1. Jacquie Sikorski

2. Jennifer Maki

3. Anna Carlson

4. Kelly Petersen

1. For freshmen living in the dorms, a very important part of our day is eating in the Dining Center, or DC. The DC starts off some of our days with a good breakfast, gives us a midday break for lunch, and leaves our stomachs satisfied for the rest of the night after a delicious dinner. Or does it?
The DC requires three central components to work smoothly: food, service, and clean, working facilities. The improvements needed for a better DC reside in all three of them.
The first thing I think about when someone asks if I’ll go to the DC with them obviously is the food. Before I came to UMD I figured that the food would be amazing all the time. Now that I’ve been here for awhile I’ve learned that the quality is not much better- if at all- from high school lunch. I give them credit that the menu changes a little more often, but I prefer quality over quantity. The hot food isn’t kept hot for long, so get there right away. The cold foods (and milk) aren’t always as cold as they should be. I suggest that UMD starts monitoring their hot and cold foods with thermometers. Better beef would also be nice. The hamburgers are never very good and neither is the taco meat.
The service varies at the DC. I give them credit for stocking things. I’ve always had access to a tray, plate, knife, fork, spoon or cup. The service is usually good. Occasionally there’s an unhappy employee but normally they’re all very helpful and nice. The only thing I can see the DC employees doing better is checking to make sure the milk (especially skim) is refilled more often and that the tables get wiped down in between rushes.
The facilities are also alright at the DC. The microwaves work, the toaster runs, and the heat lamps have never stopped working to my knowledge. The chairs and tables are in good condition and the floor is usually pretty clean. Some problems do arise though. On occasion at breakfast when I go to get some juice a few of the different types are “out of order”. On many occasions the majority of the cappuccinos and hot chocolates haven’t worked. I can remember at least one time the soft serve ice cream machine not working, but making very loud noises instead.
UMD has a nice dining service; I’m not disagreeing with that. For the prices we pay for meals though, I’d expect a few improvements to be made there. Food service, although not highly respected, is an important job. Hopefully UMD feels the same way.

2. When I applied to UMD, I thought that I would get a good amount of financial aid and scholarships. After all, I had received a good score on my ACTs and graduated with a high cumulative GPA. When I found out that I would be receiving only $500 for academic scholarship, I was mad, but I soon found out that most people were in the same boat as I was. The whole process of applying for aid was confusing, and UMD didn't do much to help. The only help that I had was a web page informing me of what I had not yet completed.

If you expect to have your hard work rewarded when you attend a public college, expect to go out on your own and avidly pursue scholarships from every private source you can find, otherwise after graduation you will find yourself facing an enormous pile of loans to pay off.

3. Although on campus housing/dormitories are generally very livable and problem free, there is some room for improvement. After personal observations and insight from other UMD students I have found a few flaws with campus housing. The bathrooms in the dormitories are not cleaned on the weekends, if a mess or something occurs on a Friday, then the mess will still be there until it is cleaned on Monday; not exactly sanitary or enjoyable. The closet space in the dorms is not ideal. Most people do not have enough space for their clothes, even considering they are provided dressers or some other form of a wardrobe, although many students are happy with the size of the dorms. The apartments are equipped with very small bedrooms and what seems to be excessively large living and dinning room. It would be better if the living room was scaled smaller and the rooms a little larger, considering there are two people using the room most of the time while both are in the room. The lack of vacuums and brooms poses a minor problem, it would be better if the building had a couple vacuums that students could borrow, vacuum, and return. The lack of fans in bathrooms is a problem, when four people share a bathroom a fan is needed, the bathroom also gets very warm and moist without it, when 4 people shower during the day then the bathroom tends to stay a little wet. The use of 3M adhesive hook pads is not allowed, instead pushpins are substituted leaving thousands of small holes around the room, they get the job done, but they are not aesthetically pleasing. No matter where you are living on campus noise is always an issue; the walls are very thin and permit almost all noise to penetrate through. Lake Superior Hall is in need of some large improvements, the building and rooms are VERY dated and very small.