“The UMB Pulse” is a new podcast produced by the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Office of Communications and Public Affairs.
Co-hosted by Charles Schelle, senior media relations specialist; Dana Rampolla, director of integrated marketing; and Jena Frick, senior media relations specialist, “The UMB Pulse” will help listeners stay up to date on changes and guidelines as we navigate our return to campus — a way to get back in touch with the heartbeat of UMB after more than a year of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Get to know your co-hosts with two truths and a lie, and later on, we talk about on-campus and off-campus dining options are available as we transition for a return to UMB.
Welcome to The UMB Pulse | 00:28
Introduce Yourself | 02:43
The Pulse Check | 12:47
Food For Thought | 15:57
On Campus Dining | 18:12
Off Campus Options | 22:25
Episode 2 Preview | 28:21
Listen to The UMB Pulse on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you like to listen. The UMB Pulse is also now on YouTube.
Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.
“The UMB Pulse” is a new podcast produced by the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Office of Communications and Public Affairs.
Co-hosted by Charles Schelle, senior media relations specialist; Dana Rampolla, director of integrated marketing; and Jena Frick, senior media relations specialist, “The UMB Pulse” will help listeners stay up to date on changes and guidelines as we navigate our return to campus — a way to get back in touch with the heartbeat of UMB after more than a year of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Get to know your co-hosts with two truths and a lie, and later on, we talk about on-campus and off-campus dining options are available as we transition for a return to UMB.
Welcome to The UMB Pulse | 00:28
Introduce Yourself | 02:43
The Pulse Check | 12:47
Food For Thought | 15:57
On Campus Dining | 18:12
Off Campus Options | 22:25
Episode 2 Preview | 28:21
Listen to The UMB Pulse on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you like to listen. The UMB Pulse is also now on YouTube.
Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.
Welcome to the USB pulse. I'm Charles Schelle, senior media relations specialist for the University of Maryland, Baltimore and your host for this program. With me, I have my two colleagues, Director of integrated marketing Dana Rampolla, and senior media relations specialist, Jena Frick.
Jena Frick:Hey,
Dana Rampolla:Hi, Charles.
Charles Schelle:Hello!
Dana Rampolla:Hi Jena.
Charles Schelle:We'll get to introductions in a second. But what is the UMP Pulse all about? Well, this podcast is a way to stay up to date on all the changes in the return to campus guidance. It's also a way to get back in touch with the heartbeat of UMB after a year of disruption.
Dana Rampolla:Every episode will have special guests on the pulse to talk about how they navigated working and learning through the quarantine. And also we'll have them tell us what's happening as we start back to campus. During this transition, we're all learning and adjusting so our guests will be able to help give us words of wisdom, wisdom that will help inspire and excite everyone to get back to campus.
Jena Frick:Although return to campus is a big part of the UMB Pulse, this podcast will also serve as a way to learn more about everything happening here at UMB. Keeping your finger on the pulse so to speak. We have so many amazing programs, projects and professionals here on campus and we already have a eally great guest list of people scheduled to come on for you t is summer. And we are very exc ted to bring them to you.
Charles Schelle:Definitely. So we are also very excited that you are tuning in to our very first podcast episode. We'll be putting this out every other Thursday. You can find them on the UMB YouTube channel, and at www.umaryland.edu/pulse. And we're using Buzzsprout to help distribute to Spotify, Pandora, Apple podcasts where ever you want to listen to us.
Dana Rampolla:So for our inaugural episode, we want to give you some food for thought. You get my little pun there food there. I love to cook I love to eat and I'd love to talk about food. We'll be talking about where you can grab a bite to eat on campus with the latest guidances are on food in the office and even what you need to know about food at events.
Jena Frick:But first, why don't we start off by introducing ourselves with a segment called Introduce yourself. For this segment, what we're going to do is we're going to play a little game called two truths and a lie. pretty self explanatory. We're going to go around you tell us to truth and a lie about yourself. And we're just going to go ahead and try and guess what it is.
Charles Schelle:So who wants to go first?
Dana Rampolla:Charles, why don't you go first?
