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	New Contacts, Old Friends Alumni Association Holds Annual Meeting UMUC’s "Virtual Dragons" Make History on the Potomac

A synchronized rowing team nicknamed the Virtual Dragons made UMUC history over the Memorial Day weekend by competing in the First Annual Dragon Boat Race and Festival held in Washington, D.C., on the Potomac River. The colorful races, which are held around the world, serve as a symbolic reenactment of the legendary tale of the efforts of fishermen to recover the body of statesmen-poet Chu Yuan, who drowned himself in protest of the corruption of the Chu Dynasty. The goal of presenting this first Dragon Boat Festival was to introduce Chinese customs to other cultures.

UMUC’s contribution to the festival didn’t end with handling oars. The university helped sponsor the event, President Gerald Heeger was a member of the honorary board of the Dragon Boat Festival, and UMUC Director of Special Events Marilyn Hart served on the technique committee as an advisory member. I-Ling Chow, of UMUC’s Art Advisory Board, and Ernesto Santos-DeJesus, director of the Office of Diversity Initiatives, also helped make the event a success.

"This boat race was an excellent example of the Eastern world and Western world meeting for fun and knowledge," said Chow, who acted as a coordinator between UMUC and the organizer of the colorful event.

While the Virtual Dragons didn’t win, they performed well. With only two weeks of training, the UMUC team finished third in both of its heats, less than a second behind the winner of the first heat and only hundredths of a second out of second place, and recorded a much faster time in the second heat. Team captain Dharma Selva, acting associate director of annual programs for Institutional Advancement, said that race trainers were especially impressed; they said that preparing a team to compete usually takes from six months to a year.

"Although we didn’t win," Santos-DeJesus said, "we were more diverse [than most other teams], comprising men, women, students, employees, and participants from varying backgrounds, ethnicities, and countries such as Malaysia, Morocco, India, the United States, the Philippines, and Vietnam."

Virtual Dragons