New digital issue of The Hill magazine available now

Alumni may have been wondering where the summer issue of The Hill magazine was this year, but they got the answer on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020 when the magazine launched digitally for the second consecutive issue. Although The Hill could not be printed in 2020, a new digital platform ensured the McDaniel College community was able to stay up to date with their friends, classmates, and the college.

The combined summer/autumn issue includes both issues’ worth of class notes columns, so that alumni who were scheduled to report on news in their lives did not have to wait. Alumni from 25 class years wrote in about the major updates in their lives over the past few years, and in particular, about how the pandemic and the need for social distancing has affected their travel, family events, social gatherings, and their businesses. Some resorted to Zoom reunions and happy hours in lieu of Homecoming on the Hill, while others were able to escape for outdoor adventures, like hiking and standup paddleboarding. Alumni-owned businesses pivoted their models to survive shutdowns, and several alumni held or attended smaller “micro-weddings” over the summer.

This issue also highlights the vulnerabilities in food systems and food security in America, in a feature package called “From Farm to Takeout,” which highlights two alumnae and one faculty member:

• Cleo Braver ’76 is an environmental attorney turned farmer who supplied her community on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with organic produce, eggs, and meat this year.
• Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Elly Engle dedicated her time to community and campus gardens and donated the bounty to those in need around Carroll County.
• Kathleen Beyer ’98, who manages a small Italian restaurant, had to turn to takeout and creative customer engagement tactics to stay relevant when dining operations were halted in New Jersey.

The Hill also spoke with Sharon Love M.S. ’76, a Deaf Education alumna whose daughter, Yeardley Love, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2010. The nonprofit she founded, the One Love Foundation, has grown to more than 25,000 volunteers over the last 10 years who are dedicated to educating middle school, high school, and college students on the warning signs of intimate partner violence.

Alumni also get a sneak peek at the newly renovated, donor-funded Roj Student Center and the ways it impacted students’ lives as they returned to the Hill this fall seeking a little bit of normalcy and brightness in their lives during this trying year.

Finally, Rachel Druckenmiller ’06 provides readers with four steps to building greater resilience through adversity through her own experiences with burnout and hardship. Whether coping with poor mental health, physical illness or injury, or adapting to business and financial changes, Druckenmiller provides actionable steps to take to start 2021 off feeling stronger.

Despite the challenges this year presented, there was a thread of optimism and hope for the year ahead among all of the alumni and faculty members we spoke to for this issue of The Hill. The 106-page magazine is available both in PDF format and on an accessible, mobile-friendly platform. Links to both formats can be found at www.mcdaniel.edu/magazine.