Jena Frick:Yeah, you started us off. So
Charles Schelle:Pressure, so much pressure. Okay, number one. I personally know the guy who came up with the catchphrase, boom goes the dynamite.
Jena Frick:What?
Charles Schelle:Number two, are we going to like test ourselves after each one? Do you want to hear all three
Jena Frick:No, hear all three.
Charles Schelle:Okay. The second one. I've actually played ice hockey with people who are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Dana Rampolla:That's pretty impressive.
Jena Frick:Like the Mighty Ducks?
Charles Schelle:He wasn't on the Mighty Ducks. Well, someone one of them might have been. I'm not sure.
Jena Frick:I guess that's the trick.
Charles Schelle:We'll have to figure that one out. And I've been to another hockey related one. I've been to every NHL arena.
Dana Rampolla:Hmm.
Jena Frick:I think the last one is the lie. I think you've been to a lot of them. But not every single one.
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, I think I'm with you, Jena. Only because that first one I was hesitant. But that's so quirky. It sounds like that would be you Charles
Jena Frick:I know, it's almost like too specific and random that it can't be a lie.
Charles Schelle:You're right. Right. Yeah. So I've been to a lot of arenas. About half of them.
Dana Rampolla:That's pretty good. So it's your goal to get to all of them.
Charles Schelle:Absolutely.So I'm having to go to Seattle this coming year. That's the expansion team - get the Kraken.
Jena Frick:Awesome. Very cool.
Charles Schelle:Do you want to hear about the others?
Jena Frick:Yeah. Yeah. Tell us what is the boom goes the dynamite thing. Please expand on that.
Charles Schelle:Well, Jena, I don't know if you remember, but there was a time before YouTube. Ebaumsworld.
Jena Frick:I know Embaumsworld. Well, I'm not that young. Come on, Charles.
Charles Schelle:Actually, this was when YouTube search first started coming along. So I was attending college at Ball State University. And Brian Collins lived on my floor in my dormitory. And he would stop by we would talk us here there. I didn't know him that well, but knew him personally. He lived in the room right across Around the corner and we talked to my roommate all the time. And he was on a live telecast student telecast of news, they would we would do it live there. And he had to sub in for sports because nobody else showed up. Oh, and he was a freshman. And he had a very difficult time getting through it. And just like stumble, it was silent. It was very cringe and you felt bad for him. But then he redeemed himself on a Pistons, Pacers highlight. And he said, and he passes it to the man shoots it, and boom goes the dynamite. And he just nailed it. He redeemed himself and then went viral. It was like one of the first kind of big viral videos he went on David Letterman, CBS This Morning. Oh, I wrote articles about him and talk to him. He had a very difficult time through it. But he redeemed himself he had a story someone actually tried to copyright his catchphrase and write it on a T shirt. I discovered that and wrote a report on it
Jena Frick:You're kidding he was a freshman in college when this happened?
Charles Schelle:Yeah, so it was really great because he wind up inspiring change at the university like we should actually provide training on teleprompters to get your feet wet.
Dana Rampolla:That's good, that's good. Poor guy. He took one for the team.
Charles Schelle:Yeah. And years later all these years later, there's a huge Wikipedia entry on this by the way if you've had like Will Smith seat at the Oscars. It's been a Family Guy Sports Center. It's been in pop culture now for with like, Good 13 years or so now. Still going. But he was actually on Tosh.O for web redemption. A few years ago.
Jena Frick:No way.
Charles Schelle:Yeah. So
Jena Frick:Oh, that's cool.
Dana Rampolla:And you knew him when
Charles Schelle:I knew him when
Dana Rampolla:Wow, that's pretty cool.
Charles Schelle:The Hockey Hall of Famer, I didn't know this until after the game. So I had lived in Florida for a lot of it. And I subbed in as a goaltender on a team. And after the game, they're like, Do you know who your defenseman was tonight? No , I'm just like, he look pretty good. It's like Steve Shutt. And I was like, Who's that? I'm a huge hockey fan, but
Dana Rampolla:Did you say shut the door.
