This January, I was fortunate enough to go on the QUEST Winter Abroad Trip to Vietnam and Singapore. Signing up for the trip, I really didn’t know what to expect, and I have to say, this opportunity far exceeded my expectations. On my transcript, what looks like a 3-credit course was an opportunity where I was able to learn, grow, and have fun.
Category Archives: Events
QUEST Celebrates 30 Years
On November 12th and 13th, QUEST was able to commemorate the past 30 years with two major events: the QUEST 30th anniversary event on the rooftop of the Hotel and brunch at Busboys and Poets.
QUESTees Take On Technica
Technica is the world’s largest hackathon for underrepresented genders, and also the largest hackathon at the University of Maryland. This year, Technica was held at the Hotel at UMD, with over 800+ in-person attendees and 400+ online, reaching over 15 countries and 4 continents!
QUEST Hosts Largest Networking Event in Program History
On September 15, the QUEST Corporate student organization held its 8th Annual QUEST Networking Event! True to its name, the event featured over 30 companies and 150 QUEST students eager to find jobs and internship opportunities, the largest event yet! Students were able to network one-on-one with several employers, learn about incoming opportunities, and receive free swag. Several employee representatives were QUEST alumni themselves who were excited to meet and recruit new cohorts of QUEST students.
Celebrating 30 Years of QUEST
It’s an exciting year for QUEST! This year marks the 30th anniversary of QUEST, formerly the IBM-Total Quality Program. This program was founded back in 1992 after winning a $1 million grant from IBM. Eight universities won the grant, but QUEST is the only program still in existence!
I had a chance to speak with Luke Muratore (Cohort 37), one of the QUEST students on the 30th anniversary planning committee to get more insight into what this celebration will entail.
QUEST Alumni Host Summer Happy Hours
One of QUEST’s biggest benefits is its robust and involved alumni community. This summer, QUEST alumni hosted happy hour events in cities like Baltimore, Seattle, Boston, Washington D.C., and New York City. These events were great opportunities for students to expand their network and alumni to reconnect with former cohort members. I spoke to two alumnae who planned their local happy hours to hear about their experience.
QUESTees Celebrate the End of A Successful Year
Despite the school year winding down, QUEST continued to host fun events for the community throughout April and May. Students from all cohorts united to attend the QUEST Formal, variety show, end-of-year celebration, and of course, the QUEST Conference.
The highly anticipated QUEST Formal was hosted on April 28th at The Hall, College Park. For many QUESTees, this was their first formal given the pandemic halting in-person events. The event was many months in the making and was spearheaded by the hard work of the QUEST Social team and the Quality Guild. Jess Yeager, a senior computer science major in Cohort 34, served as the QUEST Social co-lead this year. She explained that “though it was a lot of planning, seeing everyone come together and have fun made all of the work worth it.” Everyone in the QUEST community had a great time at QUEST Formal, eating delicious food, and taking pictures with QUEST teams, the Guild, and friends around the organization.
Cohort 34 posing for a group picture at QUEST Formal
Another awesome event hosted by the QUEST Creative team was the first annual, and highly successful, QUEST Variety Show. To organize the event, QUEST Creative co-leads Sarah D’Souza (Cohort 33) and Nakisa Rafiee (Cohort 34) reached out to different talented QUESTees with talents spanning speedcubing to musical performances. The event featured musical performances by Vivekjyoti Banerjee of Cohort 34, Mudit Mathur of Cohort 39, Bobby Chen of Cohort 37, Rae Wu of Cohort 37, and UMD Anokha (an a cappella group). Additionally, Amod Mathur of Cohort 33 showed off his Rubik’s cube skills while Sarah D’Souza of Cohort 33 and Ian Rosenthal of Cohort 36 displayed their gymnastics skills. Overall, D’Souza reflected, “It was so much fun putting on the variety show, and I hope others continue to put on the event because it’s a great way to learn from and celebrate the talent within the QUEST community.”
An additional event to wrap up the semester was QUEST’s end-of-year celebrations, which included the end-of-year pizza party and a sendoff for all of the seniors in Cohorts 33 and 34. At the end-of-year pizza party, all members of the community gathered to eat delicious catered pizza at Van Munching Hall and celebrate another great year for the program. At this ceremony, the Quality Guild presented seniors with their QUEST medals, a symbol of their completion of the program, as well as a number of awards to outstanding QUEST student leaders. Following the pizza party was the QUEST Senior Sendoff at Wunder Garten in Washington, D.C. Program Coordinator Rachel DiDonna and QUEST senior social representatives worked hard to organize an event to congratulate all of the seniors’ achievements and reminisce on great times in the program. Morgan Hoffman, a senior mechanical engineering major in Cohort 34, mentioned, “It was a lot of fun! Emilyn Hyre (a senior social representative from Cohort 34) organized a game where we had to guess if a QUEST pun was a real QUEST team name in our cohort or not,” and as such, the event was a great culmination to her QUEST career.
