The All-Boys Floor That Produced a Brotherhood of Girl Dads

August 2008. Rumors of the Purple Line were just beginning to circulate and Centreville Hall didn't yet have air conditioning. On 2-South, an all-male freshman floor, five new students quickly bonded during an icebreaker. Nearly two decades later, that friendship remains as strong as ever.

The latest topic lighting up their group chat? All five are now girl dads.

“It happened one by one over the years. We wondered ‘when is the streak going to break?’ but it hasn’t happened yet.” said Eish Patel ’12.

Life has taken the group, Patel, Omar Tarabishi '13 M.A. ’21, Joshua Hu '12, Dan Zawaki '13 and Evander Duck III '12, down different paths since graduating, spanning states and industries, But they look back fondly on their time at Maryland together. How were disagreements settled in their room? With ping pong. Who inspired the group to go out for the evening? Probably Duck. What did they do for fun?

“Going to North Campus Dining Hall together, spending hours hanging out playing video games, going to MD basketball and football games,” says Zawaki. “It was the daily life of being a Terp.”

Today, a WhatsApp group keeps the five connected. They manage a fantasy football league, chat regularly and reunite every year at Homecoming—complete with a signature call sign when they spot one another across campus.

“It’s a tradition,” says Tarabishi . “We get to see how the families are growing.”

And this Terp family is there for each other the whole way.

“We were on an all-boys floor, where we got up to no good and here we are now learning how to raise daughters,” said Tarabishi. “Each one of us has been able to lend a helping hand to the others.”

Tarabishi, the group's newest father, recalls one parenting tip he picked up from Zawaki called "Pickup 52."

“You toss a deck of cards down on the ground and the kid picks them all up,” he explains. “It takes them so long because they look at every card. It gives time back in the day.”

Outside of fatherhood, the former 2-South residents continue to support one another in countless ways. Wedding invitations are shared in the group chat, as are Giving Day appeals (Tarabishi serves on the board of the Baltimore Terps Alumni Network). When he launched his nonprofit, Leftover Love, which earned him the Do Good Service Award in 2025, Hu was among the first to join its board as treasurer.

Despite living across the Mid-Atlantic, the friends remain a constant presence in one another's lives. Whether they're swapping parenting advice, celebrating milestones or reminiscing about getting dressed up for the Calvert Cotillion Spring Dance and decorating their dorm for Halloween, their nearly 20-year bond remains as strong as ever.

“We show up for each other. We all value each other’s support and our time at Maryland. “It all started with 2-South.”