To be completely candid, originally, I didn't feel that strongly about my choice to attend UMBC. I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and upon entering, I primarily viewed the institution in a mostly utilitarian way. I was a STEM major of color at a school that was well known for cultivating STEM majors of color. However, through my involvement and my interactions with people, I started to notice something that today, I can recognize was actually bizarre: People really cared about what they were doing, and they wanted to do it with care and justice. Of course, this didn't apply to everyone equally, but for many people I knew from biology to computer science to psychology to music, their education was more than just making the degree. They also wanted to make the world a better place with the skills and knowledge they were gaining.

Since graduating, I've come to appreciate this more. At the time, I took it as a given that this is the way people operate. I've since learned, both from my experience as well as having heard it from people around the country, that this is actually something particular to UMBC is many ways. As it was before, I still know people from UMBC in all types of fields. No matter where they are, I've seen them still involved in serious discussions - both inside and outside of their core work lives - about what is right and wrong, pushing for people to think and act in a way that is in touch with with their values while consistently reevaluating what those values are. I don't know if this is something that characterizes everyone's experience, but for me, beyond the curriculum and teaching, UMBC helped a lot of people developed into socially conscious citizens in ways that meshed with their own development as people. That, to me, is the most important thing I got from UMBC.