The University of Maryland class of 2021 will forever be “the COVID class.” They spent their final semesters of college learning in an unprecedented environment, navigating virtual learning and experiencing a year none of them could have predicted.
But now that their caps and gowns have been hung up in the closet, their names read at commencement earlier this month, what memories — pandemic or otherwise — will these seniors carry with them?
From flag football to squirrels, this year’s graduating class will remember College Park for more than the pandemic. They will tell the stories of a campus that, for a brief time, was their home.
Plus, in this month’s question segment: What will Diamondback seniors remember about their time on staff?
You can also find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. A full transcript of this month’s episode is below.
Offbeat: Senior Memories
[Cold Open]
Aliyah Jackson: I always tried to plan ahead and like, get those hard classes and like, do all that I could my freshman and sophomore year, and even kind of my junior year, so my senior year could really just be so fun and you know, I could do whatever I want, no stress. And it didn’t work out that way.
[Music]
Allison Mollenkamp: You’re listening to Offbeat, a podcast from The Diamondback. I’m your host Allison Mollenkamp.
The University of Maryland class of 2021 will forever be “the COVID class.” They spent their final semesters of college learning in an unprecedented environment, navigating virtual learning and a year none of them could have predicted.
But now that their caps and gowns have been hung up in the closet, their names read at commencement earlier this month, what memories — pandemic or otherwise — will these seniors carry with them?
From flag football to squirrels, this year’s graduating class will remember College Park for more than the pandemic. They will tell the stories of a campus that, for a brief time, was their home.
Plus, in this month’s question segment: What will Diamondback seniors remember about their time on staff?
[Music]
Allison: Anthony Sountis didn’t spend his childhood dreaming of coming to Maryland. In fact, he started college at a different school. But he wanted more from his college wrestling career, and after his freshman year he emailed coaches. Maryland was willing to give him a chance, so he applied to transfer.
Anthony Sountis: This was all under the impression like, ‘You’re a walk-on man, this is just like, if you come you might be able to stay.’ So I took a shot. I never saw the University of Maryland campus before my first day on campus. Never took a visit. All of it. Just kind of took a blind leap of faith and just started working as hard as I possibly could so when I got here I could stay.
Allison: Anthony is a kinesiology major graduating in August. He distinctly remembers one match in a season that hadn’t been going his way.
Anthony: I won. It was slim too. It was like 3-2. But I rode the kid for like four, five minutes. Something crazy like that… That was the most important match to me in my career because … I was finally wearing a singlet, I had been wrestling so bad all year and in my head I’m just like what, like…, I’m not gonna sit here and say that, you know — Did I question if wrestling is for me? Do I need to keep doing this? Why am I doing this? Why am I putting out like this consistently every day to just go out here and just get demolished?
Allison: The win confirmed Anthony’s love for his sport and his team.
He’s not alone in defining his college experience by his extracurricular activities.
Aliyah Jackson graduated this month and majored in psychology and theatre.
Her freshman year, she competed in Alpha Phi Alpha’s event Stroll like an Alpha.
Aliyah: It was a chance for like girls to learn the moves of the fraternity, like their dances and strolls and then they would compete with other teams in our school.
Allison: Aliyah recalls what it was like to be a good kind of busy, balancing Stroll Like an Alpha with a second performance showcase.
Aliyah: That practice would start around 8 or 9 [p.m.]. I would leave that night, go to Stroll Like an Alpha practice around 10 [p.m.] to 12 [a.m.] and I would get out of that probably after 1 or 2 [a.m.]. And then at the time I had 8 and 9 a.m.’s everyday because I was a freshman. So I would literally, if I didn’t finish my homework beforehand, go back home around 2 [a.m.], do homework maybe till 3 or 4 [a.m.], wake up in three hours and start my day over again. So it was very, very, very hectic but it was a lot of fun memories.
Allison: Stroll Like an Alpha also showed Aliyah the importance of community. Inspired by the camaraderie among Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity members, she later joined a sorority.
Relationships help define many seniors’ experiences.
Regina Hong graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. One of her memories is feeling a sense of togetherness with her fellow members of the Tianyi Dance Team, a Chinese cultural dance group.
Regina Hong: I guess this year’s showcase actually is a pivotal moment. Obviously it was online, but it actually worked out really well. People worked really hard on their dances and I guess the fact that now we have to record our dances individually at home and then seeing it all come together by one of our fantastic video editors — that was really emotional honestly because we haven’t seen each other in so long and yet it looks like we’re all still together on stage in a way.
Allison: The pandemic certainly changed the class of 2021’s college story.
Yelena Stuherck, who just finished her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, feels like her class has lost a lot.
Yelena Stuherck: Like the seniors now are in a very specific position where we really lost the most. Because the freshmen, the sophomores — they get to come back in the fall. They get to… they still have time. And I don’t. Which, again, does make me feel a little bit selfish and obviously like, you know, this is not the most important thing in the world but it is important to me on some level and I feel sad that we missed out on so many memories.
Allison: The pandemic didn’t stop academics, though things were different at “Zoom University.”
Senior Isabel Salas majored in information sciences with minors in French studies and public leadership. This past semester, she was part of this university’s Global Classrooms program, through which she was able to take a course with students from universities in other countries.
