Enter The UMBC Financial Literacy Enthusiast Contest by March 22nd:

1st Prize – $250 campus card deposit
2nd prize – $100 campus card deposit

Winners will be announced during Money Smart Week in April!

Click on the link to learn more about this great opportunity!

To Our Campus Community:

The Retriever Essentials food pantry is open this week during the following hours for your shopping convenience before spring break: 

Tuesday 4 to 6

Thursday 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Friday 11 to 1

Please visit us at Sherman 205, and please pass the word to others who may be in need of food and personal care items. Additionally, you can also stop at our food zones to pick up pre-made food bags. 

The Retriever Essentials Team

Are you interested in having more presentation opportunities? Here's your chance...

Two years ago, the Library created the “Spotlight! Guest Instructor Workshop” series. This series is where the Library invites members of the UMBC community to host a single lecture/talk during the academic year. The talk is held in the Library from 12-1pm.

We think this would be a great opportunity for graduate students, particularly those that will graduate soon, to present their content as a practice version for their defense presentation. Research can be completed or in progress. 

The one hour long sessions are held in the Library throughout the academic year during free hour (MWF from 12-1pm) on a date to be determined. The Library will take care of scheduling and promoting the presentations.

If you are interested in presenting your research please complete the following Spotlight Presentation Proposal formhttps://forms.gle/QsmCReTHdqprghUt9

Here is a guest instructor's event hosted by our UMBC Library:

https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/library/events/81679

• be in good academic standing;
• provide a letter of support from the Chair of the Dissertation Committee that
  1. describes the state of the dissertation and the probable impact of receipt of the Fellowship on the progress toward     completion; and,
  2. verifies that no UMBC-administered financial support is available for the student;
• provide, if employed outside the university, written evidence from the student’s employer indicating the employer’s willingness to reduce job time and duties in order for the student to participate in the Fellowship;
• submit a dissertation abstract of no more than two pages in length; and
• submit a 1-2 page management plan signed by the Chair of the Dissertation Committee describing the status of the dissertation work, the steps required to complete the work, and the feasible timeline for completion; and
• Identify, if a prior recipient of a Dissertation Fellowship, the prior term (e.g., Spring 2017) in which the Fellowship was received.

Fehintola Elizabeth Bright-Awonuga is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Health Administration and Public Policy on the Health Policy Track with a minor in Africana Studies. She has been serving on Retriever Essentials Student Leadership Board since September 2019 and volunteering for the Retriever Essentials for two years, since September 2018.
 
Through the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Shriver Center’s Living Learning Community - the Shriver LLC - where our main focus is community service, I became a Retriever Essentials Ambassador Volunteer, so far, for two years. Additionally, I am a second-year peer mentor and am on the Retriever Essentials Student Leadership Board. I collect and inventory donations and pack and deliver donation bags to Food Zones around campus. I act as a liaison that fosters communication between the students, faculty, and staff members who benefit from our organization and my director, maintain our social media pages, and help with tabling events promoting awareness of our organization and food insecurity on college campuses.
Coming into this applied experience, last school year, I thought that it would only be in the position to do standard tasks. I didn’t expect to inwardly and outwardly reflect on my experience and apply to my everyday life. However, I did. And for that I am grateful. As a part of my reflection, I allowed myself to “step into someone else's shoes” to truly understand how I could use my position to positively impact them. I’ve also gained leadership, organizational, intercultural understanding, social awareness, career management, and digital technology skills.
I learned that there are other support systems on campus that offer emotional, physical, mental, and academic support to students. Additionally, I learned that behind-the-scenes work is as valid as on-the-field work. For example, working in the actual food pantry is just as valuable as working at tabling events in which on talks to students because everything creates an interconnected system of impactfulness.
Most shockingly, I came to the realization that if Retriever Essentials didn’t exist the faculty, staff, and students that we serve wouldn’t have this support system. In turn, this can result in poor performance, academically, socially, emotionally, mentally, and physically, and can eventually put this “at risk group” at risk of dropping out of college. “About half of students who started college do not finish,” said President Freeman Hrabowski in his 2018 Convocation Address. Food insecurity is a significant determining factor. For example, in the article Food Insecurities…. Community College Students it states that in a study, “8% of community college students with food insecurity planned to drop out entirely.” Why? Students who are food insecure “have poorer physical health, symptoms of depression and psychological stress”, says Colleges…. Feed Homeless Students article.
On a lighter note, my most memorable part of volunteering with Retriever Essentials over these past years was when we recently moved into our new pantry (located at Sherman 205). It was amazing. All of the volunteers came to move food items, boxes, clothes, toiletries, shelves, and etc. We moved from a big office space to a small closet space and now have upgraded to a classroom space. In the near future, we will be moving into an even bigger space on campus. I’ve seen the growth we’ve made as a program. I have had the privilege to experience this growth. From the triumphs to the tribulations and to the successes and struggles, we’ve persevered because we have a zeal to serve our community. I would tell young people, “only a life lived in the service to others is worth living.” There’s so much to gain from volunteering. It shouldn’t be seen as a chore but an opportunity to create change by pursuing the service they’re most passionate about and giving it their all.
At UMBC, and many other campuses, food insecurity is an issue that is unintentionally overlooked by many in the community, including us, the students. Luckily, we “have the opportunity to make a difference in the world”, once said President Freeman Hrabowski. I do not regret my decision of joining this team because I have seen first-hand the seed this organization has sown. The seed is continuing to sprout, grow, and blossom into something bigger than it once was. I have the privilege of impacting this growth. I hope one day you can too.

References:

The 2019 DI will take place June 7^th– 12^th on the University of Michigan campus. The Institute is funded by the NSF and hosted by University of Texas, Dallas and Virginia Tech. The primary goal is to address issues that prolong completion times for those at the dissertation proposal preparation and dissertation completion stages of the targeted population.

The FREE week-long event will focus on skills and strategies needed to successfully complete the dissertation process as well as provide networking opportunities to build connections for future collaborative career advancement. Institute participants will build new writing habits, work on their dissertation or dissertation proposal, and learn skills that will help them continue making progress when they return to their institutions. Travel up to $500 is reimbursed and housing is provided.

https://www.dissertationinstitute.com/