{"id":1799,"date":"2018-12-14T08:06:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T12:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=1799"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:30:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:30:39","slug":"bringing-a-little-joy-to-delmarva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/bringing-a-little-joy-to-delmarva\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing a Little Joy to Delmarva"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dr. Michael Nugent in Yuletide regalia<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Friday, December 14, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While making a list and checking it twice, we go straight to a big man (on campus) himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long-time University of Maryland Eastern Shore faculty member – and member of a giving profession – wears an additional stocking cap this time of year. And he also has a matching red suit! Dr. Michael A. Nugent<\/strong> moonlights as Kris Kringle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 20 years ago – half the amount of time he’s had his distinctive whiskers – the Amityville, N.Y. native and father of three (grown) sons good-naturedly granted a request from a friend to portray Father Christmas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the perks of being Santa, Nugent says, is \u201cWorking with children and young people keeps you young.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nugent, Coordinator of Praxis testing \/ advising in UMES’ Department of Education<\/strong><\/a>, describes his seasonal role as \u201ca fun time.\u201d He enjoys the sense of wonderment and joy in the children he encounters when they spy his red suit and salt-and-pepper beard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He enthusiastically mimicked their reactions chanting \u201cHe’s here! He’s here!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UMES’ St. Nick has been spotted at some Worcester County elementary schools and in the 2018 Ocean City Christmas Parade. Making his rounds as Santa Claus apparently has proven to be impactful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter my visits to the schools,\u201d Nugent says, \u201cthe teachers say the students tend to be well behaved and quieter in the classroom.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he reprises his role of Father Christmas once more, Nugent will be giving (and getting) a little joy this holiday season when he makes his annual visit to little ones at the UMES Early Childhood Development Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Twas the night before exams … er, I mean Christmas<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

#IBelieve<\/strong><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, December 14, 2018 While making a list and checking it twice, we go straight to a big man (on campus) himself.  A long-time University of Maryland Eastern Shore faculty member – and member of a giving profession – wears an additional stocking cap this time of year. And he also has a matching red…Read more Bringing a Little Joy to Delmarva<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}