It may be coincidental that UMBC was founded in the midst of rock n’ roll’s most revolutionary years, but early Retrievers certainly made sure to create spaces to bring live music to the campus, in intimate settings and on much bigger stages.

Since then, iconic bands and artists such as Frank Zappa, the Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morissette, All-American Rejects, the Strokes, Brand New, Foo Fighters, Yellowcard, All Time Low, My Chemical Romance, and more, have all played shows for UMBC’s students. But while UMBC has a rich history of hosting renowned artists, they have always had a soft spot for local music and student artists too.

On September 21, 1968, the Collage, an on-campus weekend coffee house, was first opened. The Collage was one of the first notable instances of live music on campus, often drawing in a large crowd, especially on Saturday nights, and was the go-to place to check out the best student performers, as well as local performers from the surrounding Baltimore area. With music, poetry readings, and films, it was a perfect social and artistic atmosphere for its students.

Although the Collage is no more, today, UMBC still supports its local and student musicians with the many events held on and off campus, and through the creative spaces it provides. The Students Events Board (seb) frequently hosts open mic nights where students can sing, play an instrument, and present poetry or spoken word. In recent years, (seb) seems to have drawn on a similar ethos to the Collage, with its Coffee House: Open Mic Night Edition.

Audience members at the Collage in 1969. Two performers, Lewis and Dolgoff, on stage at
the Collage in 1969.

Yearly events like Quadmania and campus radio station WMBC’s and the Retriever Music Society’s (RMS) music festival often provide a chance for student artists to play for an audience, and the support and turnout for these events shows how tuned in Retrievers still are to good music.

WMBC’s recent revitalization has played a big role in organizing live music events and booking student and local bands for on-campus shows. ​​WMBC’s station manager Sean Jilek ’25, computer science, says, “We have so much great music being made on campus and we really want to highlight that when we can. This year we made it a goal to have a UMBC band headline the festival, which is why we had Fly By the Seat. The station has been blown away with the turnout for the concerts we have hosted on campus.” 

Additionally, off-campus, OCA Mocha, the UMBC student-founded coffee shop, provides a venue for UMBC’s student musicians, including jam sessions hosted by RMS, classical music from UMBC’s Cello Group, and performances by UMBC’s jazz groups. 

While the Collage may now be gone, after all these years it is apparent that UMBC has expanded its creative spaces, and is still passionate about fostering these venues for its students. Jilek says, “I think this last semester has shown that small shows are something that people are interested in seeing on campus.”

The start of the school year means new beginnings. For most, this looks like new classes and friends—new experiences and opportunities. UMBC’s new president is even experiencing a whole chapter of firsts! But among the new beginnings, some things never change. This is what we love about UMBC:

We bond over new experiences

In the classroom and in student clubs, Retrievers take pride in finding ways to connect with each other. “People are more open to learning about different things than you would think, like different cultures,” says Sara Motamedi ’23, mathematics, who has found her classmates to be truly inquisitive and open minded. “I never expected it to be so diverse, which is awesome,” says Michael Washington ’23, media and communication studies, who enjoys playing basketball at the Retriever Activities Center (RAC) in his free time.

Some students bond over a game in the RAC, others might find a home in high level debate. UMBC’s intellectual sports teams include the top Mock Trial team in the nation. More than 250+ student organizations and clubs can connect you to the larger community: from Retriever Music Society to HackUMBC to Meditation at UMBC, students can engage with their interests, majors, and cultures alongside one another. Bolstered by a bevy of academic and social support systems, like the Academic Success Center and the new Center for Well-Being, each Retriever can find something they love here on campus.

We make it a point to explore campus and beyond

One of the keys to academic success is decompressing, and Retrievers know how to relax in style. One of UMBC’s major hubs is The Commons, where students meet between classes to socialize and grab a bite to eat. Students hang out in the Sports Zone—where they might catch a game on the projector or an open mic performance—and the gameroom, where they play pool, ping pong, and video games. On the 530-acre campus, many students find their own personal spots to take a breather. “I always found the tunnel between the Chesapeake Arena and The Commons parking garage to be a chill place where I can sit and draw quietly,” says Krista Mitchell ’23, English.

After classes and on weekends, students often use the free transit system to explore nearby Catonsville and Arbutus, where UMBC-affiliated and alumni-operated coffee shop OCA Mocha can be found. “OCA Mocha is UMBC’s local place to hang out,” says Shawn Abraham ’24, political science. “Their study hours for students are really helpful.” In addition to drinks and treats, OCA Mocha showcases local artists in its gallery and hosts live events that are open to all. 

