April 2023 Issue

College raises student fees

Sam Gauntt Managing Editor Megan Cunningham Photo Editor

The dean of student development said in March funding for student clubs should remain steady for the next school year unless there is “a significant spike in new clubs.”

Still, Dean Deneen Dangerfield added: “I don’t see a significant increase in the number of clubs and [organi-

zations] being raised during the next academic year.”

AACC’s Board of Trustees voted on Feb. 28 to raise athletic and student activity fees by $1 per credit hour each starting in the fall.

According to Vice President for Learning Resources Management Melissa Beardmore, the increased fees will generate approximately $179,000 each for student engagement and AACC Athletics.

Dangerfield said this is

the first time student activity fees have increased during her time at the college— more than five years.

“The student fee has been stagnant,” Dangerfield said. “Our enrollment has been on a steady decline for approximately 10 years. So as our enrollment has declined, revenue for students has also declined. So I think again, [the change is] just to create a sustainable model where we can support students with ... co-curricular

activity and extracurricular activities.”

Student activity fees fund the Student Government Association, student clubs and organizations, initiatives such as textbook loans and the college’s food pantries, and salaries for some positions in the Office of Student Engagement that support clubs.

Athletic Director Duane Herr characterized the fee

Continued on page 3

former softball team marks 20 years since its nationals win.

Web Exclusive

Performing professors

In our second monthly Campus Current “Web Exclusive,” five professors speak about how their experiences as performers affect the way they teach their AACC classes. Read the full story by Associate Editor Tomi Brunton and reporter Éva Parry online at www.thecampuscurrent.com.

Editor resigns to run for president of SGA

campaign for SGA president.

The editor-in-chief of AACC’s student newspaper resigned March 31 to run for Student Government Association president.

Zack Buster, who has been editor of Campus Current since fall 2022, left the paper to prevent a conflict of interest as he begins his

2 graduations set for Live! Casino & Hotel

Zack Buster Editor-in-Chief Sam Gauntt Managing Editor

AACC will hold its annual graduation ceremonies on May 25 at the Live! Casino & Hotel’s event center in Hanover.

The events will mark the second year the college has

held graduation in person after a two-year break during the pandemic.

The college will split graduation into two ceremonies. Students graduating from the schools of Health Sciences; Science, Technology and Education; Continuing Education; and Workforce Development will meet for a 2 p.m. ceremony. AACC

will hold the second ceremony at 6 p.m. for students from the Schools of Liberal Arts and Business and Law.

AACC President Dawn Lindsay said she expects approximately 600 students to walk the stage at graduation.

“When I see students going down the aisle to their

“The student body needs a bridge between them and college decision-makers,” Buster, a second-year communications student, said.

“I want to be that bridge. They need someone who will fight for them.”

Buster, who started as Campus Current’s associate editor in January 2022, said his experience at the paper

“really taught me the importance of teamwork and how to take all of these different parts and people and bring them all together to make a common goal.”

He added: “As editor, I built a lot of really good connections with all the departments and so that sort of network, of not just faculty,

Continued on page 3

Zack Buster, a second-year communications student, stepped down as Campus Current’s editor-in-chief on March 31 to run for Student Government Association president.

Photo by Dan Elson

Megan Cunningham Photo Editor

Photo by Frank Fitzgeralde Libom

Law protects media freedom

dia outlets at public colleges and high schools.

Zack Buster

Managing Editor

Sam Gauntt

Associate Editor

Tomi Brunton

Graphic Designer

Mary Turner

Photo Editor

Megan Cunningham

Assistant Photo Editor

Mason Hood

Sports Editor

Dan Elson

Events Manager

Lexi Grieder

Newsroom Manager

Katie Dubics

Social Media Manager

Micah Smith

Web Master

Kaylah Rashid

Reporters

Izzy Chase Aidan Gunn

Photographers

Graig Bracey

Frank Fitzgeralde Libom

Lexi Mercedes

Ad Manager

Phil Grimm

Faculty Adviser

Sharon O’Malley

Photographers on Page 1, top

Megan Cunningham

T. Charles Erickson

Megan Cunningham

Did you know that if a student club or other organization at a public college like AACC decides to ban the media from an open event, it also must ban all students from the event?

That’s because it’s illegal for any public institution to forbid a journalist—including a student journalist—from participating in a meeting that everyone else is welcome to attend.

This particular law is called an “open meetings” law or a “sunshine law.” And that’s not the only law involving journalists that might be relevant to you if a reporter from Campus Current, the Annapolis Capital Gazette or another media outlet contacts you.

Firstly, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of the press. Thanks to a law passed by the Maryland Legislature in 2016, that protection extends to student newspapers and other me-

The New Voices Act, which has been adopted by 16 states so far, prohibits any government body—like our public college—from censoring the student newspaper, the student literary magazine and other student media that may form here.

Even though the college pays for our newsroom, our faculty adviser and, with student activity fees, Campus Current’s printing, the college is not permitted to censor the newspaper from publishing what the student journalists deem as newsworthy.

That’s true even if Campus Current publishes stories that call the college out for wrongdoing or stories that highlight trends or issues of interest to students, even if the administration doesn’t want information about those trends and issues to get around.

Reading the news isn’t always easy. We understand the temptation for admin-

Letter from the newsroom

istrators, faculty and even other students to want to overrule the judgment of the students who work for our publications and are training for careers in the media.

We truly appreciate your input and your insight and will always consider view-

points other than our own.

In return, we hope you will appreciate that we are journalists—budding journalists, for sure, but journalists nonetheless—and federal and state laws say we may cover the news, report the facts and operate as professional newspeople do.

