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!