We find ways to succeed together

For Camila Rudas ’22, biology and English, UMBC is defined by its community—people who embrace each other, look towards the future, and ask tough questions. In her eyes, this all starts with the professor. “They are always there to uplift students. Honestly, I feel like they are there to guide, instead of simply teach,” says Rudas, who has seen faculty go the extra mile—whether that’s collaborating with students through office hours, sharing internship opportunities, or providing research mentorship. UMBC’s students connect with faculty and staff in addition to their professors, though. “What surprised me most about UMBC was how personable my advisors have been,” says Maya Babu ’23, political science. “They honestly go above and beyond to help you succeed.”

As the school year gears up, UMBC’s students have a lot to return to—and plenty of new experiences waiting. Not least of which is welcoming and connecting with our new president, Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby. “It’s cool,” says Motamedi. “She’s a woman of color in STEM—she’s just like me.”

Bryan Castillo

Degree: B.A., Business Technology Administration
Hometown: Columbia, MD
Plans: Working at the intersection of arts and tech

“There’s a really good support system at UMBC for someone like me—a transfer and first-generation student. There are groups for everything. I found the best support system for me.” 

Bryan Castillo with his artwork that was displayed at OCA Mocha.

Bryan Castillo ‘22, business technology administration, came to UMBC from Howard Community College as a first-generation college student with a clear vision on how he would succeed: making connections and exploring every opportunity. He wanted to combine his interest in art with his passion for technology. He also wanted to make sure he felt supported on his college journey and could make life-long friends.

Castillo worked with the UMBC Career Center to find opportunities that would match his interests—meeting to discuss his goals and attending career fairs. He was able to access a coveted internship with the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. 

“If it wasn’t for my own previous experience with databases, I would never have gotten the internship,” he says. He describes that experience as an important stepping stone to become more confident, build his resume, and grow as an in-demand professional in the field.

Still, he made time for friends, leadership activities, and developing as an artist. In addition to being active in UMBC’s Hispanic Latino Student Union and the running club, he exhibited his artwork at the OCA Mocha coffee shop and gallery near UMBC.

Bryan Castillo, third from right, with members of the UMBC Running Club. (Image courtesy of Castillo.)

With Zaynub Siddiqui ’21, psychology

Last November, Zaynub Siddiqui ’21, psychology, set out to paint the town red—and yellow, green, pink, and black. Jumping at the chance to contribute creatively to OCA Mocha—the community-centered UMBC-affiliated coffee shop in neighboring Arbutus—the UMBC senior took a drab wall and transformed it over the course of her 20th birthday weekend. So, how exactly does one tackle a 150-square-foot blank space? For Siddiqui, it took vision, daring, and multiple iced matchas. But in the end she left local coffee lovers a floral feast for the eyes.

Tools of the Trade:

Headshot courtesy of Siddiqui.

• A projector, a scaffold, and no fear of heights—To translate a design from the page to the side of a building, it helps to use an Epson 4K projector.
  
• Shoe coverings—“Paint gets everywhere,” says Siddiqui. 
  
• A passion for the subject matter—“I love plants, I have a whole bunch. I love gardening,” she says. 
  
• A favorite coffee shop drink—“I really love an iced matcha,” says Siddiqui.
  
• Advil—because that’s a LOT of standing.

Step 1: Find a Wall

In Siddiqui’s case, the wall found her. The people behind OCA Mocha put out a call for artists to decorate the wall adjacent to their outdoor patio and parking lot. Even though she is a psychology major (with a sociology minor), the notice caught her eye. “I’ve always wanted to be a part of UMBC’s art scene,” she says. “I would see their art building and their exhibit areas and think, I want to do that.”

As such, armed with a love of arts and crafts and her experience helping out with collective murals at the college she attended briefly before transferring to UMBC, Siddiqui submitted her ideas for consideration, and was excited to be chosen.

Step 2: Create a Design and a Plan

Siddiqui’s vision started with the idea of a steaming cup of coffee and adding her own spin with lots of florals. “Nature really inspires my artwork,” she says. She also wanted to create a space where people could easily snap fun photos of themselves. After a series of meetings and emails with OCA Mocha staff, they settled on a design.

Photo of her favorite drink in front of her mural, courtesy of Siddiqui.

Siddiqui was excited that the timing of the mural aligned with her senior year. “Since this is my last year at UMBC, I’d sort of leave off with a bang,” she says. Siddiqui also appreciated being able to paint it on her birthday, showing growth artistically and personally. “Entering my 20s by doing this was something really exciting for me,” she says.

