New ‘Image’ and Name for UMD’s Tour Leaders

That’s been the secret sauce as the group, known as Maryland Images, expanded in the decades that followed: Imagers steered prospective students and other visitors through gleaming new buildings and iconic UMD landmarks, bringing a personal touch to their bevy of fun facts. (Gill even remembers a group of students driving down to the University of Virginia to personally measure the rival school’s campus quad to verify that McKeldin Mall was longer.)

This week, UMD’s most visible ambassadors are getting a new name. They’re now Terp Guides—a change spurred by its members becoming student employees, rather than volunteers—and they can be spotted across campus waving (and wearing) a little Maryland flag-bearing Testudo on their matching sweatshirts and gear, giving the group a uniform look for the first time.

“Tour guides have always felt like an extension of the admissions office, and now in a paid capacity they truly are,” Gill said.

As Terp Guides step forward into a new era, take a walk backward through UMD tour guide history:

Burman Berger ’85
Maryland’s tour guides got their official start in 1983, when then-Director of Admissions Linda Clement started recruiting orientation advisers like Berger. In the era of quarterback Boomer Esiason leading the top-ranked football team and the late basketball star Len Bias taking the Terps to the ACC Championship, there was plenty to tout. Decades later, three of his kids attended UMD as well, and Eli ’19 stepped into his father’s shoes—though he and his peers walked forwards.

Fun fact he’ll never forget: The Roy Rogers at the Stamp Student Union was the largest by volume in the world at the time.

Standout memories: “I viewed it almost like a stand-up routine because I’d try the same lines and see what reaction I’d get from people,” he said. “Back where Xfinity Center is today was just a huge commuter parking lot, Lot 4. I’d say, ‘Rumor has it that it takes four years to graduate from here, but five from parking Lot 4 because it’s so far away!’”

Tour guide perks: He once gave a special tour (in a limo!) to Jane Cahill Pfeiffer ’54, a member of the Board of Regents who was the first chairwoman of NBC and on the board of International Paper—which led to a job interview for Berger in New York City.

Gretchen Ricks

Ari Levine ’99 and Gretchen Ricks ’98
Both transplanted New Englanders, tour partners Levine and Ricks bonded over coming from Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively. At the time, “there was a sense that this was a state school, a safety school, but for folks outside of Maryland, this is really where we wanted to be,” said Levine. As tour partners, they touted the university computer labs (“the first email I ever got was from my sister, listing the ’10 Dos and Don’ts of Email,’” said Levine) and the powerhouse Terps men’s basketball team under Coach Gary Williams (“I got goosebumps every time we showed them Cole Field House,” said Ricks).

Fun facts they’ll never forget:

• Kermit was created by Jim Henson ’60 as a student by cutting up his mother’s felt coat.
• “St. Elmo’s Fire,” starring Demi Moore and Rob Lowe, was filmed on Fraternity Row

Standout memories: “We always went to the bakery at South Campus Dining Hall to go get a fresh cookie while we talked about Dining Services,” said Ricks.

Tour perks: “We were given small gifts back in 1998 to thank us. … I was given a Maryland letter opener,” said Levine. “I remember thinking at the time—and I think my face showed it—'What was I going to do with this thing?’ Twenty-six years later, I use that same exact letter opener almost every single day!”

Lisa Berglund ’12 and Corie Sunder ’12
Roomies for all four years and ‘Dynamic Duo’ winner, Berglund (right) and Sunder (left) joined Maryland Images as freshmen and never looked back. The partners always choose post-10 a.m. tour slots (“I laugh now that I have young kids,” said Berglund), and double- and triple-checked with each other to make sure they didn’t lose the “Dorch key” to Dorchester Hall, where groups could peek into a staged room. “Our last tour together was really special to me,” said Sunder. “All our friends dropped by to shout us out, so it was a really emotional closing of a chapter.”

Fun facts they’ll never forget:

• The Hootie and the Blowfish “Only Wanna Be With You” video was shot on campus, so in honor of that, Berglund and Sunder sang a portion of the song during their audition. They think that clinched their acceptance.
• The Atlantic Building’s green windows are made of recycled beer bottles.

Standout memories:

• Seeing Imagers holding red balloons coming down the hallway of their residence hall to publicly announce they’d had been accepted, said Berglund.
• “Our rain boots would get holes in the back of the heels because we walked backward the whole time, and tours were held rain or shine,” said Sunder.

Tour perks: Getting to watch “Mean Girls” and other movies at the Rossborough Inn—the oldest building on campus, built in 1803.

Dante Evans ’18
“Maryland Images was like our co-ed fraternity on campus,” said Evans. “Those were my people, and we did everything together. It was our family.” Chatty and open, he never backed down from tough questions, including ones about the Black student experience. He recalls one tour his senior year: At ODK Fountain, “a student screamed, ‘He was my tour guide and he's the reason I came!’ I was an emotional wreck. It was the best compliment I’ve ever received.”

Fun facts he’ll never forget:

• McKeldin Library’s windows are an illusion, hiding seven floors when the windows show just four.
• Queen Elizabeth II attended her first and only American football game at UMD.

Standout memories: “Students would ask about internships, athletics. But one mom asked me, ‘Is ‘Sex Week’ a week where there’s just a big orgy on campus?’ (In fact, it’s a week about sex education and health.)

Tour perks: Always having fellow tour guides friends ready to line up for big Terps football and basketball games, getting Evans some of the best seats right by the court or field.

Xaria Duvall ’19
As a high schooler, Duvall was set on leaving her home state of Maryland. But when she got on the UMD campus for her tour, “it was pretty much love at first sight,” she said, thanks in part to her Maryland Images tour guide. Her four years spanned big changes, from the meal plan moving from pay-as-you-go to unlimited, buffet-style to the construction of the Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center, the Mall’s first new building in decades.

Fun facts she’ll never forget:

• During Bruce Springsteen’s first show at UMD in the 1970s, he got stage fright and couldn’t perform—but then returned years later, ready to go. “On one tour I had, one of the parents said they were at the first concert!”
• The U.S. Capitol is visible from the top row of seats at SECU Stadium

Standout memories: After doing the Terp for a Day overnight stay program as a high school senior, Duvall later paid it forward by hosting Karen Moss ’19 from Frederick. “She ended up joining the same fraternity as me, we became best friends and were in each other’s weddings!”

Tour perks: Getting tons of UMD swag, including a hoodie with a Maryland flag in the hood (so nice that her sister snagged it and never gave it back).