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.
Even though school isn’t in session over the summer, that doesn’t change the fact that QUEST students are always doing amazing things. This summer, 86% of QUEST sophomores and juniors participated in internships, while another 5% continued coursework or participated in research and another 5% had full-time jobs. The top companies to hire QUEST interns were Capital One, KPMG, and Meta (each with 5 students from QUEST). QUESTPress is excited to highlight two of our students and take a look back at their summers!
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.
With the end of the academic year approaching, it’s that time when we have to say goodbye to a few cohorts of wonderful seniors. I had the chance to speak to two graduating QUESTees about their favorite QUEST traditions and their plans for after graduation. Continue reading
Dear QUEST Community and QUESTPress readers,
As we send out our last issue of the school year, we wanted to write a special farewell and thank you for serving as your QUESTPress co-leads. First, we wanted to thank our dedicated readers. While we enjoy sharing stories about the QUEST community, they don’t deliver impact without the curiosity and support from all of our readers. It warms our hearts when our stories spark conversation in our community. We also appreciate all of the QUESTees that have been featured or interviewed for an issue – your passions inspire us all!
Tanu Kulkarni (left) and Heather Bacon (right)
Second, we wanted to thank our wonderful QUESTPress staff. This year, we took on an entirely new staff, and they were all so dedicated and willing to learn the second they joined our team. We’ve been proud to watch their writing skills grow as they develop their unique voices. They truly exemplify the qualities of compassion, creativity, and intellectual curiosity that we strive for in the QUEST community. Aside from the articles they write, our staff members have worked to establish a bond over the past year, making our meetings a breath of fresh air. We can’t wait to see how our staff continues to grow, especially under the leadership of our next co-leads, Sona Chudamani (Cohort 37) and Andrew Sien (Cohort 36)! Best of luck!
We also want to thank our QUEST staff advisor, Jessica Roffe, for all of the support she’s given us this past year. Jess continuously serves as an ear for news within the QUEST community, looking to uplift the accomplishments of both students and alumni. In addition, Jess always makes sure we are putting out the most polished version of our issues by providing edits and suggestions, which is not always an easy task. We also want to thank QUEST’s Program Coordinator Rachel DiDonna for bringing together all of the student organizations’ leaders to ensure collaboration and share best practices. Lastly, we wanted to give a shoutout to the other student organization leaders – you’ve all been a pleasure to work with and we’ll miss you all!
As our term comes to an end, we wanted to share some of our favorite QUESTPress memories and the impact they’ve had on us.
Heather Bacon, Cohort 34:
I joined QUESTPress in the fall of my junior year when Tanu convinced me by telling me how much fun it is. While I was hesitant to join as an upperclassman, the rest of the staff made me feel like I fit right in 🙂 One of my favorite QUESTPress memories was writing my first article about Cohort 12 alumna Amanda Nachman’s new book “Qualified” where she helps young adults realize their full potential and achieve their career goals. You can read the article here! As someone who felt lost about my career path at the time, I felt inspired by her journey and how she’s used that wisdom to help others. Over the years, I’ve found that interviewing alumni has been one of my favorite parts of QUESTPress – there is always so much you can learn through their experiences. In addition to the connections I’ve formed with alumni, bonding with the other student leaders has also been a highlight as a co-lead. I would always look forward to seeing all the student leaders at our monthly meeting. My favorite meeting was when we did a Trader Joe’s potluck!
Tanu Kulkarni, Cohort 34:
I joined QUESTPress in the fall of my sophomore year before I had even taken the introductory QUEST course (BMGT/ENES190H) after meeting co-leads Celine Moarkech (Cohort 29) and Kara Eppel (Cohort 29) at the QUEST Student Involvement Fair. Though I had no prior writing experience, Celine and Kara had me writing articles off the bat, allowing me to quickly find the fun in writing. QUESTPress was my first taste of the QUEST Community, and I am so grateful for the relationships I’ve formed through it. I’ve interviewed many students, alumni, and faculty throughout my time, and many of these interviewees have become friendly faces who I still keep in touch with. I couldn’t imagine my time at UMD without this fun, creative outlet and the team I worked alongside. Thank you for everything, QUESTPress!
