By Nicole Chan
This week’s highlights, all in one place.
UMD reaches all-time high in U.S. News rankings
By Elizabeth Faragi
On Sep. 23, the University of Maryland reached a historic high in the U.S. News & World Report rankings list. Since 2020, UMD has moved up 22 spots regarding the ranking of the best public universities in the nation, hitting No. 16 on the list.
UMD has also been placed at No. 42 among the best national universities this year.
Many students at this university feel a sense of pride about the increase in rankings.
“It gives me a sense of confidence in the weight that my degree from the University of Maryland will hold after graduating,” senior Landon Stone, a classical trumpet performance and jazz studies major, said.
The university now has a total of 69 top-25 rankings, according to a university news release. The business, engineering and computer science programs all rank in the top 25 nationally.
“We should all be proud to be part of a university that is celebrated for our academic excellence, bold research enterprise and unwavering commitment to student success,” Pines wrote on Sept. 23 in his campus-wide email.
Love Island stars welcomed to College Park
By Lena LaJoy
“Love Island” stars Austin Shepard and Nic Vansteenberghe arrived at local College Park businesses to meet fans at the University of Maryland.
On Sept. 25, Shepard appeared at Cornerstone Loft and Grill, where he bartended upstairs before making his way behind the DJ booths.
On Oct. 1, Vansteenberghe appeared at Terrapin’s Turf, surprising students by bringing out his former “Love Island” castmate Olandria Carthen, with whom he is in a romantic relationship.
The popular reality television show “Love Island” features young, attractive singles who all hope to find love. By the end of this past season, full of romance, competition, heartbreak and surprise, some couples left together while others left alone, making Vansteenberghe and Carthen one of the couples to not leave single.
“I like Love Island because it deals with the humanity of people,” Jeffrey Karpelso, a sophomore applied math and economics major, said. “You know these people are their rawest most emotional selves, they make themselves vulnerable trying to find love.”