By Lily Rozenstrauch
For Mitzpeh
@lilischill15
David Rosenstein, a sophomore pursuing a dual degree in marketing and management, lit up when talking about this university’s positive qualities.
In addition to the school’s academics, he said the great amount of student pride drew him in. When he visited the campus for the first time, Rosenstein felt like students “bled red black and gold.”
His tour guide inspired Rosenstein to become a tour guide as well. Being part of Images Campus Tour Guides is now one of his favorite activities. Rosenstein is involved with many other organizations on campus, including Quest, a multidisciplinary honors program, UMD Scholars, Hillel, and LGBT organizations such as Hamsa.
His involvement with Hillel is part of his Jewish identity on campus. During his freshman year, Rosenstein only went to Hillel once a week for Friday night services and Shabbat dinner. It was not until Passover that year, that he felt a deeper connection to the organization. Now, Rosenstein eats at Hillel everyday.
Rosenstein is also involved in Ometz, an egalitarian community on campus based in Conservative Judaism. Rosenstein has grown from his beginnings at Hillel attending services once a week to leading services and helping out as much as he can.
“My favorite trait about David is his genuine happiness and desire for others to be happy. There is never a day I see David and he doesn’t go out of his way to ask how I am and make sure I am okay,” said Ariana Riske, who knows Rosenstein from Quest. Riske is a sophomore operations management and information systems major.
They also work on the Smith Undergraduate Association executive board together, on which Rosenstein is the vice president in marketing.
“This list is relative to all the things I could be involved with,” he said.
Rosenstein said there is so much more he could participate in but he is only involved with activities he truly feels passionate about. In addition, he delegates tasks to other members in his activities and said he is not afraid to ask fellow members of the programs to help him out every once in a while.
He’s so active in his activities that they double as a social life for Rosenstein, who has developed close friendships through the extracurriculars. However, he said nothing he is involved with is “purely social” because he derives a particular meaning out of everything he participates in.
“[I’m] more interested in the general culture on campus rather than sports,” Rosenstein said.
Rosenstein raved about one of his general education courses, “Pocketbook Politics: A History of American Buying and Selling.”
“[It was] one of the most captivating and eye opening classes I have ever taken,” he said.
Rosenstein’s other favorite course, the UMD Scholars class on enterprise communication inspired him to lead a TED Talk imitation for his class on how labels affect identities. Rosenstein explained the main theme his talk encompassed was how you present yourself and how other people view you as a result of that.
“It is rare you find someone as beautifully kindhearted as David, and he is truly someone special,” said Riske. “I have no doubt in the future he will spread his magic and make the world a more energetic and passionate place.”
