Sandals were scattered around as barefoot girls and shirtless guys soaked up the sun on Saturday afternoon, enjoying music and the company of their peers.
But these students weren’t on spring break. They were sitting on the front lawn of a house on Hartwick Road that had been transformed into a makeshift beach.
For five roommates, all seniors, leaving Panama City, Fla. at the end of spring break didn’t mean they had to leave the sand. If they couldn’t go to the beach year-round, they decided, they’d bring the beach right to College Park.
Sahil Rahman, an operations and supply chain management major, said it struck him as he was lying in his Nicaraguan hammock sipping a margarita shortly after returning from Panama City.
‘Man, wouldn’t it be nice to be looking out on a beach right now?’ Rahman asked himself.
After conferring with his roommates, the decision was final: They were going to continue spring break through the end of the school year.
The roommates conducted research online, and soon shelled out $300 for 11,000 pounds – or 5.5 tons – of sand, according to senior chemical engineering major Oliver Shepard, one of the roommates. But when people ask how much the sand cost them, Rahman doesn’t like to tell them. Instead, he prefers another response: “You can’t put a price on happiness.”
That happiness required a full day of work. When the sand arrived on April 5, the roommates spent the day making a “giant sandbox” in the front yard by laying down a plastic tarp, building a wooden frame to hold the sand and then filling it up.
Now, the beach is complete and boasts a kiddie pool, beach towels and a sign that reads “The Ocean: No lifeguard on duty,” along with tiki torches and a bonfire pit.
Although the roommates didn’t tell their landlord about the beach, Shepard said it would be easy to restore the front yard if they need to. But he doesn’t anticipate that happening; several neighbors have told the roommates the yard looks better now than it ever has.
The double-takes and comments from neighbors and passersby are Shepard’s favorite part of having the beach, he said. The roommates welcome new friends to come over and enjoy the surf and sand – even their neighbors, who are in their 60s, think the beach is “hilarious” and have come over to hang out. So far, the roommates have only gotten positive reactions and haven’t had any complaints, Shepard said.
“If a random person wants to come by and get the sand between their toes, it’s going to make them feel better that day; it’s great,” he said.
Shepard said the only negative consequence of having the beach is that it provides a distraction from some of his responsabilities.
“I’ve almost stopped doing homework since it happened. It’s terrible, but I love it,” he said. “I come home expecting to do work, but there’s people lounging on the beach in bathing suits.”
Senior English major Sean Lynott, who Shepard said has been spending every weekend in their yard, said his favorite parts of the beach are “the fact that you can wear a short bathing suit” and “you can wear sunglasses all day.”
Junior family science major London Woodberry said the beach is a welcome addition to the area, adding that he has visited five times.
“It’s definitely what College Park needed,” Woodberry said. “I just hope it doesn’t get too wild where randos start to show up.”
However, welcoming strangers has never been much of a problem, said freshman letters and sciences majors Kyle Roach.
“People just come and go as they please. It’s never too uptight,” he said.
The roommates have always enjoyed hosting events and finding creative ways to entertain their friends, Rahman said – after all, their house has three hammocks and a “beat lab” in the basement filled with various instruments – but they have never done anything to this extent.
And while he loves waking up and seeing a beach in his front yard, Rahman said he also loves how it has affected other people.
“It puts a smile on people’s face, and it’s something people have never seen before,” Rahman said. “I think it’s just important to make people smile.”
Woodberry put it another way: “This is where I come for good vibes only.”
kelley@umdbk.com
