Another year here at UMD is coming to a close and so naturally, we are losing some of our seniors to the real world. While we wish them the best, we also wish we had more time to learn from them and share more memories and laughs. With this said, QUESTPress would like to give a big sendoff to our seniors, Chineme Obiefune (Q25), Joe Piscitelli (Q25), Sam Weaver (Q26), and our Editor-in-Chief, Andrew Jones (Q26).

Andrew Jones (Q26)

Andrew is our great Editor-in Chief. He has been a part of QUESTPress for 3 years and has written numerous entertaining articles for the QUEST community. Additionally, Andrew has been involved in QUEST in other ways by being a  mentor for Q30 as well as attending not one, but two QUEST2 trips – to Silicon Valley and to Spain! Looking forward to the summer, Andrew will be traveling around the world (no exaggeration!). He’s going to be in Peru, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and then back to the US to be in New Orleans and Boston! After a busy summer, Andrew will be settling in Tysons Corner to begin work as an Associate Consultant at Appian Corporation.

While thinking about leaving UMD, Andrew will miss all of the experiences he’s had here and the opportunity to participate in so much. He said, “UMD offers so many activities. It can’t compare to any other institution!” QUEST gave Andrew a plethora of great things but what he’ll miss most are the abroad courses and meeting our amazing alumni! Andrew, we’ll miss your support and insights that you would give us at every Sunday meeting.

Chineme, our senior in Q25 has been in QUESTPress for two years but has also mentored 190H and helped out in the scoping class. This summer, Chineme is excited to be outside enjoying the weather but also hanging out with kids by volunteering at a summer camp. What’s really cool is that he’s going to also be working on his music (tune in everyone!!) to develop a skill that he is finally getting some free time to think about.

Chineme Obiefune (Q25)

QUEST is an intense community, full of people who are driven and passionate about what they are learning and Chineme appreciates and will miss it the most. Getting to see his team do amazingly in 190H yet still harness so much growth on the way to 490H was extremely rewarding, especially knowing that he “has had a slight hand in the success.” Chineme, we are going to miss your out of the box ideas for articles and fearlessness when it comes to trying and proposing new things.

Joe had an especially important position for not only QUESTPress but also the newsletter, in that he has been our webmaster and the genius behind figuring out any struggle with the online forums and making sure all of our articles and sites look great. Joe joined QUESTPress immediately after QUEST Camp after a now QUEST alumna, Grace Cha, suggested that people join. After school ends for Joe, he’ll be back in Miami with friends and family but his studying won’t be over as he will be preparing for the CPA exam prior to coming back to the DMV as a Core Assurance Associate for PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

Joe Piscitelli (Q25)

Looking back, Joe will mostly miss the amazing people that he has had the opportunity to meet through QUEST, Smith, and UMD as a whole. Joe says, “I came to UMD knowing absolutely no one else coming here so it was nice to have organizations on campus such as QUEST to make the campus smaller. I’ve met some of the best people I know at UMD.” Memories like simply walking into the QUEST lab to print and bumping into people you don’t expect to see and getting to catch up will stick with Joe for a while. He also loved to check out what new art our fellow QUEST students have up on the walls. Joe, we will miss your great sense of humor and endless help as we struggle through WordPress.

Sam has been in QUESTPress and writing articles for us since her sophomore year. After three years with us, Sam will be joining Lockheed Martin in Dallas. Sam has enjoyed her time with QUEST and says that she’ll miss all of the great events that QUEST has to offer. Being involved and getting to catch up with fellow QUEST peers are what she enjoyed most about QUEST. Sam’s favorite memory followed finally accomplishing the final client presentation in 490H. Her group had gotten through the toughest course for QUEST and to celebrate, Sam said, “My team and I went to Costco for lunch and just hung out and goofed off. Our client really loved our project and capping off that successful presentation with some pizza and ice cream was so satisfying.” Sam, we’ll miss having you over the conference call because you’re doing something cool like getting stuck at home baking bread.

Sam Weaver (Q26)

While we are sad to see you all go, we know you are onto bigger and better things. We look forward to hearing your names in articles not written by you, but rather about you. Thank you for your endless contributions to not only QUESTPress but QUEST as a whole. To you and all of the seniors moving on from our students to our alumni, keep us in mind. Come visit us and share your experiences with us or even let us know how we can be do better in our next QUEST presentation. I’ll leave you with a quote in the spirit of QUEST: “I begin with an idea, and then it becomes something else” – Pablo Picasso. QUEST has trained us to develop brilliant ideas and to take them as far as we can. Keep up the QUEST spirit and remain design thinkers regardless of where you end up because you all have great things to offer and thoughts to share. Best of luck class of 2018! You made it!