By Clare Roth
University of Maryland Dining Services hosted its annual Harvest Festival on Wednesday, in front of the South Campus and 251 North dining halls, to promote sustainability on campus, according to Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications for the Department of Dining Services Bart Hipple.
Students participated in a variety of activities. From pumpkin painting to cornhole to fun yet informative sustainability games. A multitude of organizations collaborated on the games, including the Department of Residence Life, local vendors and other on-campus groups to promote sustainability.
“Our goal with the Harvest Festival was to publicize many of our more sustainable initiatives, to let students know what we’re doing with respect to sustainability, to have a whole lot of fun with students and to give them something enjoyable to do in the fall semester,” Hipple said.
Many on-campus organizations, including Terps Recycle, the Campus Pantry, Terp to Terp and the Department of Transportation, set up a table to further educate students on sustainability.
Senior criminal justice and psychology major Laura Gelsomini has participated in the event multiple times throughout her four years on campus.
This year, she taught students about food waste prevention by having them play a game at the Terp to Terp table. Students were tasked with organizing different types of food into multiple locations inside a fridge to promote food longevity, Gelsomini said.
“I’ve always loved doing it. There’s a lot of good, sustainable programs that come through and table for us [the university],” Gelsomini said. “We work alongside everybody else to promote a more circular economy. Honestly, it’s a really good way just to get the fall vibes out and promote sustainability.”
Along with the tables promoting sustainability, there were activities, less aimed towards education, such as cornhole and pumpkin painting, for students to enjoy.
Freshman communications major Mischa Chorba heard about the event from a friend and decided to join the festivities. She participated in the pumpkin painting activity, where students could grab a free pumpkin and paint whatever they wanted. Chorba had fun painting the face of the popular bag charm Labubu on her pumpkin.
“We were coming up with ideas like looking through Pinterest, and then I saw The Lorax, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, wait, this is perfect,’” Chorba said. “And then the curator person for this event was like, ‘Is anybody doing a Labubu pumpkin?’… So naturally, I had to change my idea to that.”
The event included many local vendors, like The Posh Mallow, Cuttid, and Sesame Crochet, which sells kosher marshmallows, plants and an assortment of crocheted items. These vendors stayed after the weekly farmers market in Tawes Plaza to work the Harvest Festival.
The pumpkins and specialty food served at the dining halls, in honor of the event, are sourced directly from the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Terp Farm in Upper Marlboro, according to Hipple. This helps raise awareness of the university’s local production and menu as well as sustainability, but in a fun and enjoyable way for students, Hipple said.
“It’s fun … it’s at no additional cost beyond living on campus … and anybody can participate,” Hipple said.
Featured Image: Students paint pumpkins during the 2025 Harvest Festival, located outside of 251 North Dining Hall on Oct. 22, 2025. Photo by Miller Rogers-Tetrick.