Step 3: Scale Up Your Art Supplies

Got paint brushes? Get bigger ones. Siddiqui also ditched regular art trays for mixing in favor of big foil trays usually used for food. For paint, you’ll need something a lot more durable than the stuff in your everyday art kit. Buy exterior primer for the base and exterior flat finish for the design.

And, don’t forget about clean-up. With a mural, paint splashes up, down, and all around, so Siddiqui suggests being prepared to cover up and wash up. “You think you’re not going to touch something…and then you’ll find it,” she says. “I had paint on myself a week and a half after. I’d say, ‘I thought I scrubbed my arms!’”

Step 4:  Be Prepared to Grow Your Art

When the time came to start painting, the huge wall size came as something of a surprise to Siddiqui once it was right in front of her. Undeterred, she painted flowers and more flowers, and then added more until the space was full. The end result? A burst of color (and coffee) that explodes into an otherwise humdrum parking lot.

Florals often find their way into Siddiqui’s work. As such, she packed it with some of her favorites, including a peony and roses. She also made sure to include flora and fauna that are special to the area. There is a monarch butterfly, native to the region, as well as plenty of Maryland’s state flower, the Black-Eyed Susan. Siddiqui even included a White Oak leaf in an homage to the famous Arbutus White Oak that fell in 2019.

Step 5:  Go and Dream Bigger Dreams

The mural may be done, but Siddiqui’s work is far from over. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in psychology and possibly mix her love of art with her love of how the mind works.

“They both provide different insights to people and how they think and their emotions,” she says. Eventually she’d like to possibly get into art therapy—but the scaffold sitting in her house now proves murals are still in her life. “I would love to have a mural in New York City or Los Angeles or Amsterdam…something that people would be able to take pictures of and remind them of nature.” Ultimately, she thinks that “just to put a smile on someone’s face would be really fun.”

— Karen Stysley

*****

All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11, unless otherwise noted.

An exhibit in unusual circumstances

Headshot provided by Hannah Basher.

As Hannah Bashar ’20, art history and biology, worked to curate pieces for campus-adjacent coffee shop OCA Mocha’s Art During the Time of COVID-19 exhibit, she found herself inspired by the unique ways the contributing artists had drawn from the isolation and monotony of recent months to create impactful art.

“Some artists find inspiration in their new and changed landscapes and environments,” says Bashar, OCA Mocha’s former arts intern. She cites pieces by photographer Julie Miller, which depict the strikingly empty urban areas that the artist passed in her walks through Silver Spring.

Other works featured in the exhibit were influenced by changes in routine; during the pandemic, Miller picked up the practice of joomchi, a centuries-old Korean art medium that involves layering paper in order to create unique shapes and textures. Miller’s artist statement describes the process of joomchi as meditative and “perfect for a day of isolation.”

Bashar wasn’t necessarily seeking art that made deep philosophical arguments about the pandemic. Instead, she wanted to display works that she thought viewers could relate to. “OCA Mocha stands for the community and it’s a strong force within the Arbutus community, so I want people to walk in and feel as though they can relate to what is on the walls,” she explains.

Artist Julie Miller picked up the practice of joomchi, a centuries-old Korean art medium that involves layering paper in order to create unique shapes and textures. Photo courtesy of OCA Mocha.

This means the exhibit ranges from powerful celebrations of Black women’s resiliency in textured acrylic paintings by Kathleen McPartland to playful textiles, like a diploma box filled with a yarn rug made to look like a pizza by April Berardi ’16, modern languages and linguistics.   

Bashar, who plans to pursue a career not in curation but emergency medicine, says that the unusual circumstances of this show made it an especially meaningful one to end her two-semester-long internship. “My own experience curating this show paralleled the theme of the exhibition, which is about how COVID has caused us to adapt and change with the times,” she says. “I felt like my experience curating the show was, in fact, part of the show itself.”
— Johanna Alonso ’20

Comic relief 

Umar Khan knew he had a chance with the crowd when he kicked off his stand-up comedy career a decade ago as a student—most of the faces in the audience were his friends and fellow Retrievers, gathered around the Sports Center stage on the second floor of The Commons. “I think there were like eight people there, and I remember walking away thinking it went well, although I’m sure if I watched it now…” Khan trails off. 

“All comics will tell you this, but we have to be some of the most delusional people in the world,” laughs Khan ’10, psychology. “What person in their right mind thinks they can captivate an audience of strangers for a set amount of time and on top of that make them audibly laugh?”

