Courtney Coppersmith

Degree: B.S., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Minors: Philosophy and Emergency Health Services
Hometown: York, PA
Plans: Graduate degree in chemistry

“I still talk to professors I had in my freshman year, which I think is really cool and speaks to the fact that this really is a community among faculty, staff, and students.”

Courtney Coppersmith, ‘22, biochemistry and molecular biology, experienced UMBC as a welcoming community on her first visit, and she has devoted her time on campus to paying that welcoming spirit forward.

She is one of the top softball pitchers in the nation. She has set several university records through the championship-winning UMBC softball team, including for strikeouts in a single game. But behind the stardom, her early success and involvement in nearly a dozen campus and community organizations created pressures that felt overwhelming at times.

Coppersmith responded by writing an essay about her experiences with depression, which won the Jackie Robinson Breaking Barriers national essay contest. Soon, teammates and competitors were reaching out to her to say how her story had resonated with them and helped them recognize that they were not alone. 

Coppersmith has continued to support fellow UMBC student-athletes and the broader UMBC community, particularly through mental health and food security initiatives. She has also served as a chemistry tutor and active volunteer in Baltimore. 

Coppersmith looks forward to pursuing a graduate degree in chemistry. She aspires to help develop medications to fight cancer.

Learn more about Coppersmith’s experience and advocacy in a new feature story in The Baltimore Sun.

Story written by David Hoffman, Ph.D. ’13, language, literacy, and culture (LLC), director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, and Romy Hübler ’09, modern languages and linguistics, M.A. ’11, intercultural communication, Ph.D. ’15, LLC, assistant director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life.

Danylo Leshchyshyn

Degree: B.A., History and Political Science (certificate in Security Studies)
Hometown: Columbia, MD
Plans: M.A. in History, University of Toronto

“The most valuable part of my UMBC experience has been learning that I can succeed at what I do—not only that I can succeed academically, but that I can succeed in the social aspects that I struggled with in high school. I can build meaningful relationships. I can even be president of a club. I can do whatever I set my mind to.”

Danylo Leshchyshyn ‘22, history and political science, came to UMBC hoping to receive the support he would need to succeed. He found it in the form of friendly staff members with Student Disability Services, and in strong connections he formed with other students. He remembers “life changing conversations, which I will be forever grateful for” with friends in the Humanities Scholars Living Learning Community. He also found a path to involvement in campus life through a mythology-themed Dungeons and Dragons campaign organized by the Ancient Studies Council of Majors. 

Leshchyshyn quickly became a supportive community-builder in his own right. He helped revive UMBC’s chapter of Delta Alpha Pi, a national honor society for high-achieving students with disabilities. He also co-founded the Autism Spectrum Student Association and actively participated in several other organizations.

Leshchyshyn’s grandparents came to North America from Ukraine after WWII. He is a fluent Ukrainian speaker and still has relatives living in Ukraine.

In the months since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, he has connected with others at UMBC who have Ukrainian connections and spoken at a campus program, “Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Historical, Political, and Personal Perspectives.” He plans to pursue a master’s degree in history at the University of Toronto, focusing on Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

Story written by David Hoffman, Ph.D. ’13, language, literacy, and culture (LLC), director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, and Romy Hübler ’09, modern languages and linguistics, M.A. ’11, intercultural communication, Ph.D. ’15, LLC, assistant director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life.

Gabby Khan

Degree: B.S., Computer Science (Game Development track)
Hometown: Olney, MD
Plans: Computer scientist, T. Rowe Price

“I see how much drive and passion students have, and it helps me become a more driven and passionate person. So I really just value the people around me in the community who are striving to improve themselves, because it helps me improve as well.”

Gabby Khan ‘22 came to UMBC to study computer science and game development. What she found when she arrived was a warm, supportive community. “Everyone was welcoming and felt responsive, like humans,” she says. “People in administration who I’d call with questions were welcoming and friendly.” 

When she ran into challenges in her physics and calculus classes during her first year, Khan sought help from UMBC’s free tutoring resource, now known as the Academic Success Center. After a student mistook her for a tutor and a Center staff member overheard the conversation, she was offered a job. She eventually became a tutor mentor, helping other tutors build their skills. 

Khan approached her Academic Success Center work in the same way she eventually approached being a resident assistant for the Honors College Living Learning Community and a leader in the Honors College Council: as an opportunity to pay forward the kindness and support she received from other members of the UMBC community.

“I feel like whenever you give a sense of excitement or passion to people, they usually do reciprocate it,” she says. “Even if you don’t see it yourself, they’ll find ways to share it with other people.”

Soon after graduation she will join the computer science team at T. Rowe Price.

Story written by David Hoffman, Ph.D. ’13, language, literacy, and culture (LLC), director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, and Romy Hübler ’09, modern languages and linguistics, M.A. ’11, intercultural communication, Ph.D. ’15, LLC, assistant director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life.

Tess McRae

Degree: B.A., Individualized Study: Civic Renewal and Creative Expression
Hometown: Columbia, MD
Plans: Coordinator for Civic Design, UMBC’s Center for Democracy and Civic Life

“The lesson I have learned from STRiVE and from the Center for Democracy and Civic Life’s work, and from all of the people I’ve met at UMBC who have held up undistorted mirrors for me, is that I am worthy as my authentic self. That has radically altered everything I thought I knew about myself and the world, and has profoundly deepened my sense of community, connection, and purpose. And that clarity and sense of belonging are indescribably empowering and healing, even in moments of doubt.”

Tess McRae ‘22, individualized study, grew up hearing stories about her mother’s campus involvement as a UMBC student in the 1980s. She visited the campus several times as a teenager, and says “I was always entranced by how beautiful it was and how clearly I could imagine myself thriving here.” 

McRae spent a week at STRiVE, UMBC’s immersive leadership for social impact program, during her first year, and joined the Center for Democracy and Civic Life’s staff when it launched in 2018. For the next four years, she played a leading role in developing and leading the Center’s workshops and programs, weaving in her insights as an artist and as a person familiar with the kind of self-doubt that can inhibit participation in communities and social change projects. 

Along the way, she designed her own major in civic renewal and creative expression and produced the Co-Create UMBC virtual tour. And her paintings of UMBC spaces that have been co-created by students have appeared in exhibits both on campus and at the OCA Mocha coffee shop in nearby Arbutus.

McRae’s immediate post-graduation plan is to work professionally at the intersection of civic engagement and the arts. She aims to “continue co-creating an ethos of agency, self confidence, and communion felt deeply by people around the world” in ways that allow her to indulge and draw on her identity as a poet, visual artist, musician, and aspiring theater-maker.

Story by David Hoffman, Ph.D. ’13, language, literacy, and culture (LLC), director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, and Romy Hübler ’09, modern languages and linguistics, M.A. ’11, intercultural communication, Ph.D. ’15, LLC, assistant director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life.