Community Corner
🌱 Patch AM: Want College Park institutions buying more local food? Start here.
Happening soon: ASO presents: Holiday Pops with Bowie State University Concert Choir on the College Park Patch calendar
Hey there, College Park! Let's get started with what's happening in and around town. Read on and stay in the loop. ☀️
In today's newsletter:
- Want College Park institutions buying more local food? Start here.
- How Maryland’s home scare in College Park shook up national rankings
- How UMD College Park researchers are pushing the limits of AI video editing
Also on today's calendar: ASO presents: Holiday Pops with Bowie State University Concert Choir and 8 more events.
Find out what's happening in College Parkfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Find out what's happening in College Parkfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
- Saturday: Partly sunny and cooler, with a high of 45 and low of 33 degrees.
- Sunday: Mostly sunny and windy, temps: high: 52, low: 23.
- Monday: Sunshine, with a high of 41 and low of 30 degrees.
📰 News we're reading
1. Navigating Farm 2 Institutional Procurement (Ag Law) (americanfarm.com) — Farmers and institutional buyers in and around College Park can soon join February 2026 workshops at the University of Maryland College Park to learn how to sell and buy more local food. The article explains current USDA grants, Maryland’s local purchasing goals, and an ongoing survey and support programs that help regional producers navigate complex procurement rules and access larger institutional markets. 
2. College basketball power rankings: Margin tightens between top-ranked Michigan and No. 2 Arizona (cbssports.com) — College Park hoops fans just saw Maryland push top-ranked Michigan before falling 101-83 in a high-scoring home game. That performance still wasn’t enough to knock Michigan from No. 1 in national power rankings, though Arizona’s unbeaten start is closing the gap at the top.
3. MaGGIe Training Setup: High-Performance Human Instance Matting with A100 GPUs (hackernoon.com) — Researchers based at the University of Maryland in College Park helped develop MaGGIe, a high-performance AI method for human instance matting trained on powerful A100 GPUs. Their work focuses on more efficient, temporally consistent image and video matting, including new datasets and extensive experiments. While highly technical, it highlights cutting-edge AI research happening right at UMD’s College Park campus.
4. 5 public colleges that rebranded DEI offices in 2025 (campusreform.org) — University of Maryland in College Park has quietly renamed its Office of Diversity and Inclusion to “Belonging & Community at UMD,” while keeping its DEI-style programs and resources in place. The change follows a 2024 campus survey and comes as Trump administration orders and state actions pressure public colleges nationwide to scale back or rebrand diversity initiatives.
📸 Around College Park
Show off your photography skills and the sights around town! Click here to submit your Photo of the Day to Patch AM!
🗓 Upcoming Events in College Park
Add your event to our calendar and newsletter!
★ Featured events ★
- ASO presents: Holiday Pops with Bowie State University Concert Choir
Bowie State University, 14000 Jericho Park Rd, Bowie
3:00 pm - FREE WEBINAR | “A Renaissance Christmas - Remix”
Online,
11:30 am
Sunday December 21
Tuesday December 23
Want to see your event featured? Click here!
Other local events
- Sacred Circle Dance
Old Parish House , 4711 Knox Rd , College Park
2:00 pm - SFS 1-10: Rites of Rekindling [Lvls 1-2]
Game Kastle College Park , 4748 Cherry Hill Rd , College Park
12:00 pm - Girl Scout Troop 23031
City of College Park, Maryland Calendar , 4601 Calvert Road , College Park
2:30 pm - Age Friendly College Park Workgroup
City of College Park, Maryland Calendar College Park, MD 20740
3:00 pm - Berwyn Ballet School
City of College Park, Maryland Calendar , 4711 Knox Road , College Park
5:15 pm - Tai Chi
City of College Park, Maryland Calendar College Park, MD 20740
10:00 am - Berwyn Ballet School at The Old Parish House
City of College Park, Maryland Calendar , 4711 Knox Road , College Park
4:30 pm - Senior Social Events
College Park Woods Club , 3545 Marlbrough Way , College Park
10:00 am - Berwyn Ballet School
City of College Park, Maryland Calendar , 4711 Knox Road , College Park
3:45 pm
Saturday December 20
Sunday December 21
Monday December 22
Tuesday December 23
Thursday December 25
📣 College Park Shout Outs!
Want to say something great about someone in town? Click here to submit your Shout Out to Patch AM! It's free!
🗓 Events Nearby
- Ebenezer Food Distribution
New Carrollton, MD Calendar New Carrollton, MD 20784
10:00 am - Hands on History: Winter Series
Riversdale House Museum Historic Site , 4811 Riverdale Rd , Riverdale
10:00 am - Jazz Repertoire Class
School of Musical Traditions , 7112 Willow Ave , Takoma Park
11:00 am - Read to a Dog at Long Branch Library
Long Branch Library -
11:00 am
Saturday December 20
Have we missed something on our calendar? Add an event yourself! As always, before attending confirm event details to ensure accuracy.
Thank you 👏👏👏 to the local businesses for making College Park PatchAM possible:
- Greenbelt SITY Stars — (301) 679-5100
35% Off - Jump Rope Classes - Dogtopia of Downtown DC — (475) 338-3501
Dogtopia – Dog Daycare, Boarding, Spa & Wellness - Brysis Realty International — (240) 510-5693
25 years of experience, helping buyers and sellers...
Click here to show your appreciation! 💚
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💬 Chatter
What your neighbors are talking about on social media
- Kentucky Fried Chicken posted a job opening for Team Member in College Park. Apply here.
- American Institute of Physics posted a job opening for Solutions Architect, Associate Director in College Park. Apply here. You can search for other jobs near College Park here.
Ok College Park! So now you're in the loop about what's happening today. Thanks for reading, and see you in your inbox next time! Oh -- and if you like what you're reading, invite a friend to Patch AM!
-- The Patch AM Team
P.S. The answer to today's riddle: I dreamed I was swimming in a pool of orange soda, but it was just a Fanta-sea.
Got a good riddle for PatchAM? Send it to us!
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