• Khan performing at a backyard comedy show in August 2020. Photos courtesy of Khan.
• 

Armed with a notebook full of jokes he cringes at now, Khan performed at UMBC a few more times during his senior year. He kept going after that, making inroads into the DC comedy scene, maturing his content and honing his stage presence, filming his own special, performing shows almost every night while pursuing his day job as an elementary/middle school psychologist in Baltimore City. Fast forward 10 years, and COVID-19 hit comedy like so many other arts and industries. 

“Now with COVID, everyone is having to take steps back,” says Khan. “If you used to sell out theaters, well, when is anyone going to pack a theater again? So now you’re going into comedy clubs. And the people headlining comedy clubs are getting pushed down to the next level. And it just keeps going.”

“I’m so thankful I have a career—my immigrant parents were right,” Khan laughs, “dreams are stupid. You gotta get a government job with benefits and a pension.” 

In August, Khan was able to return to the stage, in a backyard show following pandemic protocols. “People are so hungry for entertainment and there’s so much going on in the world right now, says Khan. “We were pushing the line and people were loving it. It was so fun.”

“You can tell people just want to feel some sense of community and a comedy show offers you that community because you’re all laughing at the same thing. And you can leave and talk about the show—sharing the experience. It will be one of those shows we’ll look back on and be like, ‘oh remember when we had to do that during COVID?’”
— Randianne Leyshon ’09

Chocopies for world peace 

In an era where simply eating inside a restaurant is considered risky behavior, there was no way an art installation that invites thousands of guests to share in consuming a huge pile of South Korean snack cakes could go on as planned.

Thus, Mina Cheon’s Eat Chocopie Together project, which was shown physically at the Busan Biennale 2018 in South Korea and had been slated to open at the Lincoln Center in June 2020, had to be postponed. But Cheon, M.F.A. ’02, imaging and digital arts, and her collaborators knew that, as the pandemic raged on around the world, the installation’s themes of love, peace, and unity were more relevant than ever.

Cheon shows a map of North and South Korea, where people in both countries participated in the art project. Photo courtesy of Cheon.

To safely bring the project into the age of COVID-19, Cheon created a website, EatChocopieTogether.com, that allows friends to email one another digital versions of the marshmallow-filled treat. The chocopies are represented by graphics modeled after real chocopie wrappers but newly designed by the artist and emblazoned with one of five words: love, peace, share, eat, or unite. The recipient can “eat” the snack by clicking the graphic, and each chocopie sent and received contributes $2 to the Korean American Community Foundation COVID-19 Action Fund. 

“It’s an extended version of the original. It’s taking all the inspiration, the sentiment, the spirit of Eat Chocopie Together, but going virtual allowed us to explore the different packaging with the multiple themes” and to fundraise, Cheon says. As of September, the project reached its $5,000 goal.

The original meaning of the installation lies in the history of the chocopie; the confection is incredibly popular in both South Korea and North Korea, despite being banned in the latter country. Sharing chocopies is “meant to bring awareness of the two Koreas working towards peace and unification,” according to a press release published by Asia Society Triennal. 

Cheon stands in front of 100,000 chocopies at a 2018 exhibit in South Korea. Photo courtesy of Cheon.

The virtual version of the project emphasizes an even more global message, according to Cheon. “We are socially distanced and separated, but we can still connect,” she says. “That was such a big, empowering idea, that we could still heal through our virtual connection.”
— Johanna Alonso ’20

Art by appointment

Bonnie Crawford describes looking at art like a religious experience. So when COVID-19 interrupted her life, she realized that what she missed most was experiencing art with her friends. Over the course of a month, Crawford, M.F.A. ’08, imaging and digital arts, invited people by appointment to view her work of dental floss weavings in the shed in her backyard. 

“There’s a unique mindset when someone is looking at art,” says Crawford, who didn’t want people to lose out on that opportunity during the various stages of lockdown.

Bonnie Crawford’s dental floss weavings ranged in size from a quilt to a pocket
square. She displayed the art in her emptied out shed. Photo courtesy of Crawford.

Crawford was worried at the beginning of the pandemic that she would possibly never make art again; she was finding it meaningless. Her weavings had usually been a way for her to channel creative energy, so she reinvisioned how to share her work with others which gave her renewed purpose.