The class not only led to conversations about college life, but also the issues of the day.
Isabel Salas: You know how like, very sadly and wrongly in the United States and like Georgia there was that whole like Asian hate crime of the women, so one of our teammates had brought it up cause she’s Asian American. And so there were two of us that were from UMD and so she like brought up that conversation and you know, all of us, even though we are from different countries, had the same sentiments about it, you know, that it’s like really messed up and we can’t really wrap our head around why people sometimes act and feel so threatened by others’ differences because most times, you know, you’re still pretty similar in, you know, what you think. Like all of us were able to relate in class all the time.
Allison: In between the heavier moments, Isabel found time for fun outside the classroom.
Isabel: For flag football I used to have a really late lab and I would like rush over to the field in like my jeans and my boots and I would just like take off my boots, pull over sweatpants and put on sneakers and then be ready to go.
Allison: Other seniors made sure to fit in some Maryland traditions.
Here’s Yelena.
Yelena: A big one that’s like super cliche was swimming in the fountain freshman year on McKeldin. And then to like top it off, as if that wasn’t like Maryland enough, we actually found a Drafts mug like from C-Stone. It was like on the side of the fountain and like I took it home with me because why not and I still have it like to this day.
Regina will remember the creatures of College Park.
Regina: I don’t know if this is specific to UMD campus culture but the squirrels in the UMD campus — I would see them running around with like large amounts of food. It wouldn’t just be like nuts or anything it would be like half a doughnut or half a banana or something. And I just thought that was wild.
The memories of college, both funny and bittersweet, have come to a close for most seniors.
Wrestler Anthony has a few more weeks before his summer graduation. But he’s already reflecting on the end.
Anthony: It was hard — athletically, scholastically — definitely. But when you finally get to take that step back, you know, taking my nametag off of my locker I was like, ‘I will make every choice the same exact way so I could live that again.’
[Music]
Allison Mollenkamp: With graduation now over, The Diamondback’s seniors are nothing short of nostalgic. Here are the voices of a few who wanted to share their favorite memories from the newsroom:
Tom Hindle: My name is Tom Hindle. I’m a journalism and history double major and my most recent position at The Diamondback was as sports editor and men’s soccer beat writer. And I’d say my favorite memory at The Diamondback was probably just kind of like this holistic bonding and companionship you had, you know, even senior year when everything was online and crazy uncertain. And to give you an example, I made this like, bingo of all the most obnoxious words I could use in an article, and I posted it on Twitter. It was like microcosm, macrocosm, tocquevillian, made it in there. All of these words that were just never going to get into any piece, and I would always try and like sneak them in into an article you know here and there, almost entirely completely out of context. And I had this kind of like running joke with the editor in chief, Daisy, at the time. And also, you know, my fellow sports editors and staff writers and it’s that kind of like banter, those kind of jokes that I’ll, that I’ll treasure you know, look back on fondly.
Lancelot Lin: I’m Lance. I’m a broadcast journalism major and I currently do motion and graphic design for The Diamondback. I would say my favorite memory working on the paper was when I was leading the layout desk designing the final print edition. It was not only a great chance to make some really creative designs, but the experience was also very special and historic — not just for me, but for so many of my colleagues and the alumni that came before.
Jenn Attanasio: My name is Jenn Attanasio. I’m a journalism and government and politics major and I am formerly the managing editor of The Diamondback. I think my favorite DBK memory has to be SGA Omnibus night in 2019. We stayed up all night waiting to cover the Student Government Association’s final meeting of the semester. And it was fun just getting to know the older staffers telling stories and hanging out with everybody in the newsroom.
Eric Harkleroad: My name is Eric Harkleroad. I’m a senior journalism major and a senior staff photographer at The Diamondback. On November 3, 2020, me and the rest of the photo staff were dispatched around the Xfinity Center with reporters to get interviews of voters as they cast their ballots for the 2020 election. I remember standing outside for hours getting portraits of voters. It was such a great time and it felt so good to be able to document a really historic moment in the community. You know, the photo desk operates almost entirely asynchronously, even in normal times. So to have us all be working together in tandem getting portraits was just so amazing to see. And, I think for that reason, it’ll be my favorite memory of my time at The Diamondback. Big thanks to Julia, my editor, for allowing me to join the team.
Allison: We also want to thank the seniors who helped with Offbeat this semester – Daisy Grant, Jenn Attanasio, Elana Morris, Eric Harkleroad, Sara Chernikoff, Lancelot Lin, Tom Hindle and Angela Roberts. This podcast would not have happened without your help.
Thanks for listening to Offbeat. I’m your host Allison Mollenkamp. This episode was created by: Riley Brennan, Kimi Fleming, Eric Harleroad, Taneen Momeni and Rosa Pyo. Thanks to the whole Offbeat team for their hard work.
Our music this month is Graduation Day by Math and Physics Club, used through a Creative Commons license. If you’d like to hear your music featured on the show DM us on twitter @dbkoffbeat. And follow The Diamondback on Twitter and Instagram @thedbk.
You can find a transcript of this episode at dbknews.com. If you like the show, make sure to tell your friends and leave us a rating and review.
Thanks for listening. We’ll be back in September with a brand new episode to start the school year.
[Outro Music]