Charles Schelle:Yeah, shut out the door. Right. And I was like, before my time he's like, Steve Shutt Montreal Canadiens. He's won like five Stanley Cups and won like he scored like 60 goals in a season. I was like, Oh my God. He was he was a forward in the National Hockey League. But he played defense that night and still played with a wood stick and just looked tremendous. He retired down there and runs horses like Polo horses with another Hall of Famer Larry Robinson whi lived in this room.
Jena Frick:Wouldn't it been so funny if he was like, really terrible, and you were just like jeering at him the whole time. Like Come on, pick it up. turns out he's really famous Hall of Famer guy.
Charles Schelle:Yeah. Like who would have known?
Dana Rampolla:That is fun. Well, we know a little more about Charles now. You want me to go next?
Jena Frick:Yeah, go for it. Dana.
Dana Rampolla:Alrighty, so my first Fun fact is that I used to joust which is Maryland State sport. And my family was actually called the First Family of jousting because all of us in the family jousted. Second little tidbit, which, if my children listen to this will be shocking to them. We actually have five children, my husband and I've been married for over 30 years. We never allowed our kids to get tattoos, we kind of thought you know, if you have money to spend on tattoos, then you can be paying your own car insurance or your own phone bill. So it was one of the family rules, no tattoos? Well, little did they know that I actually have a very small tattoo in a very inconspicuous place because when I was in college, I was a huge marine bio fan. I was a bio major. And there's a little tattoo that they don't know about because of where it's located. Now they do now and it is you guessed it.
Jena Frick:So I guess that's one of the truths. It's a dolphin!
Dana Rampolla:My senior thesis was on dolphin echolocation. And simple fact number three, I don't drink coffee or tea. I can't stand hot drinks. I don't like even the smell of coffee. So everybody who comes in the office in the morning, you know, they've got their cup of coffee, their cup of cup of tea. I'm like, Oh, please just don't even bring that near me.
Charles Schelle:Hmm,
Jena Frick:okay, I think the first one is a lie.
Dana Rampolla:Okay,
Charles Schelle:I feel like yeah, they would have to because you're you have orange juice beside you. I'm just basing it off of that.
Dana Rampolla:Okay, well, you're all wrong. I don't drink coffee or tea. But I do joust. Well, I did joust haven't done it for a while. And Charles I thought for sure you were going to not guess that one. You are going to contradict what the state sport is.
Charles Schelle:Actually, yeah, cuz I thought I was gonna say lacrosse,
Dana Rampolla:Right Right. So here's an interesting tidbit. The state team sport is lacrosse, but the state sport is jousting. And I don't remember the dates but lacrosse didn't become the state team sport. They petitioned the whole time I was growing up jousting. They were petitioning to have it converted from jousting to lacrosse, but they didn't win but they did get a little a little kudos and that it became the team sport. They created a new title.
Jena Frick:Wait, so the last one was a lie?
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, the last one's a lie.
Jena Frick:So you do drink coffee?
Dana Rampolla:No, I don't drink coffee.
Jena Frick:But that was the truth.
Dana Rampolla:Yeah. Oh man I messed up!
Charles Schelle:We 'll redo that one. We can just start on Dana's.
Jena Frick:So Fact number four Dana is not good at following directions
Dana Rampolla:I'm so embarrassed.
Jena Frick:No it's fine!
Charles Schelle:We'll leave that one in actually.
Dana Rampolla:That's hilarious.
Jena Frick:It happened.
Charles Schelle:Yeah, that's funny. I was like, wait, so they're all true?
Dana Rampolla:No, No, no they're not all true. You guys had me convinced the tattoo was false. All right. We need to change that last part. Oh. Yeah, that tattoo is false.
Jena Frick:You don't have a tattoo?
Dana Rampolla:No, I don't have a tattoo.
Charles Schelle:Oh, okay.
Dana Rampolla:You two acted in such a way that I thought for a minute that I did.
Charles Schelle:Wow. You are like a Master tricker
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, I'm suh a liar that I had myself tricked.
Jena Frick:Oh my gosh. Did you even write a thesis on dolphins?
Dana Rampolla:I did. I did. That part was true.
Charles Schelle:When you say you were a fan of, like I was anticipating like a like Aerosmith tattoo or something.
