In the last twenty-five years, the University of Maryland has seen a tremendous amount of transformation. Despite all of this change, the Alumni Association has continued to offer opportunities for Terps to be a part of the Maryland tradition on and off campus. This milestone marks 25 years of fostering connections between students, alumni, parents, and Terp supporters a cause of shared passion for UMD.
The Alumni Association was established in 1989 with the mission to “support and promote the university in its pursuits of excellence in teaching, research and public service and to foster a spirit of loyalty, involvement and life-long commitment to the university by its alumni.” At the time, the Maryland alumni network was 163,000 strong, with that number continuing to grow. Currently, the Alumni Association provides its members with a variety of resources, from professional networking events to tailgates and reunions. It also gives back to the university, supporting scholarships to further education and internships for students.
So what’s the best thing about being a member? According to James DeGeorge (BA ’69, MA ’73), a College of Education graduate and lifetime Alumni Association member, “It’s the people.” He praises the Association’s ability to reconnect alumni with other proud Terps through events on and off campus, allowing people to see how the university has progressed over the years. DeGeorge takes pride not only in his own accomplishments, made possible by his history with UMD, but also in what the University has accomplished during his time as a Terp. And he describes the Garden of Reflection and Remembrance as his favorite spot on campus, calling it a “wonderful place to go to reflect about who you are and what this place has done for you.”
“My interactions with the different people, especially the students, at the University are what make me most proud of being a Terp,” DeGeorge says, adding, “I’ve been given many opportunities to provide mentoring to students nationally and internationally, reinforcing my decision to be in the education field.”
The Alumni Association is not only twenty-five years into its young life, it’s 25 years into the ongoing history of a campus full of rich tradition. Current students and alumni continue to build on the knowledge and experience they had at Maryland, and the progress they foster keeps Maryland in the forefront of college rankings both nationally and internationally. And that, no matter how old you are or what groups you belong to, is certainly something to celebrate.
