Pete Eibner is enjoying his first year as the boys’ soccer coach at Perry Hall. From the full article in PressBox:

The Gators are 6-5 heading into the final week of the regular season, and Eibner could not be happier. Graduation took is toll on Perry Hall, which won the Baltimore County championship last year under Skelton with a 15-3 record, and reached the Class 4A state finals two of the last four years.

“It’s a very fertile soccer area,” Eibner said. “A lot of these kids have very bright futures. The freshmen who have come in with the eighth graders who are coming in next year want to be a part of what’s been happening here.”

Three former Gators are actually now playing for Eibner’s former team, the UMBC Retrievers: goalkeeper Phil Saunders, who played on the Baltimore Bays Under-19 national championship team this summer, forward-midfielder Joe Glos and fullback/midfielder Nick Liberto.

Read the full story in PressBox.

Read more about UMBC alumni at Retriever Net, UMBC’s alumni online community.

America celebrated its first Food Day on October 24. Organized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the grassroots mobilization encouraged the nation to not only eat healthy food grown in a sustainable and humane way, but to also advocate for smarter food policies. Food activists including nutritionist Marion Nestle, Food Network host Ellie Krieger and Morgan "Supersize Me" Spurlock staged an Eat Real "Eat In" in New York City's Times Square. More than 30 governors and mayors have proclaimed October 24 as Food Day. Slow Food USA, Unite Here, Change.org, Whole Foods Market, Dole Food Company and the Cooking Channel partnered in support of the event. In total, at least 2,000 events in 50 states marked the inaugural celebration.

Not surprisingly, with the current growth of sustainable agriculture curriculum and campus-supported farms and gardens, higher education advocacy played a big role in Food Day. The campus-based Real Food Challenge launched its GET REAL! Campaign on Food Day, an effort to get every school in the nation to sign its "Real Food Campus Commitment." The commitment will work to ensure healthy food, fair working conditions, transparency and a $1 billion dollar shift of existing campus food budgets to fair, local and sustainable farms and food businesses. Student groups at 216 campuses led the charge, asking their campuses for healthier and sustainable foods.

In addition to welcoming the Real Food Challenge to campus, institutions celebrated Food Day with a variety of educational and advocacy events. A look at the #FoodDay Twitter feed and other sources reveals the following highlights:

• Squash painting and zucchini races at Edmonds Community College

• Real Food Challenge Campus Everett Community College hosts movie screening

• California State University, Sacramento hosts California Board of Food and Agriculture president as a Food Day keynote speaker

• Slow Food Ithaca College petitions for local dining hall food

• The University of California, San Francisco and the Hastings School of Law host a conference on food deserts and the food served in prisons

• Arizona State University students petition for healthier campus food

• Unity College students prep seed garlic

• Washington State University students and volunteers cook a “real food” dinner at local transition house Sojourners’ Alliance

• Rhodes College issues students their own set of re-useable "to go" dining containers

• The University of California, Berkeley hosts “Eat Real, Eat Whole Grains” picnic

• Antioch University hosts "Food Justice and Our Local Food System" panel

Check out FoodDay.org's free recipe booklet for "real food" inspiration, featuring chefs including Mario Batali, Rick Bayless and Emeril Lagasse.

For great photos, visit Grist's Food Day Slideshow.

Deciding to support student scholarships is often a very personal thing. For some, it represents a certain pay-it-forward sort of attitude that comes with the experience of once being a scholarship recipient. For others in the know, it is a realization that financial limits place seemingly impossible burdens upon some students – and that without support, many of those students will not graduate. Read more about scholarship need.

Anita Jackson ’80, health science and policy, a past UMBC Alumni Board president, understands both sides of it. As a student, she struggled to pay for school; as an alumni leader, she has seen the need in current generations. That’s why she makes student scholarships a priority today.  Read more about Anita’s gift.

Jackson comes back to UMBC once a year to have lunch with students who benefit from her scholarship. Above, she and junior media and communications major Nia Hampton (left), the 2010-2011 and the 2011-2012 Anita Maddox Jackson and Everett Jackson Scholar, enjoy a photo together.  Jackson’s other scholar, senior dance major Arnesha Reives, was unable to attend.

Erick Sahler ’89 brings color and brightness to his work as a serigraph artist. Most recently, he has brought new life to Salisbury University’s Holloway Hall. From an article at delmarvanow.com:

The iconic facade of Holloway Hall is the subject of a limited-edition silkscreen print by serigraph artist Erick Sahler of Salisbury.

The 11-color image features the main entrance of the historic building — one of its doors invitingly open — surrounded by lush trees, colorful flowers and a bright blue sky.

Read the full article on delmarvanow.com.

Read more about UMBC alumni at Retriever Net, UMBC’s alumni online community.