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The following article originally appeared in Maryland Today: The rumble of yellow move-in carts, the cheers from the stands at Maryland Stadium and the fanfare of the marching band rehearsing its pregame show supplied an upbeat soundtrack of Fall Welcome Weekend at the University of Maryland. In cars and SUVs stuffed with their still-in-the-wrapper gear, over 4,700 freshmen—and thousands of other students—and their families arrived on campus over the past few days to begin the academic year and get to know the campus, and each other.

When Michelle Pinkrah strolled into her first Thursdays-at-3:30 p.m. class of the semester in late January, she had no idea what she’d signed up for. She had signed up by accident, actually. The class wasn’t her first choice for her practicum course requirement with College Park Scholars, where she is a student, and she’d quickly forgotten it was even on her schedule. Pinkrah sat down in the circle of her peers and encountered something she hadn’t expected: a dialogue class, or, a class that centers around group discussion of life and experiences.

The following article originally appeared in Maryland Today: You might feel the attentiveness—or lack of it—of a doctor listening to you describe your symptoms, based on your accent. Or the eyes on you when you take your seat in a lecture hall full of people with skin tones different than yours. Or the fear when you’re driving while Black and realize your taillight is out. In ways big and small, social identity molds our individual experiences, often making it difficult to explain ourselves to people who don’t share our backgrounds and worldviews.

Undergraduate students wishing to give back to College Park Scholars on Giving Day, Wednesday, March 9, now have the option to donate a single dollar to support their fellow Scholars. Giving Day is the University of Maryland’s 24-hour fundraising effort, during which Scholars is raising money to help Scholars students participate in experiential learning.

Thanks to a number of matches, Supporters of College Park Scholars will have an opportunity to maximize their gift on Giving Day, Wednesday, March 9. Giving Day is the University of Maryland’s annual 24-hour fundraising effort.

The words echo in every Scholars student’s ears: “We learn better when we learn together.” But the phrase has perhaps never rung as true as with College Park Scholars’ most recent initiative. This semester, in partnership with the Honors College and the Words of Engagement Intergroup Dialogue Program on campus, Scholars launched CPSP369J: Teaching and Learning about Cultural Diversity through Intergroup Dialogue – Dialogue Facilitation Practicum.​ The three-credit course serves as both a space for students to reflect on their identities and their role in structural inequalities and a training opportunity for them to develop skills in facilitating conversations about injustice within and beyond their communities.