All posts by: Magazine Editor

In many ways, Kelly Kwedar ’98, visual and performing arts (photography), leads a double life. A clinical practice supervisor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, by day, Kwedar manages a staff of forty doctors and twenty other hospital workers who take patients through the cancer treatment process.

By night, she is known to her friends in the Gotham Girls Roller Derby as “Lil Red Terror,” goddess of jamming, blocking, and dishing out pain in the rink.

“Roller derby has been my most amazing experience in New York. I’ve made the most amazing friends. I was never an athlete, but I like to put on some skates and go real fast and knock people over,” said the part-time photographer. “Who woulda thought?”

Artsy Beginnings

As a photography major at UMBC, Kwedar stayed extremely involved during her four years on campus. She worked as a phone operator in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and was a “huge newspaper nerd,” serving as both the arts and opinions editor for the UMBC newspaper, The Retriever Weekly.

Kwedar was also very involved in the photography department at UMBC. She frequently organized her own photography shows and feminist performance art pieces in the halls of the Fine Arts building, and – like so many UMBC students – took her studies very seriously.

“I did the whole insane college kid thing: taking eighteen credits and staying up until five in the morning way too often.”

After graduation, Kwedar packed up her camera and moved to New York, where she worked as a studio manager of a company that created murals for restaurants and fancy homes. After 9/11 however, the market for her artists’ opulent murals slowed, so Kwedar decided it was time for a more stable career.

“An Amazing Place to Work”

Through a friendly connection, she found her career as a clinical practice supervisor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she now manages several outpatient clinics within the hospital. As a manager, Kwedar works to make these clinics function more efficiently through staff development to improve the overall patient experience.

“I really love it. It’s an amazing place to work,” she said. “It’s like seeing little miracles every day. Cancer touches people in so many ways, like seeing their families, everyone who works here just cares a lot, and it shows in their work. It’s super intense, but it’s really rewarding at the same time.”

The Derby Discovery

Then there’s the “Lil Red Terror” side of Kwedar.

After reading about the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, she debated for a month whether or not to try it out. After she met the founder of the league, and the members of the team, she knew it was the perfect sport for her.

“My roller derby personality is tough and kind of crazy,” said Kwedar, who captains the Brooklyn Bombshells. “I always wear little shorts underneath my skirt that say something funny, so after I score a bunch of points or something, I’ll flash the audience.”

Kwedar was one of the original members of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, playing in their first game in 2004. Since then, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association has expanded to almost twenty teams nationally, and other leagues have formed in Canada and Ireland. The New York travel team is composed of players from the four base teams: Bronx Gridlock, Queens of Pain, Manhattan Mayhem, and Brooklyn Bombshells, which Kwedar calls her own. The travel team won the East Coast regionals last year, and headed to Austin, Tex., to play the top four nationally ranked teams.

Kwedar’s injuries are also something for the record books, but she wears them as badges of honor. She has suffered black eyes, countless bruises, and a hemorrhaged retina, which left her literally seeing red. She even had to wear an eye patch for about four months.

NYC Girl

As a Brooklyn resident and roller derby queen, Kwedar stays true to her UMBC roots in her lifestyle and in her hobbies. Kwedar is staying artsy, selling her photography on the popular www.etsy.com.

“There’s art everywhere around here, and I appreciate it a lot, even if I’m not doing it as my day job,” she said. “You think you can move to New York and just become a famous artist. The reality of that is a lot different, especially if you go out to bars and clubs every night, which is really easy to do. You really have to be pretty smooth to make it happen, and that’s just not me. I enjoy doing it for fun.”

As an artist, she finds her current home constantly inspiring.

“There’s such diversity in New York, and I think UMBC was a good starting point for that. There was everything you could ever imagine there. Every race, every ethnicity, every group is here,” she said. “I live in Brooklyn now, and I love it. I don’t think I’m ever going to leave. I just love the feeling of it. Most Tuesday nights I’m just at home goofing off on the internet, but I could be at 10 different bars, a burlesque show, or going to see a band. The same is true for roller derby. It’s the gamut of every kind of woman you could imagine, and they all play roller derby, and it’s so much fun.”

– Melissa Gilden ’10
Originally posted May 2008

When Mabrooka Chaudhry immigrated to the United States from Pakistan in 1982 at the age of nine, she didn’t speak a word of English.

