An Impressive Incoming Class Act

Yury Alvarez
While starting coursework at UMD as a married 39-year-old is nontraditional, it pales in comparison to other challenges Yury Alvarez has faced. “I feel I can do anything—I overcame cancer.” Diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in 2018, she was forced to delay her plans of coming to Maryland from her hometown of Cúcuta, Colombia, to receive treatment. Battling through multiple surgeries and chemotherapy inspired her to seize every moment, so once she was able to come to Montgomery County in October 2019, she decided to pursue her interests in mechanical engineering at Montgomery College. Now six years cancer-free, she’s continuing the major at UMD through the Clark Opportunity Transfer Scholars Program, which supports hardworking engineering transfer students with financial need. She’s excited to dive into classes and research while engaging with her classmates—even if they’re a little younger.

Zaila Avant-garde
In the leadup to the bee, Avant-garde estimates she was studying 13,000 words for seven hours each day, helping her master about 99% of the dictionary. So when she hoisted the trophy, becoming the first African American contestant in the competition’s nearly 100 years to do so, “it was a feeling of immense relief that after all of my work, I had the best possible outcome,” she said. But for Avant-garde, there’s more than one way to spell success. She’s also an author, writing five children’s books including “Weird and Wonderful You” and New York Times bestseller “It’s Not Bragging If It’s True,” with another in the early stages of planning. And she doesn’t just have a way with words: She holds two Guinness World Records for most basketballs dribbled simultaneously by one person (six) and most bounce juggles in one minute with four basketballs (255). The athletic feats have landed her on talk shows and commercials, including an ad with YouTube for the NBA Finals. Now, as a University Honors student studying cell biology and molecular genetics at UMD, she’s hoping to expand her repertoire with the juggling club.

Moses Bimenyimana
Although Moses Bimenyimana remembers happily playing as a child in Kenya, kicking around a makeshift paper soccer ball with his three siblings, the situation was far from a game. His parents had fled there to escape the Burundian genocide in the ’90s, and they lived near Kibera, one of the biggest slums in the world. “I was kind of misplaced in a sense, where you feel at home, but you see that you’re not really,” he said. “It gives you a different perspective on life.” In search of better opportunities, he moved on his own to Maryland in 2019 with just $100—not nearly enough to support his dreams of earning an engineering degree and one day teaching the subject. He soon joined the Maryland National Guard as an aircraft repairer to fund classes at Montgomery College, and now, he’s majoring in mechanical engineering at UMD as a recipient of the Frederick Douglass Scholarship, awarded to academically talented transfer students from Maryland community colleges. “It clears my mind,” he said. “It gives me the ability and the advantage to be able to focus on school and do my best.”

Mauro Colon Cortes
For any new Terp, learning to navigate resident hall life, a rigorous course schedule and a campus that can feel like a small city is a challenging adjustment. Mauro Cortes is maneuvering it all before even being old enough to get a driver’s license. The 15-year-old was homeschooled as a youngster in his hometown of Caguas, Puerto Rico, showing enough promise to skip first and second grades. “I’ve been pretty used to the fact that most people around me are going to be older, having gone through that experience since I was 6,” he said. Eventually attending a secondary school focused on science and technology, he created a team to compete in the Future Engineers NASA TechRise Challenge, which tasks students with designing an experiment for a high-altitude balloon, and helped power his VEX Robotics team to the world championships three years in a row. On top of that, he played viola for the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico String Orchestra for nine years. Now a Banneker/Key scholar in the Interdisciplinary Business Honors program majoring in computer engineering, he hopes to similarly accompany his STEM studies with involvement in an on-campus ensemble or orchestra.

Liora Ragozin
A passion for women’s health has been a driving force for Liora Ragozin, who believes access to menstrual products should be a basic human right. Since her junior year of high school, the Swampscott, Mass., native has been involved with the ambassador program for the Pad Project, an international nonprofit that addresses menstrual inequities, expands access to products and combats stigma. With the project, she’s helped create teaching kits for high school health educators, run a pad drive and created an advocacy website. Her efforts have extended locally as well: In Summer 2024, she launched a self-care station at her public library, including not only menstrual products, but also toothpaste, soap and other toiletries that anyone in need can use free of charge. “I feel like I have a responsibility to really make a change in this world,” said the global health major and Honors Global Challenges and Solutions member. “Maryland has amazing tools and resources to grow into that identity.”

Toni Tan
While volunteering at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore and assisting in the thrombosis research department before her junior year of high school, Toni Tan noticed a common pattern among patients. Most used the remote attached to their hospital bed to watch their favorite shows, but they often weren’t aware of what else their TVs could do: access their patient portal, track their medication, show personalized health videos and beyond. It spurred her and her fellow volunteers to start the GetWell Project, surveying patients about their awareness of the technology and showing them how to use it. “The GetWell Project was a really good way for me to understand that I’m very interested in my major, applied math, and gearing more toward that finance side,” she said. The project was just one part of a jam-packed high school slate for Tan, who also was also co-leader of the Maryland Asian Pacific Islander South Asian Conference, editor-in-chief of her high school’s magazine, a violinist and a swimmer. She’ll similarly dip her toes into a variety of Terp activities through her major, the Interdisciplinary Business Honors program and more.

Ogechi Uzoukwu
After receiving a staggering 24 acceptance letters during her college search, Ogechi Uzoukwu could have taken her academic and athletic talents all around the country. But UMD—with its Honors Humanities program, Division I track team and plethora of student resources—stood out. “The opportunities are endless,” Uzoukwu said. “I can succeed at a place like the University of Maryland.” The Baltimore County native and Banneker/Key scholar was a state-champion hurdler and jumper, and she’s hoping to follow in the far-leaping footsteps of fellow UMD track athlete Thea LaFond ’15, who took gold in the triple jump at last year’s Olympics. And when she’s not at the Kehoe Track and Field Complex or hitting the books for her family health major, she’ll continue her work on a personal project with far-reaching potential: After her younger sister, Chiamaka Goodness, died of a bone cancer called osteosarcoma at just 10 years old, Uzoukwu started the Goodness Childhood Sarcoma Society in her sister’s honor, spreading awareness about the disease, writing letters to afflicted children in the hospital and fundraising for medical research.