With such a large population of Marylanders at UMBC, it’s not that unusual to run into someone you went to high school with. But when that someone is from your high school in Canberra, Australia, that’s a little more unexpected.
It was the love of the game that unexpectedly brought senior Annie Grove, biology, and junior Erin Behel, mechanical engineering, back together a few years after and a few thousand miles from where they first became friends. Behel is a softball player and daughter of a U.S. Marine, so moving was a regular family pastime. When she found herself in Australia (her mother’s home country) in grade seven, she met Grove, a soccer player, in high school. Once Behel’s father’s contract ended in 2018, she returned to Maryland. Unbeknownst to one another, they were both looking for athletic opportunities in the United States.
“I posted my announcement on social media saying I committed to UMBC, and I started getting all these messages from friends in Canberra saying ‘We’re pretty sure that’s where Grove is going!’” recalls Behel. “It was just insanity that out of all the colleges in the U.S., we’d both end up here.”
The friends can’t remember their first on-campus meeting (probably either the first student-athlete meeting or a visit to Behel’s dorm where Grove recalls “seeing all her pretty plants!”). But it’s certain they’ve enjoyed each other’s support since reconnecting and cheering from the stands at one another’s games.
There’s no “I” in team
Grove and Behel are just two of the many international student-athletes who have made UMBC their home away from home and support is at the forefront of those decisions.
Bruna De Padua, media and communications studies, originally traveled from Brazil to a small university in rural Missouri to pursue swimming. After a few months, she knew the fit wasn’t right and joined the NCAA transfer portal. Enter UMBC.
“As soon as I committed to UMBC, the process was so different from my other university,” De Padua says. For example, she appreciated how head swim coach Matt Donovan made sure she knew who to contact around campus for questions and help. Behel and Grove echo these sentiments, especially as it pertains to being able to focus on academics.
“I’ve heard from former teammates at other schools that they feel like they’re being punished if they choose to go to class and I’ve never, ever felt that,” says Behel.
Grove agreed, sharing, “Our coaches have always said that we need to go to class. And there’s so much emphasis on communication.”
Follow the leader
While they all agree the coaching staff has been invaluable in making their time at UMBC successful, they’re also grateful for fellow Retrievers who have helped throughout their journey.
De Padua is navigating her junior year now and knew she needed an internship to fulfill her academic requirements. After doing commercial modeling at an agency a fellow swim team alum Rola Hussein ’24 from Egypt worked for, De Padua was able to parlay that into her own spring/summer internship opportunity for the agency, doing social media and marketing.
She’s not the only one who was helped academically by her peers. Behel recalls a mechanical engineering softball player several years ahead of her who “paved the way for us to be able to show our coach and ourselves it’s possible to do both.”
In turn, Behel, De Padua, and Grove all seek to offer others support. “I’ve had so many conversations with people about how to get a bank account, how to get a phone number…really adult tasks that I had to figure out early on and now I’m passing it along,” says Grove.
They see UMBC as their home away from home and would encourage any international student-athlete to consider joining them. When asked what advice she would give to any new Retrievers from across the world, Grove simply summed up her experience by suggesting, “Just say yes to things and see what happens.”
Tags: At Play, Athletics, Biology, CNMS, COEIT, International, MechE, Spring 2025