An Afternoon in Annapolis

I missed Spanish class today as part of a delegation of UMBC students that went to a rally outside the joint legislation building in Annapolis. Along with students from a diverse sampling of Maryland's higher education institutions, we were there in support of the creation of a dedicated funding source for higher education.

There were eight UMBC students there, along with our president, Freeman Hrabowski and some members of his staff. I got to meet him for the first time which was pretty cool. I was worried eight people Josh was able to muster for this event would pale in comparison to the two buses of students College Park was bragging they were bringing, but as it turns out they barely filled one - ha! Josh also did a nice job dropping in the fact that we had a better voter turnout than they did in a conversation with their SGA President. Go UMBC!

Governor O'Malley and Dr. Hrabowski gave speeches along with a host of others, including some of the dignitaries that were at the governor's visit (a link to the story on my personal blog, as I realized I never put anything about that on this space). Anne got a bunch of excellent pictures so we might be seeing a few of those in the next Retriever Weekly. There are also some pictures available on the governor's website, but they can be a bit of a pain to browse as you have to go through an agreement to see the larger versions.

In between the rally and the start of the actual testimonies before the joint committee, various news crews were circulating to get material. Steve made out pretty well, scoring an interview for a College Park-based station as well as a radio spot on WBAL. Way to go Steve! There's also a picture of our group featured as part of an article in the Baltimore Sun. I know it's a lot of bragging but I'm really proud of UMBC for getting ourselves out there and trying to make a difference in our state.

All kinds of lobbyists were there to speak to the join committee so a lot of things had to be cut short to fit it all in, but I think Josh Michael did an excellent job in his testimony in the time that he had. He even got in a bit about how much students have to pay for textbooks, which makes me happy as that is an issue I had raised during the governor's visit. During the College Park SGA President's testimony the Chairman asked the students in the audience to stand, and all of us from UMBC were right smack in the middle with UMBC plastered over our shirts - once again, go UMBC!

There's something I find quite thrilling about taking a risk and putting yourself out there in the hopes of making a difference in something that is much bigger than yourself. A lot of people will tell you that you can't really change anything but it is deeper than that. It's not about one person lost in the middle of the world trying to do something all by him or herself. It's about connecting with others who share your vision, building bridges between yourself and others, and using the resources you do have at your disposal as best you can.