Though this is our last issue, our chapter with QUESTPress is far from closed. We will always look fondly on the skills we gained and the relationships we formed. QUESTPress has never been a responsibility, but rather an outlet to express creativity and expand beyond our comfort zone. We hope that you all continue to remain curious and engaged within the QUEST community. We’ll miss you all.
Lots of love,
Tanu and Heather
Tanu Kulkarni (left) and Heather Bacon (right)
Various members of our QUEST community are involved in technology-centered organizations campus-wide. Of these technology organizations, Technica and Bitcamp, two well-known hackathons, boast QUEST commitment. From directors to new members, I was able to hear from a couple of QUEST students about their experiences thus far.
With an abundance of homework and exams, spring break was a nice time for everyone to rest and recharge. For some, that included going on trips, ranging from the beach to another country!
As another school year comes to a close, the new cohorts have been selected and recently joined QUEST. Cohorts 39 and 40 consist of 90 students that are eager to be a part of QUEST community. To get to know the cohorts better, QUESTPress interviewed three new members of these cohorts to understand what they’re looking forward to during their time in QUEST.
Matthew Weinrich is a member of Cohort 39 and an Electrical Engineering major at the University of Maryland. He shared that with his degree, he aspires to go to law school and become a patent attorney. At UMD, he is also involved on the Maryland Clay Team. Weinrich shared, “When applying to QUEST, I think what drew me in the most was how QUEST seemed to be an assemblage of a lot of things I am passionate about: the pairing of business and engineering, working with ambitious and like-minded people, and getting hands-on industry experience with large-scale employers.” He also shared how excited he is to join a community like QUEST with outgoing people who are willing to help each other. When asked about what he is the most excited for about QUEST, he said, “I think I am most excited to further hone my communication, presentation, and critical thinking skills in order to become the best entrepreneur, engineer, and person I can possibly be.”
Matthew Weinrich
Kim Lek is a member of cohort 40, double majoring in Finance and Supply Chain Management. Outside of school, she enjoys sewing and playing different sports and is interested in learning about coding. What really caught Lew’s interest in the program was the variety of atypical application questions. She shared, “What really attracted me to QUEST was the interdisciplinary aspect of learning. I felt that it would give me exposure to what working in the real world would be like.” Lek is also excited about learning with the students in her cohort and said specifically, “I hope to learn how to communicate well with others and maybe skills that are crucial for other majors besides Finance and Supply Chain.”
Kim Lek
Mudit Mathur is a member of cohort 39 and a computer science major, originally from Anne Arundel County, Maryland. When applying to QUEST, he shared that what interested him the most was “the hands-on experience part. I don’t think I’ve seen too many other opportunities on campus for students to get involved with consulting for real clients.” Mathur is excited about the different student organizations within QUEST and looks forward to exploring them more over the next few years. Mathur is also excited about the sense of community within the program. Mathur hopes to learn in QUEST “more strategies for effectively working in a team and also generally how to conduct myself in professional business settings. I know many aspects of my career after college are going to involve teamwork to some degree, so it’s crucial that I pick up important skills now for things like delegating work, brainstorming, and mediating conflict. I am also eager to get experience working with QUEST’s clients because I believe it’s the best way to prepare yourself for actual industry post-grad.” Mathur wants to get into software engineering and is currently interning at Capital One’s Tech Incubator on campus. Outside from school, he enjoys all things music.
Mudit Mathur
These new QUESTees all are eager to begin their QUEST experience and take advantage of everything QUEST has to offer. QUESTPress is excited to see what Weinrich, Lek, and Mathur do over their time in QUEST, along with the rest of Cohorts 39 and 40! Congratulations to all of our newly admitted students!
It’s known that QUESTees tend to excel in their fields of study through the realms of business, engineering, the sciences, and more. However, outside of the academic environment, many QUEST students explore their passions through pursuing their respective hobbies of service, sport, and intellectual curiosity. This month, I was able to speak with two current QUESTees who are excelling in their respective fields of sport and service.
Winter break is a time for students to reset and take a break from classes, whether that means relaxing at home or hiking across the country on a journey with friends.
Cohort 34’s Morgan Hoffman, Advaith Bantval, Rohan Kasuganti, and Ritvik Jain at the Grand Canyon