Crawford’s dental floss weavings grew from the work she does on her Instagram feed, @brushhouse, where she shares pictures of her family brushing their teeth, sometimes including a guest appearance from a friend. The weavings extended from her desire to do more formal work. They range from small enough to fit in a wallet to a tall floss weaving that hangs like a tapestry. 

“I would go to my studio until I had to use the bathroom,” Crawford laughs. This meant driving across the city to go at home, wanting to err on the side of caution in the face of a novel virus. In this way, Crawford slowly made progress on her largest dental floss weaving. When she was finished, she asked her sons and boyfriend to clear out their things from the shed and then got to installing.

The exhibition was up for about a month, available for viewing on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Using an app to schedule appointment slots, in total 90 people came to see her work. “I hoped that it fulfilled that spiritual need for others like it did for me,” she says. 
— Imani Spence ’16

All the world’s a digital stage

Like most things that cannot be held in person due to the coronavirus pandemic, theater has found its virtual home on Zoom.

These digital performances can be quite similar to the existing practice of staged readings, in which actors deliver their lines with little to no sets or costumes, often while sitting. But to tell some uniquely 2020 stories, some actors, playwrights, and directors have taken this medium to a new level.

Among them is Jurdan “JC” Payne ’21, theatre, who has spent the past few months performing in virtual plays featuring casts located throughout the country. Most recently, in a ten-minute play called High, Low, Uh-Oh, Payne is one of two characters on a video chat. He calls to wish a friend happy birthday, unable to celebrate in person due to COVID-19. 

Payne looks forward to the return to a real stage, but is making most of the virtual options during the pandemic. Photo courtesy of Payne.

It was the first time Payne had ever used his own house as a set and his own possessions—ketchup mixed with water to simulate blood and a sock puppet through which he sang “Happy birthday,” for example—as props. Most of the props weren’t listed in the script; instead, Payne used whatever he had laying around the house to supplement the existing material.

(And yes, that does mean he already owned a sock puppet with googly eyes).

“It was kind of new territory for me,” he says. “It’s different from being on stage, but also really different from filming a short film or a commercial.”

Pre-pandemic stage photo courtesy of Payne.

Another element of working in theater that has changed in recent months are auditions, says Payne. Whereas actors were once expected to dedicate 8- to 10-hour-long days to auditioning, the pandemic has solidified the fact that virtual auditions can be just as effective and informative as in-person ones, signaling a welcome shift from the traditional long audition days. 

“I hope that eventually theaters will adopt that practice moving forward,” Payne says. Still, he notes that a self-tape, as they’re called in the industry, can be challenging because it requires the auditioner to act as lightning designer, cinematographer, and director, all while trying to perform.

“It’s like learning a new language,” he says.
— Johanna Alonso ’20

Community of poets

Calista Ogburn ’21, health administration and policy, began writing poetry as a way to orient herself in a new environment. As a high school sophomore in Seoul, South Korea—after moving from Vietnam—Ogburn was looking for community so she joined a public speaking club that introduced her to speech tournaments and poetry readings. 

At UMBC, Ogburn has continued to use poetry as a means of making a home for herself. She credits Lia Purpura, writer in residence at UMBC, with helping her reimagine her poetry and her process as a writer. Ogburn, who is the communications director for the Student Government Association, also connected with other students in the Retriever Poets, a student group that encourages poetry through open mics and workshops. Ogburn’s first book of poetry, a splash of yellow, edited by fellow Retriever Morgan Mullings, media and communications studies, was published just for Ogburn and her friends; a project to prove to herself what she could accomplish. 

Ogburn poses with her books of poetry. Photo from calista-ogburn.com.

Ogburn’s second book of poetry was for a broader audience. Written in the beginning stages of COVID-19, this is it addresses racism towards Asian Americans, on personal and institutional levels as misunderstandings about the virus have influenced people. As a senior health administration and policy major watching a public health and political crisis, she felt called to action.

“My hope,” Ogburn shares, “is that these poems can touch those who are feeling loss, loneliness, or the combined grief and rage of experiencing racism.”

Promotional book photo courtesy of Ogburn.

this is it was a group effort, says Ogburn, praising Mullings, who also edited this volume. Support from other Retriever Poets helped push Ogburn to truly confront the emotions that she was feeling, and gave confidence to her voice. Since her time in South Korea,Ogburn realizes that she’s “always had a community of poets.”
— Imani Spence ’16

Meant to be connected

To counter her anxiety in the time of COVID, Jill Fannon, M.F.A. ’11, imaging and digital arts, decided to photograph people who are responding to the pandemic directly—healthcare workers. Her collection, Care in the Garden, features these essential workers in quiet intimate moments outside of the hospital. 

