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by Lisa Gregory
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Following his mother's footsteps . . . "I never thought of applying anywhere else," says Ben Schuman, who came to the University with an interest in piano, voice, and theatre and majored in music performance. A gifted artist, he was also part of the first class of Humanities Scholars. Ben graduated magna cum laude in 1996 and is now a graduate student at the Peabody Institute. He also performs with the chorus of the Baltimore Opera Company and last summer he participated in the Tanglewood Music Center's Phyllis Curtin Seminar in Massachusetts, a vocal program which accepts only 18 applicants from around the world. "I wouldn't be where I am today without the opera program at UMBC," says Ben, whose new wife, Dani Haslam Schuman, also is a UMBC alum. "It's really opened doors for me." Making up her own mind . . . Her mother's and brother's experiences weren't enough to convince Katy Schuman to come to UMBC. "I'm my own person," Katy declares. While she often came to campus to see her brother perform, she decided to visit other schools -- Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr, among others. However, "she kept comparing them to UMBC," says Mindy. Now a member of the Class of 2000, Katy is a Humanities Scholar majoring in English and pursuing her love of writing poetry. As young woman of varied interests considering her future plans, Katy admits, "There are a hundred things I want to do." She plays percussion and is minoring in music. She's performed in three short operas, participated in the concert choir, writes poetry for the campus literary magazine, is actively involved with the Freedom Alliance, and this past year lived on the "Women of Diversity" floor in her dormitory. Last winter she began working for the Admissions Office, calling prospective students interested in knowing more about UMBC. "I love this job," she says. "It's tremendous fun. I like telling people about UMBC, answering their questions. I can go on and on. I'm just fascinated by the wealth of cool people coming here," she adds. |
For The Shuman Family, UMBC Offered Something For Everyone |
"My children grew up here,"
says Mindy Milstein Schuman, who received her bachelor's degree in Psychology in 1972. A member of the "Fab Four" graduating classes, when Mindy returned to UMBC in 1988 to pursue a Ph.D., she had 13-year-old Ben and 9-year-old Katy in tow.
"When they were little, I was always here, so they were always here," Mindy says. "They had this familiarity with the place. They felt comfortable here." Today, Mindy Schuman is the School Psychology Facilitator for Baltimore City, responsible for psychological services in 30 schools. She also teaches at Towson University and has taught an introduction to psychology course at UMBC as well.
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