Dana Rampolla:Oh, that could have been that could have been I've seen Aerosmith long
Charles Schelle:I think you told me an Aerosmith story.
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, that's for another time.
Charles Schelle:Yeah.
Jena Frick:Wow. That was a really convincing
Dana Rampolla:Jena. That was so convincing I fooled myself.
Charles Schelle:You know how close we were to just cutting this entire segment until you redeemed yourself?
Dana Rampolla:Oh, lordy.
Charles Schelle:Jena, beat that one.
Jena Frick:Well, mine mine aren't as like in depth and intransit --
Dana Rampolla:Interesting and intricate,
Jena Frick:intricate, as your guys's but I will go ahead and give it a try. So Fun Fact number one, I do stand up comedy in my spare time. Fun Fact number two. I used to ride horses as a kid and won a couple of blue ribbons and such. And number three, I have seen every single Simpsons episode ever.
Dana Rampolla:Wow.
Charles Schelle:I would say one of the three seem to go together because I know you definitely do comedy
Dana Rampolla:right.
Charles Schelle:So I would say you never wrote a horse.
Dana Rampolla:I'm gonna go with number two. You never rode a horse?
Jena Frick:Yes.
Dana Rampolla:We're just trying to join into my jousting.
Jena Frick:No, I'm actually terrified of horses. So it's the opposite.
Dana Rampolla:I can't help you overcome it when I can't remember if I drink coffee or have a tattoo.
Jena Frick:Cool. I'll drink a coffee and you ride a horse and
Dana Rampolla:Perfect. Perfect
Charles Schelle:Don't spill your coffee riding the horse.
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, that wouldn't be good. Oh, well. Let's get back to our work at hand. That was fun.
Charles Schelle:Before we get to talking about the food you can find on campus. Let's do a quick pulse check.
Dana Rampolla:Alrighty, the pulse check is where we dish out the details on the latest return to campus guidance. So if you want a quick listen of just the facts, the pulse check is where you will find all of the latest information.
Jena Frick:The pulse check will evolve because eventually we all will have returned to campus for the most part,
Charles Schelle:right. And here's what you need to know as of our recording on July ninth. This is your pulse check. UMB has announced vaccination protocols for on campus students and employees. There are several key dates at play. So follow closely. Effective August 16. All on campus students or employees must be vaccinated to visit campus. definitions of what is considered on campus along with the list of consequences for not being vaccinated is listed on the recovery website at www.umaryland.edu/coronavirus. Click on the return to campus guide. All on campus students must show proof of being fully vaccinated by August 2 or two weeks before the start of classes if their program starts at a later date. students engaged in clinical or field site activities should note that external sites may have stricter vaccine roles than you MB. Being unvaccinated may impact the ability of a student to participate in activities at those external sites. Failure to complete the clinical or experiential portion of a student's education requirements will impact their ability to graduate. On campus employees who are not vaccinated may be prevented from university sponsored travel and will receive a below standards on their evaluation among other consequences.
Dana Rampolla:The COVID-19 visitors guidance is now streamlined and update issued July 1 removed the different classifications of visitors. The visitors Acknowledgement Form has also been removed, and sponsors are encouraged to keep a list of attendees. Visitors will follow the updated ulmb policy on face coverings but will not be asked about their vaccination status. And it maintains a requirement to notify the COVID recovery task force for activities plan for groups of 25 or more. The entire policy can be read on the recovery website.
Jena Frick:faculty staff and most students don't have to complete the safe On campus daily symptom monitoring emails, this only applies if you are fully vaccinated. So if you have not gotten the shot yet, you will still need to fill out the daily form until two weeks after your final dose of the vaccine. The safe on campus emails will stop for those who are fully vaccinated and will take about 24 hours for you to be removed from safe after submitting proof. However, employees and students who self reported vaccination information before June 14 may need to submit additional documentation. Fully vaccinated students at the school of medicine and School of Nursing will need to continue to use the daily form only on days they visit an off site clinical practicum site. You do not need to fill out the safe on campus forum on days that you are working or learning remotely. For more information check out the USB recovery website at you maryland.edu slash Coronavirus. Then click the link to safe on campus on the left side of your screen. And that is your USB pulse check.
