Taking the Long View on Start of School

Photo by Riley Sims Ph.D. ’23

It seems unimaginable now, but when Donna Metz first arrived at UMD as a community director in 1992 for the Cambridge Community, enrollment was so low that three Cambridge residence halls were closed, their doors shut and windows dark for the year.

This week, she’s preparing to distribute more than 10,000 room keys, along with T-shirts, supplies for all the service desks, stacks of unclaimed bed risers, extra laptops for staff to speed up check-ins, student packages delivered to campus over the summer and … whew.

Metz, now assistant director for community operations in the Department of Resident Life, is an unsung hero of move-in each fall, managing the team that welcomes families and ensuring that students’ arrival goes smoothly. While she also supervises students and staff the rest of the year and spent recent weeks accommodating hundreds of requests for early move-in, this is her favorite time of year.

“In the summer it’s so quiet, but when the students come back, there’s an energy that comes back with them that’s just incredible,” she said. “I know that so much of what happens for them is because of the experiences they have during Welcome Weekend, and we have a huge impact on that.”

Photo by John T. Consoli

Since 1987, Jacquelyn Gutrick (better known as Ms. Jacki G or, to those who recognize her by her signature headwear, as “the hat lady”) has been the equivalent of a metronome for Terps who come through The Clarice: a steady beat that keeps its pace no matter what frenzy surrounds it—like the influx of students at Fall semester.

In her position as a business services specialist, Gutrick processes payments for invoices, contracts and letters of agreement for artists who come to campus. She also oversees student workers, prepping them during these last days of summer with information on what to do in emergency situations and updates on campus events and activities.

But Gutrick’s most cherished role as the new academic year gets underway is direction-giver. “This building is three buildings put together,” she said. “It’s huge, so they get lost. I work the locator booth—that’s fun to show people around and make sure they get where they need to go.”

Photo by John T. Consoli

For an educator who specializes in teaching students how to peer billions of light years into space, astronomy Principal Lecturer Melissa Hayes-Gehrke is unusually focused on what’s right in front of her in the last week of the summer break.

The 20-year veteran of UMD is packing in multiple sessions of teaching assistant training, overseeing the last orientation for the department’s incoming students, and putting the finishing touches on the lesson plans for four classes she’s teaching or co-teaching.

On top of it all, she’s mapping out an intercontinental research project with undergraduates; starting in September, they’ll remotely control an Australian telescope for observations of a binary asteroid in Jupiter’s orbit to help NASA gear up for the arrival of its Lucy spacecraft in several years.

“I’m a teacher, so I enjoy almost all of it,” she said. “It’s an incredibly busy time right now, but we’re feeling the anticipation—the faculty and the students—of new opportunities, new people to meet, new things to learn about.”

Photo by Riley Sims Ph.D. ’23

When students lug their under-bed storage drawers and shower caddies into the Ellicott Community residence halls this weekend, they’ll find freshly waxed floors, deep-cleaned bathrooms and disinfected blinds—thanks to the housekeeping team that Maria Villegas helps to manage.

She oversees about 18 staff members across Ellicott, Hagerstown and La Plata halls, and they’ve been working methodically throughout the summer to get the three buildings ready for undergrads. Every piece of furniture gets moved for a thorough cleaning, and even the walls get scrubbed.

“For me, it’s exciting” when the fall semester starts, says the 27-year employee, who’s worked her way up the ranks, starting as a housekeeper. With college-aged kids herself, she knows how parents feel as they move their kids in, so she tries to make the day go more smoothly. “I like my work here,” Villegas said. “We always take care of the students.”

Photo by Mackenzie Miles/Maryland Athletics

As the Terps football team runs drills and perfects plays ahead of its home opener Aug. 31 versus UConn, P.J. Ellis is executing his own game plan, making sure SECU Stadium—and facilities across Maryland Athletics—are ready for action.

In his more than 15 years at UMD, he’s gone from painting fields for football, soccer and other outdoor sports to overseeing the department’s facilities and grounds. He teams up with campus partners and vendors to coordinate video boards, smooth out turf in what he calls a “glorified golf cart” and ensure sideline benches’ heating and cooling features are game-ready. If an Athletics building has an issue—from a faulty air conditioning to carpet that needs cleaning—he helps tackle it.

It's his busiest time of year as fall sports kick off their seasons, but seeing fans’ excitement as they cheer on the Terps makes the hard work worthwhile.

“We’re not only supplying customer service to the student-athletes, but also the people in attendance,” he said. “To have the event go off hopefully with minimal complications to me is a success.”