I'll Take Mine with a Turtle on Top

WHAT IS THE PERFECT topping for an ice cream coneshaped building? That was the question facing Colleen (Wudkwych) Tatano ’85 and her husband, Jim, when they decided to open a frozen custard stand near Pittsburgh.

The store came complete with a bright red cherry, but Tatano thought maraschinos were best left to sundaes. She was also looking for a mascot for her shop, a character that would attract customers and get the fledgling business off the ground.

And so Turtle Twist, complete with a 3-foot-tall fiberglass turtle on top, was born.

A turtle seemed a natural fit given that Tatano was an active member of Delta Gamma and a “spirit girl” who helped recruit football players during Maryland’s Bobby Ross glory days. It also didn’t hurt that Jim Tatano’s family included an uncle nicknamed “Turtle.”

These days,Twistee the mascot oversees carryout sales April through October. And Terrapin spirit is reflected throughout the stand, whether in the namesake turtle sundae or as green chocolate turtles placed atop each specialty sundae— and cones on request. —KM

Her Guiding Light

Alumna Mei Xu is both a savvy business leader and a cultural ambassador.

“I WAS ALWAYS the one that pushed the envelope,” says Mei Xu M.A. ’92, cofounder of Pacific Trade International Inc.—a company recognized twice by Inc. magazine as one of America’s fastest growing companies.

The risk taker grew up in China during a time when her newly fashionable pedal pushers drew stares from her principal; they showed too much skin. It was also a time when the government saw college students as troublemakers. After the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989, Xu and other college graduates of that year were sent to work in the countryside and factories for their “re-education.”

Having studied to become a diplomat since she was 12, Xu became bored with her new job of tracking mineral inventories for export day in and day out. So she resigned to pursue a higher education in the United States, a country she’d always been interested in.

Now 15 years after receiving her master’s in journalism—a natural extension from her English degree—Xu is considered one of the fashion leaders in the candle and home fragrance industries. Noticing a need for candles that marry decorative and fragrant aspects of the candle, Xu and her husband, David Wang, started Pacific Trade International. Xu began creating candles in their Annapolis, Md., basement. From just a stove, soup cans and paper towel rolls, their first brand, Chesapeake Bay Candle,was born.Today their candles are sold at major retailers such as Target, Kohl’s and IKEA.

The company’s second brand, Blissliving Home, sells globally inspired and sourced textiles, which are available in 25 retail stores in China and through e-commerce in the United States. Xu also has factories and design centers in China and Vietnam.

Besides being a business leader, Xu is also a cultural ambassador.Wanting to give back to children the opportunities she was afforded, Xu created the Mei Xu Cultural Exchange Foundation.The foundation promotes English- and Chinese-language education for American and Chinese children by encouraging living and learning summer camps in the United States and China.

“To me, learning a language is not just the language and linguistic aspect. It’s really acquiring a new logic … so you become more open-minded … you accept other’s logic and it makes you such a better partner in any relationship,” Xu says. -MW

Terps-Start Your Engines!

RACING PHOTO COURTESY OF CRAIG HAMPSON AND ROY MCCAULEY

ENGINES ROAR. Cars race around the track at speeds of more than 100 mph.The checkered flag comes down. Most may think that racecar driving is all up to the driver, but not according to Craig Hampson ’92, race engineer for Newman/Haas racing.

Now in his 13th season working for the ChampCar World Series team, owned in part by actor Paul Newman, Hampson is the engineer for the McDonald’s car driven by Sebastien Bourdias.Together, the duo has combined for 23 wins and three consecutive championships.

Once students behind the university's solar-powered car, Craig Hampson '92 (left) and Roy McCauley (right) are now on the national racing circuit.

In the days leading up to the wave of the green flag, Hampson lives in a world of car dynamics, machine design and tire behavior—all things that he learned as an engineering student at Maryland. No stranger to car competitions, while attending the university, Hampson spent his time working on the solar-powered car, the Pride of Maryland.The team blended bicycle and airplane technologies to create a lightweight, aerodynamic, non-polluting vehicle.Through their hard work, they went on to place third in the National Competition and traveled to Australia, where they placed seventh in the World Competition in 1991.

“What engineer wouldn’t be excited by 750 horsepower—whistling by at 190 miles per hour,” says Hampson.“We do a lot of engineering and science … but this is a sport, and we’re in it to win races.Through my job I get near immediate validation for whether myself and the team have done a good job.”

Hampson’s fellow classmate, Roy McCauley ’92, also knows something about winning races. He is the Miller Lite Dodge Racing Crew Chief of the No. 2 Lite Dodge driven by Kurt Busch. McCauley joined Penske Racing South in 2002 as chief engineer and made his crew chief debut in 2004.

Being a NASCAR crew chief is “a lifestyle, not a job.The best part is having the opportunity of knowing you can be better than everyone else on any given Sunday,” says McCauley, who has eight wins as a crew chief.

Both Hampson and McCauley participated in the Society of Automotive Engineers while students.Through that program they developed a friendship and learned the skills necessary to be successful in their industry.Today they are proud Terps, speeding by the competition. -MB

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