The Power of Terrapin Pride: How School Spirit Impacts the UMD Campus

EVERYONE KNOWS WHO THE TERPS ARE.
Whether you are from the east coast or the west coast, north or south, the Maryland Terp Pride is recognized. A public university that has been growing since 1856 has built a powerful reputation for the school spirit that students and alumni have for the school. The official colors of the Maryland Terrapins are red, white, black, and gold, which are derived from the Maryland state flag. This concept is original to Maryland and by incorporating the state flag into the marketing strategies they attract a greater fan base; all of Maryland. As our lucky charm, testudo makes an appearance at many sporting games throughout the year. Full with traditions such as "Get your keys out" at football games, "The Crew" for men's soccer, and fist pumping at the men's basketball games, students get involved in the spirit of the University. Maryland Day is also a tradition at UMD that invites anyone to comes explore the University of Maryland and see what the Terrapins are all about. This day is filled with red, white, black, and gold, among many other great events. But how does Maryland become one of the most spirited national universities? With a day at Maryland behind the scenes of the marketing athletics department we will find out.

"FOR MEN'S LACROSSE, A ROCKY ROAD":
Even in a slump does school spirit and support help the team overcome odds? This diamondback article by Connor Letourneau looks at the struggles of the Men's Lacrosse Team this season. In there senior game against Bellarmine they were able to come together and pull out a 12-7 win. With confidence and pride they took control of the game. Finishing up the season with a 9-4 record the Terps made great improvement.

BLAIR RIZZETTO: Marketing Intern for Maryland Athletics speaks about duties

AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE PLANNING OF THE MENS LACROSSE GAME APRIL 28TH, 2012 In this meeting we go over all of the responsibilities that we are in charge of for the day. There is pre-game, during the game, and post game. They usually revolve around promotions and sponsors, however we also do little things to make the game run smoothly. For this game my responsibilities were:

-To choose the winner for "College Park's Dirtiest Car" for a free car wash
-Signaling the team to come out of the locker room pre-game
-Gathering all of the materials and participants for half time contests
-Organize the seniors that were being recognized for their senior ceremony as well as their parents
-Facilitate half time events, including two contests and an alumni recognition
-Handout coupon postgame

"WHAT DRIVES SCHOOL SPIRIT IN COLLEGE SPORTS?" In a study done by Patrick Quinn and Ronald Yaros a study is conducted to try and determine the relationship between sports school spirit and the students. They examine what factors drive school spirit. They found that there was a positive correlation between the use of social media and the amount of school spirit. In addition, as far as demographics, they found that sophomores has the most school spirit, followed by juniors, and lastly seniors (there were no freshman participants in the study).
"Of the ten factors that could affect school spirit, a personal tie to a Maryland athlete, geographical tie to Maryland athletics, social capital, knowledge level of Maryland athletics, history of athletic participation, sense of belonging, success level of athletic team, non-live attendance at events effects, news following of Maryland athletics level, social media activity" (Quinn, Yaros 6).

The goal of the marketing department is to somehow blend all of these factors together in a way that attracts the most people to be involved in the athletics and school spirit. They strive to appeal to all of the ages of students on campus, as well as, many different groups of students. As part of my research I am asking students and student-athletes on how they feel the marketing department does to help drive school spirit. This information is presented in the following media:

THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT INVITES THE FOOTBALL TEAM TO SIGN AUTOGRAPHS AT THE MEN'S LACROSSE GAME:
This brings the football team off of the field and into the eyes of their fans.
ALTHOUGH TEAMS ARE SUPPORTED IN SEASON, LETS SEE WHAT BASKETBALL PLAYER NICK FAUST FEELS ABOUT SCHOOL SPIRIT:
Outside of the game: Interview Nick Faust on marketing, school spirit, and a reflection of his first year on a big team that still got a lot of support even though they were struggling.

listen to ‘Nick Faust Interview’ on Audioboo

LETS SEE WHAT ONE OF THE FAN THINKS ABOUT THE ATMOSPHERE:
Rebecca Natoli, a Freshman Biology major speaks about school spirit at UMD.
She speaks about why she likes being a Terp and how the fans impact the atmosphere of the campus in general.

College Prowler gave UMD an A for school spirit. In order to see if the students feel the same way I asked her how she would rate Maryland on a scale of 1-10 on school spirit and why.

COLLEGE PROWLER IS A WEBSITE THAT IS CREATED BY STUDENT AUTHORS FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS:

This is a great way for prospective students to narrow down their choices on schools because it looks at all the different aspects of a school that someone would consider. To see the details for UMD visit the following link

IN CONCLUSION, I found that Maryland pride really does exist with or without the marketing efforts. By being a member of such a large community people find ways to get involved and one of the biggest ways is through being a fan of the sports teams. By having student-athletes that engage in the community UMD students can feel connected to their teams. The marketing department does a fantastic job of bridging the gap and giving students opportunities to be the best possible fans. GO TERPS!

The Current Hot Topic: Cell Phones and Brain Cancer!

