Smith, Raena N.

About Raena Smith

Raena Smith's family, friends, and community dedicated a flowering cherry to honor her life on May 21, 2024 outside the intersection of Kirwan and Martin Halls. Raena was a recent graduate of the University of Maryland, receiving a Bachelor's degree in Information Science from the College of Information Studies with her sisters posthumously accepting her degree. Raena was tragically lost to a car crash on February 2, 2024. She was proud to be a Terp and loved planting flowers and watching things grow. Her community donated 108 hours of volunteer work at the Community Learning Garden on campus in June 2024 in her honor. 

Raena Smith

 

 

About the Kwanzan Cherry

The Kwanzan cherry is one of five different varieties of flowering cherry on campus. It's flowers are double blossoms with as many as thirty petals in clusters of three to five and sometimes more. They are a clear pink blossoms and are hardy to USDA zone 5, according to the National Park Service. These types of cherries can be seen at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC and can be seen on our campus as well, using our Cherry Blossom StoryMap.

Japanese Flowering Cherry