By Jennifer Baxter

Students have been keeping busy with hands-on learning in classes and friendly competition on McKeldin Mall. Read about it in this week’s stories!

Students help deliver sheep, goats in animal science class

By Paige Trendell 

Allie Flaherty, a senior animal science major at the University of Maryland, was notified Tuesday night that one of the UMD Campus Farm sheep, Pixie Stix, was going into labor. 

Flaherty was on call for sheep births at the time and quickly made her way there to help with the delivery alongside some of her fellow small ruminant interns. 

Some students in the small ruminant management class were on night watch from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., doing chores on the campus farm and keeping watch on many of the baby animals. The students had limited time to prepare for the lamb births due to the recent snowstorm, according to veterinarian and course instructor Angela Black. 

The first sheep gave birth on Feb. 9, and the last due date is March 8. The most recent birth was on Friday, Feb. 20.

“We only had about a week and a half to get all of those students ready for our first lambs to be born. So we have to jump right into giving birth,” she said. 

After monitoring Pixie Stix throughout her labor process, the students decided that she needed assistance with delivering as time passed and there was still little progress, said Flaherty.

“All I really had to do was pull his [the lamb’s] feet forward, and he came right out,” she said. 

The interns took the sheep management course and were able to help deliver the lamb on their own. Black only helps deliver the lambs if she is called in. 

“If everything goes fine, then the interns and the students take care of everything,” said Black. 

The skills that the students learn go beyond the classroom, according to Black. 

“I find that we’re teaching a lot more than just animal management,” she said. “They’re learning to be brave, do things that they’ve never done before. They’re learning to kind of step outside their comfort zone.”

Read more here.

Terps search for a Hollander, Rozanov on McKeldin Mall

By Miller Rogers-Tetrick

Twisted Terps, a University of Maryland campus club, hosted a “Heated Rivalry” look-a-like competition on McKeldin Mall on Feb. 14.  

“Heated Rivalry”, which is televised on HBO Max, has recently taken the world by storm with an average of 10.6 million viewers per episode in the U.S., according to Warner Bros. Discovery. UMD students showed their love and support for the show through the competition, which included impressions and speeches about how they connected to the show. 

Conor Kane, a junior physics and astronomy major, and Juergen Borkman, a senior history major, took home the prize. Kane and Borkman are roommates and often get stopped by strangers saying how similar they look to the show’s duo, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, respectively, according to Kane. 

“Everywhere he goes, he gets like, ‘Oh my gosh, you look like [Ilya Rozanov] or the guy from Challengers,” Kane said, referring to Borkman.

Borkman said he has yet to watch the show, but was encouraged to participate in the competition and recognizes the impact the show has on hockey. 

“I think it’s good for the game. I think it’s getting a lot of people into it,” Borkman said. “I remember seeing that people from the show [were] getting reached out to from athletes, so I think it’s been great.”

The winners were selected by audience members after contestants lined up and were cheered and applauded for. Based on the response, the audience’s favorite contestants won. After going down the line of look-a-likes, Kane and Borkman came out victorious.

Read more here.

Featured Image: Conor Kane, a junior physics and astronomy major, holding up a hockey stick during the “Heated Rivalry” look-alike contest on Feb. 14. Photo by Miller Rogers-Tetrick.