By Ela Jalil

Taking a selfie with President Pines and getting a turtle pin. Running through the ODK fountain. Dancing under the Maryland flag in the student section of games. All of these are treasured traditions at the University of Maryland, but one that sticks in the minds of students during finals season is leaving sacrifices to Testudo, the beloved UMD mascot. 

The Graduate Student Government, Student Government Association, Residence Hall Association and the Student Alumni Leadership Council came together to create a new tradition for UMD students that helps the community. 

“We think that this is a way for people to get back good luck but also giving back to the community at the same time, since there are about 27% of our campus students being [food] insecure in some way,” RHA president Erika Holdren said. “So we want to kind of add on to the current tradition, in a sense.”

From Dec. 12 to Dec 19, these student organizations were tabling outside of Mckeldin Library to accept any non-perishable items that students had to offer. All of the proceeds were then donated to the Campus Pantry, an on campus organization that distributes food to students, faculty and staff experiencing food insecurity. 

“The Campus Pantry is a big food pantry on campus near South Campus dining hall, and they use all of the money that people have donated, because people have donated money as well, to do upkeep on their current operations and buy in bulk from companies that provide food and support their mission,” said Evren Yucekus-Kissane, the deputy chief of staff of the UMD SGA. 

“Their mission and what they do is that they give food to students and faculty and anyone who needs it.”

Over the week, the goal of 400 donated goods was met. Students from each organization volunteered to accept the offerings in person, through the cold, rain and stressful finals season.  

“Part of what SALC does is related to traditions on campus, and so obviously giving offerings to Testudo is a big tradition, and so our event is trying to reshape that and bring a service element to it,” SGA executive vice president and SALC exec member Meghana Kotraiah said.  

Unlike previous years where Testudo has had to be blocked off, the offerings were a lot more manageable this semester, something that Yucekus-Kissane believes might be associated with the tabling efforts. UMD has been a Do Good Campus since 2016, which focuses on taking action to better the future, something that these student organizations hope this initiative will do. 

“Students really come together during finals time because it’s stressful, and our outlet for that is our offerings to Testudo – it gives us good luck,” Yucekus-Kissane said.

By being here and tabling for these donations we’re getting offerings of our own from really awesome students that are not only willing to give themselves some good luck, but give other students and faculty good fortune.”

Featured Image: Testudo is a source of good luck for students- something that student organizations on campus are hoping translates into giving back. Photo courtesy of @univofmaryland on Instagram