UMBC Suits You: Clothing Closet

“Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.” – Satchel Paige

“Don’t try so hard to fit in, and certainly don’t try so hard to be different…just try hard to be you.” — Zendaya

It seems like it was just yesterday.  Way back in May of 2021, we were celebrating commencement virtually while ending a school year like no other.  It felt like things were finally looking up.  Immunity was growing steadily through vaccination and recovery.  We were able to enjoy outside, and some places even inside, without the masks that became sources of expression even as they remained tools of protection.  Live music, movies in theaters, sitting down inside of a restaurant. We were living the dream.  The fall was expected to be even better.   And then… Delta and Lambda went from variables to variants, wildfires raged, hurricane winds blew, refugees sought asylum, Black Lives still don’t seem to matter enough, old white men decided that they are better stewards of a woman’s body than she is, and the world seemed to be in just a little bit more disarray than before.  All the while, August raced towards us along with its imminent return to a campus many of us hadn’t seen in over a year, if ever.  Whether you were ready with arms wide open or waiting with eyes closed and hands out, the time has come. You made it. You are here. So LET’S GO…

“You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.” – Les Brown

Welcome back!  Welcome back to campus, to class, to clubs, to outside of whatever bubble you sought safe harbor in for the last year or more.  You may not feel particularly welcome given all the rules and policies, but you are.  We are excited to move towards our collective new normal, even if it is with some trepidation.  The last 18 months have been a LOT.  It seems so much longer and a lot of it has blurred together.  We talk about the coming “new normal” but let’s be honest, it is hard to think about our normal being new when your reality feels old and tired and worn out.  You’re not alone.  I’m not a fan of thinking about how your blues ain’t like mine and as a general rule I don’t accept invitations to pity parties.  But I will tell you that this has been hard for us all one way or another.  We are all changed, for better or worse or both, as we live through the Rona.   As you emerge from your quarantine chrysalis, give yourself grace.  Don’t get so bogged down in the fact that your wings are yellow with black polka dots instead of gold like you wanted, or the purple your people insisted was just the right shade, or green like so-and-so’s that you ignore the fact that you have WINGS.  Whether you crushed it and finished every task you set out for yourself and then some, or met some goals and missed some others, or couldn’t even get to making a plan, it is all OK.  You are OK. Even if OK isn’t great.  OK is still in the game, and that means you can still win.  So long as we get to moving towards good then better then best, the YOU version.  Yes, it will take work, but anything worth having is worth working for and we all have work to do.  Start with something, anything and get better at it.  If you’re not sure where to start, that is where we come in.  There are a plethora of offices and people here to support you and to help you figure out how to start and finish.  We are here to help you be ready for whatever comes your way, opportunities or challenges, triumph or disaster. 

“A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you’re in and take advantage of it.” – Nikki Giovanni

"Let go of who you are today to become who you want to be." --Paloma Greer

“You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.” – Octavia E. Butler

What are we asking you to do?

1.     Start STRONG.  The best way to set up a great semester is to start with intention and good practices.  Go to office hours once/week for every class. Make a calendar, put EVERYTHING on it and stick to it, even if you have to change it to make it work.

2.     Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. A particularly intuitive person dropped this jewel on me, but I think it’s really for you.  I had a friend who never seemed to study back in college.  When I asked how, it was simple, they studied every time they did homework, copied notes, or read in the textbook. What they needed to know was already stored in their brain, so no need to try to cram it in at the last minute.

3.     Take care of YOU.  The world has reopened, but that doesn’t mean it feels or is safe.  As you move, take care of your whole self in real and tangible ways.  If you need help, get help.  If you need help finding the help, just say something, we are here for you.

4.     Take care of Business.  You are here to get your degree.  Life requires balance for sure but keep the main thing the main thing.  You have persevered through pandemic, campus closure, zoom, all of it.  Keep that same energy and get this done.  The world needs to see the brilliance you have to offer.

One final note.  Good leaders change the function or maybe even the culture of an institution.  Great leaders change an institution’s nature.  Great leaders have a way of evoking the best from those around them and infusing that and the best of themselves into the very fabric of the organization to make the whole much more than the sum of its parts.  For the last 35 years, UMBC has had such a leader, mentor, scholar, and champion in Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III.  I am happy for Dr. and Mrs. Hrabowski as THEY (don’t be confused, it is most definitely a team effort) have earned their ticket on the ride off into the sunset of their retirement.  At the same time, I am a bit sad for the rest of us, UMBC will not be the same without that booming voice and big laugh stopping students, faculty, and staff alike on campus.  The food he stayed up all night cooking.  The energy and inspiration he exuded every time he stopped to genuinely ask a student how they are doing and to offer support in whatever capacity he could.  I am sure that the next president will be great, and that UMBC as an institution will continue to thrive and grow in grit and greatness because success is never final.  But there will only be one Doc and we are a better campus community because he chose to spend his career with us.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who so powerfully inspires excellence, and that’s exactly what his legacy is — a commitment to inclusive excellence that lives on in UMBC, its students, faculty, staff and alumni.” – Dr. Jay Perman, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” – Lao Tzu

FOCUS,

FOCUS,

FOCUS…

Now go be great.