Twenty-five years later, she exemplifies the American dream. A U.S. history and world religions teacher in Howard County, Chaudhry recently was honored as a recipient of the Milken Family Foundation National Educators Award, which rewards public school teachers who have demonstrated superior educational talent and long-range leadership potential.

“It’s a very humbling thing,” said Chaudhry, who received the honor at the end of last semester in a surprise presentation by state schools superintendent Nancy Grasmick. “It’s hard to figure out: why me?”

Finding her Niche

Although she spoke no English upon her arrival as a fourth-grade student in the Howard County School System, Chaudhry learned it quickly and assimilated seamlessly into American life.

“I think children are very resilient,” she said. “They can adjust much faster than adults.”

From the start, her father encouraged her to pursue whatever career she liked, as long as she made a point of helping others. After graduating from high school, she entered UMBC both for its strong educational reputation and its proximity to her home. With a major in history and a minor in biology, she also remained active on campus, participating in the Commuter Student Association and the Muslim Student Association.

She had no intentions of becoming a teacher; in fact, she had considered going into the sciences, or possibly medical school. However, as time passed, the idea of teaching appealed to her more and more.

“I found teaching because it fit my personality,” said Chaudhry, who earned a degree in secondary social studies education at College Park following her graduation from UMBC, and who has taught at Atholten High School in Columbia for the last 10 years. “I’m definitely a people person.”

Exceeding Expectations

Chaudhry has definitely made a mark at Atholton High. About five years ago, a student approached her about the idea of teaching a course on the topic of the history of world religions, so she wrote up a curriculum that was approved by the school. The elective course has been filled to capacity by upperclassmen every year since.

In addition, during the 2005-2006 school year, 100 percent of Chaudhry’s students earned a score of at least 3 on the Advanced Placement American Government exam.

Chaudhry will receive the monetary award of $25,000 from the Milken Family Foundation sometime this spring. Some of it may go toward her current graduate studies at Loyola College, where she is pursuing her master’s degree in liberal studies.

Originally posted February 2008

Just outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Adam Driscoll ’04 stopped his bike to check his blood sugar levels. His teammate, Patrick Blair ’03 waited patiently to continue their journey. Snowy mountain peaks filled the skyline.

During the summer of 2006, while many people were vacationing, Driscoll, a type 1 diabetic, and former UMBC track team members Blair and Jesse Stump ’06, mechanical engineering, spent their free time riding their bikes across the country to raise money for a school in Africa.

Building on that success, Driscoll and Blair last year founded Adventures for the Cure, raising more than $45,000 for a variety of causes, including the American Diabetes Association, by organizing extreme athletic events. In just a short time, the duo has made a name for their group, even becoming the subject of a documentary film.

Lifelong Teammates

Driscoll and Blair both came to UMBC for the same reason – to get top-notch training in computers, and to eventually get a good job in the IT and computer science field. They were also drawn to UMBC’s excellent reputation in science and math, as well as its proximity to their homes.

“I knew it was a school that wasn’t a joke,” said Blair, a computer science major. “It was a place where I could go and get a good education.”

During his time at UMBC, Blair worked as a research assistant in the computer science department. However, he and Driscoll, an information systems major, never crossed paths in the classroom; instead, they were teammates on the UMBC track team. Both competed all four years of college, and during Blair’s senior year (Driscoll’s junior year), they lived as roommates.

Filling in the Gap

The two remained friends and roommates as they graduated and started their first jobs at the Department of the Treasury and Northrop Grumman, respectively. Although they appreciated their jobs, Driscoll and Blair both felt a void.

“We both had these really great jobs, but we weren’t helping anybody,” Driscoll said.

While at a church retreat, Blair and Driscoll met two individuals who inspired them: a man who had discovered that he could run very long distances to raise money for charity, and the founder of Kupenda, a group that raises money to build boarding schools for African children with disabilities. Blair and Driscoll found both of their stories riveting and, since they enjoyed running and biking long distances, found that they, too, could compete in physical events to raise money for charity.

“We realized we could use the things we already liked doing to help other people,” said Blair.

A Healthy Start

Because of Driscoll’s personal experiences as a diabetic, Blair suggested that they start giving back by raising money for the American Diabetes Association. Ever the extreme athletes, the pair organized a two-day bike ride from Catonsville to Ocean City and back, raising $8,000 for the ADA. Motivated by their success, they decided to move into more extreme events, such as long runs and bike rides, in the name of raising money for charity. They founded Adventures for the Cure, a non-profit organization, shortly thereafter.