Charles Schelle:Alright, so let's get to the meat of this week's episode. And that's food on campus. So Dana, Jena, what would you two usually do at lunchtime in the office,
Jena Frick:I would usually bring a lunch. Like I would just do like a bag lunch or something probably like leftovers. But then occasionally, we would order from like grubhub or something like that, which was always fun. We'd like eat in the front conference room area, you know, just depending on the day.
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, same, I would usually just pack some leftovers or a salad something quick and easy. And I'm not a breakfast eater. So usually around mid to late morning, that urge hits and I'm like, oh shoot that intermittent fasting time is wearing off I need to eat.
Charles Schelle:Yeah. Now I haven't been in the office all that much because I started during the pandemic. And so what I would usually do is try to pack my lunch. And if not, I would just try to visit somewhere nearby. And I've had the joy to at least check out Lexington market even though it's under construction, the there are still vendors in there, you can grab a nice, you know, sandwich chips and drink. If you need something real quick or a salad. It's really cool to see the new one just rising up out of the ground. There's windows and brick on it already. And
Jena Frick:yeah, definitely have to check that out. I like pass it every time I come onto campus. And I'm kind of like, wow, this is exciting.
Charles Schelle:Yeah. And I wish like you know, now this is like we're teleworking and eating at the same time. So some of us are hybrid. And so I've been trying to do better
Dana Rampolla:get back into a routine,
Charles Schelle:right? So definitely more salads, because I'm like, I'm not walking all that much. Now, I just need to graze a little bit more.
Dana Rampolla:I think it's gonna be interesting to see which restaurants from pre pandemic are still up and running. Yeah, hopefully a lot of favorites. Well,
Charles Schelle:speaking of that, so one of the big questions we have in our mailbag is about where students and employees can go to grab food on campus. And what will that look like as we transition back to campus over the next few months,
Jena Frick:so we have a mailbag.
Charles Schelle:It's a digital mailbag. If you have questions about the return to campus effort and new guidance, you can submit your questions on the UMB recovery website, and the COVID Recovery Team will get them all answered. You can also submit questions through the podcast by visiting the website at www.umaryland.edu/pulse.
Dana Rampolla:So Charles, we had a few employees asking about food and snack options and around their buildings. To get the answer. We enlisted our Director of Student Affairs Bill Crockett to get some helpful tips. He said, If we see an empty vending machine, or it's not working, we can simply contact canteen services. That's the company that actually operates the contract for those machines. So it's not going to be a person in our building who's going to fill them grab a pen, because I'm going to give you a number you can call canteen services directly at 410-626-9400. Now if you can't remember that number, didn't write it down. No one in your office has it. You can also reach out to Raymond Dudek he is the Director of Business Services and the Office of the Provost. And if you notice any vending machine issues that haven't been fixed, please reach out to Raymond and he can get it to get it taken care of. Do you two have a vending machine go-to snack?
Charles Schelle:Yes. Snickers nice. I will turn it to Betty White in a hot minute. If I don't have one.
Dana Rampolla:Is this a daily thing couple times a day?
Charles Schelle:You know what? Depends how much I'm walking around the city. Once you start walking a few blocks, especially in the heat. You get a little hungry but
Jena Frick:You're not you when you're hungry.
Charles Schelle:Exactly. I'm not. And I don't know if you've seen this on the news. A new Snickers combo snack that someone has invented. I think it's called the snickle they're cutting a pickle and like carving it out and putting a Snickers inside of the pickle. Why? Yeah. Why? I don't know if I want to try it or not. I mean, it sounds interesting. sounds disgusting.
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, I'd be willing to try it. I love if it's a dill pickle. Yeah, Costco has a great pickle dip, by the way. Oh, see. It's yummy.
Jena Frick:I feel like I need to try that now. Because that's so bizarre
Charles Schelle:I know.
Dana Rampolla:One of those things that's so bizarre it might be really good.
Charles Schelle:Yeah, something salty, something sweet little sour.
Dana Rampolla:Yeah. Jena How about you?