“We’re meant to be connected and we affect each other, deeply,” says Fannon, who doesn’t see this project about the art of photography as much as about capturing a moment. She has found herself asking “What will we want to know about COVID-19 50 years from now?”

When Fannon began her project in April 2020, many people didn’t expect that the country would still be facing a pandemic half a year later. Her work, Fannon says, has kept her from experiencing what many people are calling “quarantine fatigue.” 

It’s been a special experience, Fannon shares, for her to meet these medical professionals in these intimate moments. While most people are working from home, healthcare workers are forced to do everything possible to keep their work from coming home with them, mentally and physically. For these healthcare workers, concerned about transmission to their families, this has transformed their spaces drastically. One of the subjects of the photo series described to Fannon how she would take all her clothes off outside her home, throw them in the laundry, and shower before touching her family.

Photography has always been a way Fannon expresses herself and finds joy, but in this moment, she wanted to use them for the greater good—showing the humanity of essential personnel even hidden behind their PPE. The contrast between their face shields, scrubs, and the lush scenery tells a powerful story about how people are finding stillness and peace during a health crisis. 
— Imani Spence ’16

*****
Header image by Jill Fannon, M.F.A. ’11.

The plan began percolating in early 2017, when Gib Mason ’95, economics, presented a challenge to his Innovation, Creative Problem-Solving, and the Socialpreneur class: create a way to better connect UMBC to the community surrounding it. 

Two and half years and a lot of lattes later, in fall 2019, OCA Mocha opened its doors on East Drive in neighboring Arbutus. What started as an empty shell full of potential became a warm, welcoming student-run space with a coffee bar, community meeting room, entertainment stage, and gallery wall featuring works by local artists. 

As students, Michael Berardi ’19, media and communication studies, and Deep Patel ’19, biological sciences and financial economics, were in the class that created the concept; as alumni, Patel is a co-owner of the coffee shop, and Berardi is the general manager. 

Since running with the idea born in Mason’s class, the OCA Mocha team has learned firsthand about planning, construction, relationship-building, and the ups and downs of starting a business from scratch. And the learning didn’t stop when OCA Mocha opened its doors; in addition to the financial and organizational aspects of making the project a reality, Patel says he has learned “how to work with a team to accomplish a goal.” Berardi adds that he is now “more comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity” and has learned “the power of positivity—people notice it and want to be part of it.”

In their opening months, the place buzzed with activity from morning to night, with students studying, groups playing board games, impromptu meetings in the booths, friends and families gathering for coffee and conversation, and people running into old friends—or making new ones—over the signature OCA Mocha or frozen hot chocolate. 

And even after temporarily closing its physical location due to COVID-19, the OCA Mocha team has continued its community-focused work. A virtual open mic night drew ten performers and more than 600 views on social media. In partnership with the UMBC Office of Sustainability, the team took a planned OCA Mocha Kids Club event online with video tutorials on how to make Earth Day–themed crafts from on-hand items otherwise destined for the landfill. 

Building on OCA Mocha’s existing partnership with Retriever Essentials, UMBC’s food pantry, the team offered a one-time no-cost lunch delivery to local kids in need. As a result, Patel and Berardi made and delivered 35 lunches and Kids Club activity packs. 

Berardi said it was eye-opening to see how many people, including in his own neighborhood, needed help. A mom posted her thanks on social media, saying this gesture “brought so much joy” to her three kids. The team continues to partner with Retriever Essentials to serve UMBC’s food insecure community. 

Bettina Tebo, president of the Greater Arbutus Business Association, is one of the project’s earliest supporters. At the grand opening, she called OCA Mocha “ just the beginning of the amazing things that can happen from this relationship…and from the connections that we’re building.” 

Along East Drive, other businesses noticed an uptick in foot traffic after OCA Mocha opened. A new bus route from campus to East Drive certainly helped. Sheena Herron, owner of Finders Keepers Thrift Store and Consignment Store, says, “We’ve gained so many new and loyal customers…simply because they were at OCA Mocha and noticed we were next door.“ 

When OCA Mocha eventually reopens, Berardi and Patel look forward to the familiar buzz of activity. They already have plans to expand the coffee shop’s menu and live entertainment offerings, enhance their community-focused programming, and “serve the community in ways we haven’t even thought of yet.” 

— Mary Ann Richmond ’93

Update: OCA Mocha is now open for curbside pick-up and delivery.

*****

Header image by Marlayna Demond ’11.