Overview of Studies:

The mobile topic that I chose to read about and discuss is mobile phones and the risk of brain cancer. There were two studies done, one in 2010 and one the following year. This interphone study is the largest case-study of mobile phone use and brain tumors to date. In 2010 no dramatic conclusions were made. The scientists agreed that their work was not yet done discuessed in the following statement...

"An increased risk of brain cancer is not established from the data from 

Interphone. However, observations at the highest level of cumulative call time and the changing patterns of mobile phone use since the period studied by Interphone, particularly in young people, mean that further investigation of mobile phone use and brain cancer risk is merited."

-Dr Christopher Wild, Director of IARC

This lead to a follow up study done in May 2011. This started when the IRAC (The WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer) came out with research to support that  certain radio frequency electromagnetic fields are maybe "carcinogenic"to people. No matter the amount of research and money spent on this project there were not conclusions to support a definite correlation between mobile phone use and brain cancer. This research will continue until they reach a final conclusion because there is a trend, just no direct correlation.

Other Research:

CNN Story on the comparison between the cell phone with an earpiece in related to brain Cancer. Story by a neurologist Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent.

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/20/gupta-cell-phones-brain-tumors-and-a-wired-earpiece/

This video is a very interesting look at a different perspective towards the issue of cell phones and brain cancer. Since there is no definite answer to the problem, society should just try to work around it until we do find a solution.

Discussion:

My prediction is that this phase of cell phones and brain cancer will fade out. I think that it is just currently a hot topic that scientists think they could make a huge discovery with. Once there is more research to go against them they will have no choice but to stop the funding and move on to something else. What do you think? Will it become more popular with the news or less, within the next year?

When it comes to downloading music, what's okay and what's not?

1. You are a young novelist or struggling musician trying to make a living writing stories and music. Would you oppose or support more government control on copyright if technology promised unauthorized copies of your work could not be circulated?

In this day and age the access to illegal digital copying is easier than ever. There are numerous programs that you can download to get music, websites you can pirate music, and services that assist people in copying it illegally. Based on the laws around music now, I fully support more government control on copyright.

The law states, "When you make illegal copies of someone’s creative work, you are stealing and breaking the law." Although this is vague, it is very straightforward and those who break this law are well aware of it. 

If I were a musician who spent days, weeks, and sometimes years creating an album I would feel cheated and as if people were stealing from me, which they are. On MusicUnited.org there is a movement to help "educate consumers about the value of music copyright and the legitimate outlets for acquiring music". Part of their site has quotes from singers and songwriters speaking out against illegal music downloading.

The Dixie Chicks speak out by saying, "It may seem innocent enough, but every time you illegally download music a songwriter doesn't get paid. And, every time you swap that music with your friends a new artist doesn't get a chance. Respect the artists you love by not stealing their music. You're in control. Support music, don't steal it."

It comes down to the simple idea of respect. If you have respect for the artists that you listen to and admire, the least you could do is pay for what they create. 


To finish it off, P Diddy had some simple advice..."As an artist who has dedicated his life to music and the music business, I have seen what illegal music copying has done and continues to do to new and established musicians. I understand why people download music, but for me and my fellow artists, this is our livelihood. When you make an illegal copy, you're stealing from the artist. It's that simple. Every single day we're out here pouring our hearts and souls into making music for everyone to enjoy. What if you didn't get paid for your job? Put yourself in our shoes!"


He asks everyone to put themselves in the shoes of the artists that they are stealing from because it is their lifestyle form of income.


In conclusion, I do support the government taking a stronger movement towards controlling the copyright laws on music. It is only fair to the singers and songwriters to get credit for the time and effort they put into making their living. As long as this is the main motive of the government I believe that it is 100% the best thing to do.


http://www.musicunited.org/3_artists.aspx

My First Post! It's February 2nd. Last class we watched a video about the innovations of glass and how that would impact our daily lives. It was a very interesting video that makes me think about how inefficient everything we use today really is. A interesting piece.
Then I read the GPS articles relating to privacy. I think that as a society, when necessary and helpful GPS location based information is an amazing idea. I think that as of now the benefits of this system do outweigh the risks because of the potential that could come out of the findings. However, I believe that it is NECESSARY to get the government involved. In order to use a GPS location tracking device anyone should need a permit. Similar to the policies behind gun control. Although they can be extremely beneficial, they could also be deadly. By making it more difficult to gain possession of the device people will look into the product more and learn some of the benefits and risks. 
To relate this to the class I decided to research the relationship between this new trend and how parents are monitoring their children. This is what I found: 
"Research done by Diane Annunziata and her colleagues at Fordham University shows us that...monitoring helps our children develop relationships, improve their character, and instils in them a sense of belonging in their families and communities".
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/nurturing-resilience/201010/gps-tracking-kids-is-not-the-same-monitoring-them
I disagree with this because I think that monitoring is such a vague term that could be used for many extremities. Some parents could use it rarely, on a special occasion, if they were severely concerned. But, most parents would use it whenever there was doubt or lack in trust. If they were the least bit concerned that their child was lying they could easily check where they are. I feel that it is not only necessary to protect the rights of adults, but also children. Although parents are the guardians of their children there is a line that shouldn't be crossed.The way that it is set up now allows for a system that could easily be abused and taken advantage of.
What Do You Think?