Jena Frick:I really like stuff like that. Where I like like, I'll put like peanut butter on a on a burger because I like this this sweet and salty mix. You're giving me a look Dana
Charles Schelle:Do you put banana on it as well like because then it'll be like Elvis style right?
Jena Frick:I don't put banana but they like so I went to JMU and there was a local bar there that had an Elvis burger and it wasn't banana but it was like peanut butter Mayo bacon on a cheeseburger and yeah, I know it sounds disgusting, but it's so freakin good.
Charles Schelle:Is that your go-to snack?
Dana Rampolla:Is it in a vending machine?
Jena Frick:If only they had them in the vending machines now. No, my go to is usually either a Reese's cup if I'm feeling sweet, or like Sun Chips or something if I'm feeling salty, it just all depends. But like sometimes when they have those like oatmeal cream pies, I always go for that. It's very rare though that I find them
Dana Rampolla:well you guys you guys know your vending machines. I try to avoid them because they're a little addicting. So
Jena Frick:yeah, well, I I live in apartment buildings. So vending machines are always my favorite place to get food but I don't feel like
Dana Rampolla:yeah, you don't have snacks around
Charles Schelle:I wish my apartment building had vending machines.
Jena Frick:So what about if I want to grab something like a little more than a quick snack on campus is the Campus Center still open for lunch option.
Charles Schelle:Right now the Campus Center is not set up for hot food like you normally so I'm sorry Jena, you can't get a hamburger with peanut butter on it at this time. But here's something to look forward to. In late July, they're expecting to have coffee and pastries available again, according to Bill, this will be all dependent on foot traffic in the building, which should be increasing over the next few months.
Jena Frick:Right UMB is doing a phased return to campus. So right now the campus population is at about 50% for staff and less than 25% for students but in the fall with more people returning and classes starting up again. There should be plenty of people around to open back up for business.
Dana Rampolla:Oh my gosh, let's hope so. If all goes according to plan, we should have at least 80% of people back on campus by the fall. So that would mean normal operations and hot food food service should be back in full swing. In the meantime, there's plenty of other delicious options you can check out where do you what are your favorite places to grab a bite?
Charles Schelle:Well, I earlier mentioned Lexington market which you know just really close by. The other day I was hoping to actually check out there's a new pita place on the corner near the student center. I see and you have to remember even though we're winding back all the protocols around the city you have to remember to still keep a mask when you because the sign said you needed a mask to enter because the business you know has the right to do that. No pitas so I did Potbelly. Which is a good backup too. That's a good back-up. Yeah,
Jena Frick:I know that I don't usually go into the hospital to check out their food court area but I've been there a couple of different times pre pandemic and they have really really great food options. They're like a sandwich station they have sushi like all this great stuff. Have you guys been in the medical center
Charles Schelle:I have not
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, I actually have I used to work down that way in shock trauma and that was a go to because it's cafeteria food, but it's their food is really great. It's a lot of home cooked kind of comfort food. You know, you might get some big chicken and mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese. But they also have healthier options and you know more weight conscious options that it's great food. I would recommend
Jena Frick:it not just jello on a tray.
Dana Rampolla:No not jello on a tray. I don't know that I've ever seen jello on a tray.
Jena Frick:I think tt's just in the movies or in TV shows that the hospital food is just jello on atray.
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, that's pretty Oh, and the grilled cheese the cold grilled cheese. Yeah, looks terrible.
Charles Schelle:So if I want to check it out, how easy is it to find like where do I enter the hospital? And how far do I kind of walk once I'm inside?
Dana Rampolla:Well,it is a nice little walk. You go in the main front door and you'll you'll pass by oboe Oban pan set how you say in French enough. Yeah, there you go. And you pass the great cookie which you can smell all the way down the hall. They have delicious warm cookies. And then you just head through that atrium area which is a beautiful walk and it's enclosed. Although you feel like you're outside because the ceilings are so high and it's so well lit. And then you get to the end of that Hall and you will come upon the sushi place that Jena mentioned as well as the the more traditional dining area
Charles Schelle:I have to check that out especially during the summer because it will cut down on the Hot walk.
