Maryland Day 2019
Every year the University of Maryland hosts "Maryland Day". This year on Saturday, April 27, the university hosted activities of all sorts around campus. Each college and school within the university held an event, along with many clubs and student-run organizations. They were also joined by many local businesses and organizations. Here people gather around the mall, the main hub of campus, to eat, talk, and explore some of the booths.
The on-campus farm was a large hotspot during the day, as they hosted many events ranging from a petting zoo to a horse show. Here junior Allie Hill walks a cow around the area, while an event host explained the cow's different features and characteristics, one of which is it's white stripe down the back.
Here five students part of the Maryland 4-H State Council, a youth leadership team, dress as animals to promote their club. Each year, the "foragers" choose a new topic to study, research, and help solve. This year their main focus is mental health, mainly among students. Their main goals are to eliminate stigmas around mental health within students and teenagers, along with provide stronger resources to students struggling with mental health around the nation.
10-year-old Tyler Whitaker is controls a robot built by one of the robotics teams on campus. Controlled by the remote control, Tyler is able to move the robot in any direction. Tyler claims he hopes to build a robot one day as well.
The robot designed and built by one of the robotics teams on campus was a very popular activity throughout the day. While visitors were not allowed to hold or touch the robot in danger of damaging it, they were allowed to use the remote control (also built by the team) to move the robot all around the designated area.
The Neutral Bouyancy Research Facility located in the Space Systems Lab displayed their robotic arm for space, which is still a work-in-progress. The arm is built underwater for gravity reasons, although parts of it are able to be assembled on land. For Maryland Day, they provided visitors with white boards on which they could write messages to the divers, and the divers could then respond.
Joanne and Micheal Bleichfeld pick out a new mint plant. Hosted by the Institute of Applied Agriculture, the Bleichfeld family had a variety of plants to choose from, including basil and mint. Available for free, the couple chose mint.
The plants provided by the Institute of Applied Agriculture were available to all visitors. Here this boy grabs two mint plants to show his mother and grandmother, however they only allowed him to get one.
Also hosted by the School of Agriculture, visitors were able to make homemade "stress balls". Filled with only flour, kids filled the balloons, tied them (often with assistance), and were then able to decorate them. This station was aimed at promoting reusing materials, creativity, and exploring resources.
Advocating sustainability, these students focused their station on plastic in our oceans. Laying out many different plastic items, they gave the visitors slips of paper with numbers representing the amount of years each item lasted in the ocean in the ocean, and asked the visitors to match it. After trying this game, I was wrong with most answers and learned that out of all the items they had, a Starbucks cup lasted the longest at 250 years.
After "fishing" for turtles in the McKeldin mall, the Rodriguez twins show their parents their catch. Gabby and Elena, 6 years old, spent the entire day on the campus exploring and trying everything they could.
The "Mighty Sound of Maryland" drumline lines up on McKeldin mall in preparation for a performance. Sporting their "Maryland Band" shirts, the students wait until exactly 12 p.m. to begin their performance. Performing the university fight song along with many others, the drumline played for a full 30 minutes.
Sneaks, a mascot and advocate for summer reading among students of all ages, eagerly waits for a hug from 7-year-old Joe Abiakam. Joe was hesitant to hug Sneaks at first, however soon smiled for a photo taken by his mother.
8-year-old Hannah B. creates a large bubble at a station run by students in the university's Infant and Child Studies program. Each time the bubble would pop, Hannah would get a little more upset, however after being assured that she could simply make a new one she would be okay.
8-year-old Maya accompanied by her brother Rohan (not pictured) experienced what it would be like to announce the evening news. Hosted by the Merrill College of Journalism, Maya read a script off a teleprompter that allowed her to announce the news. Shy at the beginning, Maya was soon to find her voice and ended confidently with "This is Maya, thanks for watching".
Arts on a Roll, a visual art, theater, dance, and music program brought giant blocks for visiting kids to move around, build, and even climb on. A place with after-school programs, birthday parties, block parties, festivals, and much more, Arts on a Roll came to University of Maryland to promote and share their business.
The U.S. Marines were also involved on campus during the day. Their station, a pull-up bar, had visitors do pull-ups for prizes. The top prize was this T-shirt shown worn by one of the marines, which required 25 pull-ups. Here one of the marines stabilizes the pull-up bar for a visitor to try.
15-year-old Maria Crippen tries to do a pull-up at the Marine's station. Doing one full one, the marines both gave her a high-five, however were unable to give her a prize as the minimum was three.
10-year-old Max, encouraged by his father Charles, or Charlie, swings his golf club. Aiming for the dinosaur's mouth, Max missed only by a few feet. Charlie was next to try, however was unable to hit the dinosaur as well.
9-year-old Dustin balances on a moving rubber log in a small pool. If he falls, he will fall into the water. Luckily the hot day didn't make this too bad, as he soon fell in after this was taken.
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