The final major event for the QUEST community was Cohort 35’s QUEST Conference. Nine teams presented their analysis, insights, and recommendations that they had generated for real-world clients for the QUEST capstone course, BMGT/ENES 490H. Some clients that QUESTees consulted for included Pinterest, Northrop Grumman, D&H Distributing, and Get Real Health. Team QUESTCare, which consulted for Get Real Health, won the awards for both Best Poster and Most Outstanding Capstone. I talked to Cohort 35’s Nick Bailey about his conference experience. He explained, “Before the QUEST conference, I was a little bit nervous, but once I got up on stage, I began to relax. I started joking around with my teammates while getting our jitters out right before we presented. Presenting itself was a total blur, but it was still a great time. I’m still so happy with my team’s work and proud of what we accomplished.” Cohort 35 student Jean Han added her own thoughts about BMGT/ENES 490H as a whole. “490H was challenging in the best ways, pushing me to step outside of my comfort zone and learn so much more beyond the classroom. I loved my 490H experience working with the most incredible team and client, and I am so proud of all of our diligent work during the semester!” Although Cohort 35 has completed their conference, we know that their journey with QUEST is far from over. Congratulations, Cohort 35!
Cohort 35 at the Spring 2022 QUEST Conference
In all, the QUEST community had a great few months to cap off the 2022-2023 school year. As Cohorts 33 and 34 graduate, and Cohorts 39 and 40 get ready to start, these incredible events are just a prospect of what is yet to come in the fall.
Students Showcase Data Science Skills at QUESTech Datathon
From February 25th to March 6th, the QUESTech student organization hosted its second Datathon, sponsored by Fifth Tribe, this time in-person. The prompt inspired students to analyze a COVID-19 dataset and present their unique findings to “inspire future action to help towards ending the pandemic.” While the week-long event occurred in February, co-leads Tania Arya and Amod Mathur began planning months in advance. Arya and Mathur are both seniors majoring in computer science from Cohort 33.
Celebrating 30 Quality Years of QUEST
Since its beginning in 1992, the QUEST Honors Program has taken in 38 cohorts of students, providing tangible professional skills, friendships, and memories to last a lifetime. QUEST students have worked with 117 unique project sponsors on 276 different projects, using problem-solving skills to develop real-world solutions to complex challenges. This year, QUEST is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and there will be multiple ways to get involved in the celebration!
QUESTees Around the Globe: Study Abroad Reopens
College is the land of countless new opportunities, and one of the most exciting is the opportunity to study abroad. With the ability to choose a program anywhere in the world, studying abroad offers a time to learn about your passion while meeting new people and exploring new cultures. This month, I talked to three QUEST students who are currently taking their studies global about their exciting experiences.
While studying abroad is an exciting point of any student’s years of college, it can be difficult to find a program that’s the right fit for you. Ethan Martinez, a computer science major in Cohort 36, is currently part of the UMD Exchange program to University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. He found the program using the Study Abroad Course Database, which helped him plan out what courses would give him credit. He also consulted friends who had also studied abroad there. Martinez wasn’t only focused on the academics; as an outdoor and history enthusiast, he was excited to see the Scottish Highlands and explore historical sights such as medieval castles. Alexa Schwab, a business management major in Cohort 36, is currently studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain as part of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona program. She found that utilizing UMD’s study abroad advisors helped her match up with a program that fit her goals. Schwab loved that Barcelona was a beach city, had many English speakers, and was easy to travel through the rest of Europe. When it comes to finding a study abroad program, utilizing university resources is vital for straightening out the logistics but picking a place that aligns with your personal travel interests should also be considered.
QUESTee Alexa Schwab with the Mona Lisa in Paris, France
Studying abroad is largely about expanding your horizons and learning about new cultures both personally and academically. Martinez has found his best times so far to be traveling in both Scotland and through Europe with his flatmates. Some of the highlights were visiting the Edinburgh castle where he learned about Scottish royalty, St. Margaret’s church which is over 1,000 years old, and Copenhagen where he saw the Rosenborg Slot. When not traveling, he enjoys hiking Arthur’s Seat and visiting Scottish pubs to meet other students and locals. Schwab has taken advantage of Spain’s location to visit several countries including France and Switzerland while also taking time to see many of Spain’s beautiful cities. One of her best memories was taking a chocolate making class in Switzerland. Rishi Parikh, an aerospace engineering major in Cohort 35, is studying at University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) in Madrid, Spain as part of the Clark in Madrid program. Parikh has spent his time in Madrid making new friends from all around Europe including Italy, Scotland, and Germany and trying different activities while abroad. Academically, he finds self motivation to be the key to success.
Copenhagen, Denmark taken by QUESTee Ethan Martinez
When it came to advice for future QUEST students looking to study abroad, the interviewees had plenty of helpful tips. Parikh advises stepping out of your comfort zone to make friends that are not just from English-speaking countries and even going random with roommates to meet people from all over. He is a strong supporter of keeping an open mind and taking the time to explore. Martinez agrees, explaining that meeting students outside of the US gives a fresh perspective. He also advises future study abroad students to make time for having fun as this experience won’t come again. Although studying abroad can sometimes seem like an intimidating and daunting process, with the use of plenty of resources, it can be one of the best times of our college career. It’s a wonderful time to actually discover yourself and see the world from a totally different view. Enjoy the rest of your semesters abroad!