Dana Rampolla:Right right. Yeah, you're in the inside for a good part of it. And like I said the food is just it's worth the walk. It's really good.
Charles Schelle:So where else if you can't get to the hospital
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, up on the north end of campus is part of Lexington market is mem Sahib and that's a really nice Indian restaurant. We've gone there. couple times for holidays, you have to have a little time to sit down but they actually do a buffet that is delicious. Before I worked here I was had not been exposed to Indian food a lot. But it's a great place to venture in and, and sample some different options that they have super nice people there too.
Jena Frick:Yep, the last actually, the last time I went there, it was like, we were celebrating the end of graduation and the commencements and everything because we had worked really hard to take, you know, photos and video of everyone like celebrating graduating all that stuff. And I was doing whole 30 at the time. So like I had like a lot of like food restrictions. And we went there the owner so nice pointed out every single thing that I was like, able to eat on my like restrictive diet and stuff. So I mean, not only is their food delicious, they are inclusive for like all different types of dietary restrictions. And they're so friendly and so sweet and accommodating. So definitely check it out, support a local business all that.
Dana Rampolla:That's terrific. Another spot Charles, that you wouldn't know about probably is down right on the plaza. You know, there's that park down there. There's a little What is that called cafe on the square? It's right.
Charles Schelle:Yeah I've seen that. I've always wondered about them.
Dana Rampolla:Yeah, they have it's real casual in there. Same thing, super nice people willing to help willing to customize something for you. But they also have ready made salads and sandwiches. So you can just grab and go pre pandemic, they had a couple of small tables inside. But truly, if it's a nice time of year, I just recommend grabbing something and heading over to the park get a little fresh air.
Charles Schelle:Yeah. And we are in the CEC actually the new CEC recoring this which is so awesome. They have a wonderful space here. And thank you for accommodating us, but they've done a lot with local restaurants too, right?
Jena Frick:Yes, yeah. So the CEC actually partners with a bunch of different local businesses and eateries in the area. If you want to check out a full list of them, you can go to the Office of Community Engagement website and check it out. And a lot of times the local food businesses cater our monthly community meals at the CEC So, you know, friends, neighbors, staff, students, everyone can come out, grab a free lunch, chat, socialize and also have some local food and support a local business. And then they have like, all different types of vendors with all different types of food. Like there's Mexican food from taco town, there's Jamaican food from not Jamaican I'm sorry, Haitian food from sobey cheese, which is delicious. Like, definitely check out the website. There's lots and lots of great local businesses and eateries that we partner with
Charles Schelle:Sounds like Epcot where you can just eat around the world,
Dana Rampolla:right? Yeah, does and Jena Didn't they have snowballs a week or so ago? For
Jena Frick:Yeah, yeah,we had a local business offer to just give us free snowballs because of the work that we've been doing in the community. And it was like a really fun thing. Everyone could just come out and grab a free treat on a hot day. It was awesome.
Dana Rampolla:And did I hear through the grapevine that right now they're doing those meals two times a month?
Jena Frick:Yes, I believe so. So it used to be the last Friday of the month, but now it is I think every other Wednesday is when we're doing it from noon to one. All sounds great. Well,
Charles Schelle:speaking of a Community Engagement Center, that's a perfect transition to tell you what's coming up on our next episode, we will be talking to the director of the UMB Community Engagement Center, Tyrone Roper, Tyrone will give us a rundown of how the center has been able to operate during the pandemic, and what events and programming will be coming to the new Community Engagement Center building.
Dana Rampolla:And if you have any questions for Tyrone or questions for us about COVID-19 guidance, visit our podcast page at www.umaryland.edu/pulse.
Jena Frick:And don't forget to help us spread the word about this new podcast by telling a colleague telling a friend and have them give us a listen.
Charles Schelle:Absolutely and thanks for listening to the UMB Pulse.
Jena Frick:The UMB pulse with Charles Schelle, Dana Rampolla and Jena Frick is a UMB Office of Communications and Public Affairs production edited by Charles Schelle sound engineering by Jena Frick marketing by Dana Rampolla Music by No Vibe recorded in the University of Maryland Baltimore Community Engagement Center.