Adventures for the Cure is slowly but surely gaining publicity. Most recently, fellow alumnus Philip Knowlton ’03, visual arts, directed, produced, and edited a documentary chronicling their cross-country bike race, which resulted in raising $37,000 for Kupenda. “Adventures for the Cure” premiered in October 2007 at the Senator Theater in Baltimore, and is being shown at independent film festivals throughout the country. Knowlton, Blair, and Driscoll hope to eventually release a DVD of the film.

Their next big event, the Race Across America, will be held in summer 2008. Similar to the summer 2006 bike trip, RAAM will be a cross-country bike relay to keep raising money for charity, starting on the West Coast and ending in Annapolis, MD. At least one more UMBC rider will also be part of the team – Alex Driscoll ’08, environmental science, Adam’s brother.

– by Melissa Gilden ’10
Originally posted December 2007

Shari Elliker is one to talk. About true crime. About traffic. About movies and people and beer and whatever new and interesting tidbits pop up on her radar.

And people are listening.

As host of “The Shari Elliker Show” on WBAL morning radio and one of three on “Broadminded,” an XM Radio program described as “Sex & the City Meets the 3 Stooges,” the actress and radio personality has learned to truly enjoy the ups and downs of live broadcasting.

“When you’re live, you’re working without a net,” she said. “You’ve got to hope for the best and hope that whatever mistake you make can be fixed, or that it went by so fast no one noticed.”

Early Beginnings

Elliker started out as a film major at UMBC, but later moved into a specialization in broadcast communications via an interdisciplinary studies major. She served as general manager of the UMBC radio station, and during her freshman year secured an internship at the radio station 98 Rock, which inspired and fostered her interest in radio broadcast.

After college, she worked as a receptionist for several different media companies, hoping to work her way to the top. This route didn’t really pan out, however.

“It never works like that,” said Elliker. “Ever.”

Searching for another outlet for her speaking voice and ebullient personality, she began doing freelance acting and performing voiceovers. She spent seven years as a company member of various political satire troupes, including “Gross National Product,” and secured acting credits in “Homicide,” “America’s Most Wanted” and “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Obstacles on the Radio

In her quest to get into radio broadcasting, Elliker took some bold steps. Listening to the radio one day, it occurred to her how effectively traffic reporters get their name out to people. On a whim, she called the radio station and plainly asked, “How can I be a traffic reporter?” As it happened, the man who answered the phone was the regional manager of the radio station. Through this connection, Shari found her first job in the business as a beach traffic reporter on the Bay Bridge, which she wound up hating.

Elliker later found her way onto the morning show of 99.1 HFS, but it, too, wasn’t all that she expected. She didn’t meet her colleagues until the day before the first airing, and she knew immediately that the chemistry wasn’t there. As she struggled, Elliker started to doubt herself, thinking “this is the biggest mistake of my life. I’ve worked so hard for this, and this is terrible.”

“You have a responsibility to make the show interesting,” she said. “When that wasn’t happening, I felt like I should go back to doing traffic.”

Girl Power

Fortunately, Elliker didn’t stay in a lull for long. When her friend Christine Eads pitched a show called “Broadminded” to XM Radio, a satellite radio station available in the U.S. and Canada, she joined the three-woman show for daily – and sometimes racy – chat about relationships, pop culture, and two of her “true passions” – murder and beer.

“Women have really been under-represented in the radio, it’s really remarkable,” said Elliker. “It’s changing now. You rarely hear three women, hosting a morning show, talking about what they want, just like the men do. I’m very proud of the work that we’ve done.”

“It’s Like Having Your Own Room”

With a couple of years of “Broadminded” under her belt, and some time hosting a Sunday afternoon show on WBAL radio in Baltimore, in September Elliker closed a deal on her own daily talk show on WBAL, replacing long time morning host, Chip Franklin.

“The Shari Elliker Show” features a variety of lifestyle topics and guests, including UMBC alumnus Neil Beller ’83, information systems management, as well as discussion of national and local headlines – the type of flexibility Elliker enjoys. The timeslot allows Shari to do her morning show on WBAL, and then walk into a different studio to do “Broadminded.” She said she is thankful for the support she’s been given by the station.

“I can talk about things that I find interesting and have a passion for,” she said. “If you work with a group of people, there’s this constant compromise… which is fine, but it is kind of nice to have your own show. It’s like having your own room.”

– by Melissa Gilden ’10
Originally published October 2007