below!
You don't want to miss out on this awesome opportunity!