Countdown to Maryland Day 2008

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The countdown to Maryland Day 2008 is finally over - as the University of Maryland celebrated the 10 year anniversary of our popular open house on Saturday, April 26. This web release was designed to provide an ongoing "insiders look" at what it takes to put together an event that drew nearly 75,000 visitors to our beautiful campus and involved 8700 faculty, staff and student volunteers. Our celebration with 50,000 cupcakes was a huge success. They were assembled Friday night in Hornbake Plaza and distributed starting immediately after our opening ceremony. Appreciative crowds took every last one! See what Head Pastry Chef Jeff Russo had to say about the project in an interview with WTOP's "Man About Town" Bob Madigan on Page 3. Thanks for dropping by Newsdesk often as we shared Maryland Day at a whole new level. Scroll down to see the archive of all our news and happenings over the past year. See the official Maryland Day Home Page for more information. We'll see you next year! Tell us how we did! Take the Maryland Day 2008 Survey. May 19, 2008 We have just learned the Maryland Day 2007 program has been selected for a Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) 2008 Circle of Excellence Award Gold Medal. This is a high honor from our professional colleagues across the country.  It is much deserved recognition of your hard work, impeccable planning ability, and exceptional leadership. I want to emphasize the fact that Maryland Day could not be the success that it is without your dedication to the program. This award belongs to each and every one of you. - Brodie Remington Vice President for University Relations University of Maryland Thank you for making Maryland Day 2008 a huge success! 75,000 visitors, a sunny day, 400+ free events and 50,000 cupcakes all combined to create a recipe for great fun and learning! Please see our Hurray for Maryland Day release for more information, photos, videos, etc. The Maryland Day Committee's Official Photograph - Quickly! April 24, 2008 The tents are going up - and the Maryland Day Committee held it's last meeting Thursday to finalize details of what promises to be the best Maryland Day event ever! Vice President for University Relations Brodie Remington told the campus: "All Systems are go for Maryland Day..." I hope you and your family and friends will join us for what promises to be another wonderful Maryland Day. The forecast is partly sunny with highs in the mid-70s with the showers holding off until late in the day -- great weather to be outside! The Maryland Day Committee tried a new flavor of ice cream that will debut Saturday - "Explore Our World" is worth a try! Vanilla bean ice cream, rainbow sprinkles and custom M&Ms (c) in UM colors! Dr. Mote addresses the Maryland Day Planning Committee during its final meeting before the event. Don't miss your chance to get one of the 50,000 cupcakes we'll be giving out on Hornbake Plaza. April 15, 2008 Bake 50,000 Cupcakes with Dr. and Mrs. Mote! Quicktime Version Flash Version (Photo by John Consoli) Maryland Day's Holly DeArmond is interviewed by Comcast's Tony Hill for Comcast Newsmakers. April 14, 2008 Maryland Day is one of this month's featured interviews on Comcast Newsmakers. The five minute insert is shown on the CNN Headline News channel. See the five minute interview here. April 10, 2008 Shirts and Program Books - Oh My! The Maryland Day program books are in - and 140,000 of them are already in the mail. Get your PDF version. Another 18,000 or so are still to be mailed and the rest will be available to visitors on Maryland Day! All are printed on recycleable paper! (Right) There will be more than 8300 volunteers on Maryland Day - students, faculty, and staff - who want to make your day fun and educational. All get special red Maryland Day T-Shirts to help visitors find a Maryland volunteer. Units all over campus have ordered their shirts - now they have to be sorted, bagged and picked up. University Communications' Lydia Whitehead has a big task in front of her! See a slideshow with more pictures! Maryland Day by the Numbers (PDF) See Page 2 (covering February-March, 2008) See Page 3 (covering January, 2008) See Page 4 (covering April -December 2007) Maryland Day Home Page

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