---
title: "Getting the Party Started, USPS-Style"
date: 2021-12-07T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/getting-the-party-started-usps-style"
section: Articles
---
# Getting the Party Started, USPS-Style

*December 7, 2021* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/author/sala-levin-10)


> Postal Service’s Latest Birthday Stamp Designed by Student

*USPS21 STA009 A 1920x1080 animated — The U.S. Postal Service's new "Happy Birthday" stamp, illustrated with symbols of a classic American birthday party, was designed by information science major Rodolfo Castro '21 (below).*

Cake, candles, balloon sculptures, and a pile of presents: A classic American birthday party is often a life-size sensory overload. Can the spirit of a birthday celebration, in all its colorful and sugary glory, be translated to a smaller scale—1.05 by 0.77 inches, to be exact?

For Rodolfo Castro ’21, the answer is yes. The “Happy Birthday” stamp he and his wife, Lisa Catalone Castro, designed was issued by the U.S. Postal Service this fall, six years after the project began.


*Rodolfo Castro portrait*




**Topics:** [People](https://today.umd.edu/tags/people)


**Tags:** [Asian American Studies](https://today.umd.edu/topic/asian-american-studies), [Visual Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/visual-arts)


**Units:** [College of Information](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-information-studies), [Office of Undergraduate Studies](https://today.umd.edu/topic/office-undergraduate-studies)