Congratulations to all our First-Generation College Student Graduates!
In honor of May graduation, we'd like to introduce a few of our first-gen grads, in their own words:

 

“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” – George Washington Carver

In 1920, my great grandmother, Viola T. Bishop, graduated from Howard University.  She would go on to teach mathematics and serve as a librarian for almost 50 years, start and run businesses, and raise a family in Rich Square, NC. 101 years later, her great great granddaughter graduated from Howard University with highest honors.  I had the blessing of Granny living with us for a lot of my formative years.  I didn’t fully understand the wisdom she was trying to lay down at the time; I was a kid.  What I have come to understand is that for generations education has been the north star for my family.  My daughter is a fifth-generation college graduate.  As she contemplates how she will make her mark; I can’t help but to think about what faces you all as you leave the sanctity of certainty embedded in UMBC and embodied by being in college.

“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” – Kofi Annan

"Activate the abilities you already have and achieve your mission." – Dr. Ingryd Lorenzana

CONGRATULATIONS!  You have accomplished something real and tangible and hard.  YOU should be proud of yourself.  I don’t care if you graduated summa cum laude or thank the good lordy; if it took you 2 years or 10, if you come from a family where college degrees are expected, or from a family where you are the first to even try to go to college, let alone complete it. You. Have. Graduated!  Take a breath, crack a smile, bathe in this moment of revelry, make time to celebrate what you’ve earned. When you’re a college student, lots of answers are easy, even if the living is hard.  You know what you’re doing with your days and nights, really with your life.  Graduation is the completion of that step in your journey.  Everyone talks about how proud they are of you.  Family and friends get to brag about you.  People from your past suddenly never doubted that you had it in you and that you were going to be something.  But no one really tells you what that something is… We ask little kids what they want to be when they grow up and smile at the answers.  We ask college graduates to be grown up and expect that what you’re going to do is no longer a question.  For some of you it isn’t.  You are on the path that has been laid out and are making progress towards your goals.  Some of you know what you’re doing next but are doing it reflexively or aren’t quite sure how it’s going to turn out.  Some of you have no idea what to do next.  It is all OK.  You don’t have to know right now.  You don’t have to know next week, or month, or year.  But you do have to think about it and maybe work on it.  You don’t have to have THE plan, but you do have to have A plan.  Your commencement will be strange, and the times are even stranger.  As you embark on your next phase, be it in graduate or professional school, a postbacc program, a gap year to figure some things out, the start of your career, or a job to pay your bills, go forth knowing that you are already your ancestors’ wildest dreams. Don’t just think about what you want to do for a living, think about what you want to live to do.  Shift from what you want to be to who you want to become.  You are enough and know enough and have enough, whether you know it or not.  You belong where you want to go, don’t let anyone or anything tell you any different.

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." — Arthur Ashe

“Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential.” – Kerry Washington

Nine years ago, I lost a friend and mentor, and our campus lost a pillar. More importantly four sons lost their father, and a wonderful wife and mother lost her husband. LaMont Toliver was a giant. His legacy is imprinted on the very fabric of UMBC. I think about him often. And I smile when in my mind’s eye I still hear him say "BLACK MAN" with his booming voice and trademark smile every time I walked into his office. There are countless Toliverisms, my personal favorite is the one I want to share with you. "Every day you have to fight the urge to be average." The urge is a daunting foe because average is easy, especially for you with all your gifts. It's hard because the urge is strong, and your fight is yours alone. But you can win. You win by doing something every day to be your best. You win by setting goals and working hard to achieve them. You win by staring your fear dead in its eyes, your fear of failing, of succeeding, of working, of sacrificing, of growing up, of growing old, of what's next, of where you were, of where you’re going, of the unknown. Whatever you fear, you win by deciding to press on anyway. The way you work may be good enough for where you are now but may not be for where you want to go.  So, get better, constantly, consistently, and intentionally.

"There is no passion to be found in playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." — Nelson Mandela

“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” ― Bruce Lee

As you post your pictures in your cap and gown, celebrate with loved ones, watch the commencement ceremony, and wish each other well, remember that you did this.  You had help, you had support, you had haters and motivators, you worked hard.  You did this.  Whatever life has in store, rest assured, that you can do that too. 

Laugh a LOT

Love freely

Take some chances

Fight to change something

Thank those who’ve helped you

Find community for yourself

Be community for someone else

Stretch yourself

Live fully

You get one shot at life, make the most of it.

We are so proud of you!  We cannot wait to see the amazing things that you will do.

Now go be great!

“Don’t ever think that just because you do things differently, you’re wrong.”― Gail Tsukiyama

"Go make your big, beautiful dent, and as you do so come down on the side of boldness. If you err, may it be for too much audacity, and not too little. For you really are enough. You have untold strengths and resources inside. You have your glorious self."— Sue Monk Kidd

Congratulations to all our First-Generation College Student Graduates!
In honor of May graduation, we'd like to introduce a few of our first-gen grads, in their own words: