One More Public Service Announcement
by David Hoffman and Craig Berger
So here we are at last: all of us, together. This is the week of fresh beginnings, and of getting our first taste of the community we have become with the addition of so many new members. We are just starting to discover what the new students are bringing: their energy, hopes, insights and talents, in infinite forms and shades. The new students, in turn, are just beginning to discover UMBC's wonderful culture and quirks.
One site for this discovery was the Welcome Week Public Service Announcement program (Monday in the University Center), where new students heard words of wisdom about how to take care of themselves and others in our campus community: Don't be afraid to ask for help. Step up and intervene when you see friends engaged in risky behaviors. Be thoughtful about sharing on social media. Recognize that the people around you may be carrying burdens you can't see, so be respectful. And, of course, wash your underwear.
All of this is clearly good advice, to which we want to add one more nugget of wisdom. It's an idea so deeply embedded in UMBC's culture, history and practices that you'll see it everywhere if you look closely:
UMBC is a community of people who want to make a difference, and we make it here, together: faculty, staff and students. We are thinkers, but we're also doers: scrappy, determined, creative producers of knowledge, organizations, activities, positive social change, and every aspect of what you will come to know as UMBC. We are all different, but that's the source of our power and our capacity to build: each of us contributes the passions, hopes, experiences, skills and insights that make us unique. They're the raw materials for our collective work. Each of us matters, and we're all co-creators; each of us in the spotlight, none of us merely a spectator.
This culture is as old as UMBC's first paved walkways, which the builders waited to design until they saw where people chose to walk, footprints marking paths across open fields. It is a culture that is inspiring other colleges and universities to seek inclusive excellence, and helping to fuel new visions of vibrant, democratic innovation across the nation. And now it is your culture: to explore, enjoy, and continue making.
So get involved in the myriad UMBC projects and organizations that are helping to shape this community and communities beyond the campus. Bring your whole self, your untapped potential, your still-only-half-discovered passions, your willingness to take a risk and think new thoughts. Join your unfolding story to the story of this community. Make UMBC your own, and in doing so, make it anew, better than ever.
Co-Create UMBC is a blog for and about UMBC, written by David Hoffman and Craig Berger from UMBC Student Life. Join the Co-Create UMBC group on MyUMBC. Like Co-Create UMBC on Facebook. And follow David and Craig on Twitter.
Explore stories of UMBC students, faculty, staff and alumni making a difference at UMBC and beyond, and opportunities to get involved, on UMBC's BreakingGround website.
So here we are at last: all of us, together. This is the week of fresh beginnings, and of getting our first taste of the community we have become with the addition of so many new members. We are just starting to discover what the new students are bringing: their energy, hopes, insights and talents, in infinite forms and shades. The new students, in turn, are just beginning to discover UMBC's wonderful culture and quirks.
One site for this discovery was the Welcome Week Public Service Announcement program (Monday in the University Center), where new students heard words of wisdom about how to take care of themselves and others in our campus community: Don't be afraid to ask for help. Step up and intervene when you see friends engaged in risky behaviors. Be thoughtful about sharing on social media. Recognize that the people around you may be carrying burdens you can't see, so be respectful. And, of course, wash your underwear.
All of this is clearly good advice, to which we want to add one more nugget of wisdom. It's an idea so deeply embedded in UMBC's culture, history and practices that you'll see it everywhere if you look closely:
UMBC is a community of people who want to make a difference, and we make it here, together: faculty, staff and students. We are thinkers, but we're also doers: scrappy, determined, creative producers of knowledge, organizations, activities, positive social change, and every aspect of what you will come to know as UMBC. We are all different, but that's the source of our power and our capacity to build: each of us contributes the passions, hopes, experiences, skills and insights that make us unique. They're the raw materials for our collective work. Each of us matters, and we're all co-creators; each of us in the spotlight, none of us merely a spectator.
This culture is as old as UMBC's first paved walkways, which the builders waited to design until they saw where people chose to walk, footprints marking paths across open fields. It is a culture that is inspiring other colleges and universities to seek inclusive excellence, and helping to fuel new visions of vibrant, democratic innovation across the nation. And now it is your culture: to explore, enjoy, and continue making.
So get involved in the myriad UMBC projects and organizations that are helping to shape this community and communities beyond the campus. Bring your whole self, your untapped potential, your still-only-half-discovered passions, your willingness to take a risk and think new thoughts. Join your unfolding story to the story of this community. Make UMBC your own, and in doing so, make it anew, better than ever.
Co-Create UMBC is a blog for and about UMBC, written by David Hoffman and Craig Berger from UMBC Student Life. Join the Co-Create UMBC group on MyUMBC. Like Co-Create UMBC on Facebook. And follow David and Craig on Twitter.
Explore stories of UMBC students, faculty, staff and alumni making a difference at UMBC and beyond, and opportunities to get involved, on UMBC's BreakingGround website.
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Posted: August 26, 2014, 9:00 AM