A ‘Mom-elet’ for Mother’s Day

Jeremy Kugel isn’t much of a cook, judging by his inability to cleanly crack an egg. But as he successfully flipped the omelet he was making for his mom on Friday morning, he stood a little taller and grinned. 

In his defense, he was under pressure, standing behind the omelet station during breakfast at Yahentamitsi Dining Hall and surrounded by about two dozen friends and colleagues (not to mention hungry students around the periphery who’d soon be lining up).

The occasion was the dedication of the newly named Kugel Family Station for Omelet Excellence: L'oeuf is Love, featuring a play on the French word for “egg.” It recognizes the scholarship he and his wife, Katrina, have endowed with a $50,000 gift to the University of Maryland in his mother, Judy’s, name. This gift adds to Forward: The University of Maryland Campaign for the Fearless, the $2.5 billion fundraising initiative to widen access to education, pursue ground-breaking research and build stronger communities. 

“The best part is this is in perpetuity. In the year 2341 somebody will be waiting in line at the omelet station, and see Kugel Family Station for Omelet Excellence: L'oeuf is Love and think that's hilarious,” said Jeremy Kugel, vice president and CFO/treasurer of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation and assistant vice president for finance in UMD’s Division of University Relations. “I'll be long since gone, but the sense of joy in the mundane will hopefully live on here in College Park thanks to what we've been able to do.”

The scholarship is intended for an undergraduate employee in the Department of Dining Services, preferably one who benefits from its award-winning Allergies and Special Diets program. Both Katrina Kugel and Judy Kugel require strict gluten-free diets, so the Kugels are familiar with the added expense, and hassle, of special dietary needs. 

Judy Kugel had flown in for Mother’s Day—and this first egg-cracking ceremony at Yahentamitsi. The trio each held an egg, and on the count of three, simultaneously cracked the shells and dropped the eggs onto the sizzling grill. Katrina’s and Judy’s eggs broke open perfectly, while Jeremy ended up with a broken yolk sprinkled with tiny bits of shell. “Nobody eat this!” he warned. 

The bacon, green pepper and onion omelet, which he made with the assistance of a Dining Services professional, turned out nicely folded and well-stuffed. Guests also took part in an orange juice toast led by Vice President for Student Affairs Patty Perillo.

Perillo knows scholarships are important on a practical level, but they also symbolize something more for students who receive them. “Every time a donor chooses to invest in our students, they’re not just giving financial support; they’re sending a powerful message that students' dreams are worth believing in and that they matter,” she said. 

Bodie Getsug ’26, a psychology major, received another scholarship earmarked for a Dining Services employee, which has helped him and his family cover educational and living costs. “Any amount of help is well deserved by the students, especially (those) who need financial support during their time in college,” he said. 

The Kugel family previously established a Maryland Promise Program scholarship in the name of Jeremy’s father, the late Peter Kugel. He’d been a professor of computer science at Boston College for several decades, while Judy Kugel worked at the Harvard Kennedy School for more than 30 years. 

“His father and I were in education,” Judy said. “I think that makes it normal that we would want to support higher education, particularly because it’s getting really hard for people to afford it. Being able to provide a scholarship is a good way to give back.”

Jeremy Kugel’s gift to her for Mother’s Day was a perhaps impractical way to give back to her: a certificate for one free omelet at Yahentamitsi per visit for the rest of her life. Since Judy Kugel resides in Massachusetts, she may not make use of the gift often.