Respect my Jewish identity

Izzy Chase Reporter

I love being Jewish. It’s a core part of my identity.

Lately, though, I can’t help but feel that my safety as a Jewish person has been compromised. I now have to be careful with what I say and who I say it in front of.

It started last semester when my class let out early and a boy approached me. He was nice and we had talked a couple of times before, exchanging formalities such as names. I thought this conversation would be similar, until he asked me what my relationship with God is, and I froze.

I didn’t know how to answer. I explained that I was Jewish and he responded with a patronizing, “Nice, like Abraham.” I then went on to explain my beliefs to him.

He listened, or at least pretended to, interjecting with remarks like, “How Jewish are you?” and, “What side of your family is Jewish?” I felt uncomfortable but saw it as a teaching opportunity.

When our conversation was ending, he told me about the Holy Spirit and explained

that I could and should experience it physically.

I was startled. I have no problems with Christians or others’ beliefs, but after I had taken the time to explain Judaism and my own personal relationship with it, he completely dismissed me. I walked away feeling ashamed and embarrassed.

Judaism is an ethnoreligion, and for that reason my Jewishness is an inseparable part of my identity. It makes me, me.

There isn’t a singular way to be Jewish. But when you are a part of a religious minority like Judaism, you are forced to represent everyone. I get scared that someone will listen to me and then turn around and harass another Jewish person by saying, “If you’re Jewish, why do you do this when Izzy does that?”

People fail to see how prevalent antisemitism is, but it’s a part of my everyday life. I refuse to stop calling myself Jewish and it will always be something that I’m proud of. But my safety is something that I always have to think about.

I can’t help but wish it wasn’t like that.

Photo by Sam Gauntt

The student journalists at Campus Current have the same legal protections as any other journalists and therefore cannot be barred from public events or censored by a public institution. Adobe Stock photo

Sports, student fees increase by $1/hour

Continued from page 1

increase as “positive.”

“The fee was set at $1 for quite some time,” Herr added. “So the increase is a welcome increase for us.”

Some students said the extra money could be beneficial for clubs.

“I think it’s a good step in the right direction,” Jasim McNichols, president of the Adventure Society club and first-year transfer studies student, said. “I still think that it needs to be worked on when it comes to the clubs

because I think the funding should vary based off the size of the club itself. But I think just increasing the funding in general is a good step in the right direction.”

But Super Science Club Treasurer Bryant Pepe, a third-year physics student, disagreed.

“I think the change itself is moot if the college is going to continue giving student organizations trouble using their allotted funds after they are allotted to those organizations,” Pepe said.

He also said some stu-

dents might consider the fee increase as “just another price increase” if they are not involved in sports or student clubs.

Pepe added he would like to see more transparency and communication in the club funding process.

Herr said he doesn’t plan to bring back any discontinued sports because of the fee increase. The Athletic Department eliminated both men’s and women’s cross-country teams in December.

Herr added the increase

can help with game costs, which include field maintenance, officials for home games and travel expenses for away games.

“Sometimes we have to look at eliminating some of our home games based on

official costs,” Herr noted. “We have to make decisions about travel and our travel destinations based on transportation costs, and make decisions about the types of travel that we can take based on those costs.”

Campus Current gets new temporary editor

Continued from page 1

but students as well … that’s kind of really, really important, especially if I want to be like a bridge between the administration and the student body.”

Sharon O’Malley, faculty adviser for Campus Current, called Buster “a born leader.”

skills. ... So it’s bittersweet for me. I really like having him at Campus Current as the editor, and I hate to see him go. ... But I think he’s going to thrive in whatever’s next for him, and I wish him well.”

Managing Editor Sam Gauntt will take Buster’s place as editor-in-chief for the rest of the semester.

“I’m very excited to lead a great team of student journalists,” Gauntt said. “We have some truly amazing reporters, photographers, graphic designers. … I’ve had a great working relationship with Zack. And even though I’m sad to see him go, I really just want whatever is best for him and his career.”

Second-year dual-enrollment student Sam Gauntt, who previously served as managing editor, will take on the role of editor-in-chief for the rest of the spring semester.

O’Malley, a journalism professor, said, “He’s done a fantastic job as editor-in-chief and shown great leadership skills, networking skills, negotiation

AACC chooses Live! as graduation venue

Continued from page 1

seats and getting ready for the event, there’s so much excitement and so much enthusiasm,” Lindsay said. “It’s not uncommon to kind of bring a tear to my eye because I realize how special today is for our students, and how much there is to celebrate.”

She said having two ceremonies will allow students to invite more guests.

“We had a discussion that we could have actually had one ceremony if we limited our students to only two guests,” Lindsay said. “But we don’t want to limit our students to only two guests. We want them to be able to

have five guests. And in order to do that, to accommodate at Live!, we needed to do two different ceremonies.”

Lindsay said being chosen as grand marshal or faculty marshal for the ceremony is a significant award.

She added the two faculty members students choose to win the Teaching Excellence award will deliver the commencement speeches at the two ceremonies.

According to Dean of Enrollment Services John Grabowski, the college will not require participants to wear masks or practice social distancing during the event.

The May 25 graduation

will fall on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, whose observation begins at sunset.

Lindsay encouraged students who observe Shavuot to sign up for the 2 p.m. commencement, even if they are a part of the schools of Liberal Arts or Business and Law.

“So if anybody’s in that situation, and they, you know, still want to be able to celebrate with their family come sunset,” Lindsay said, “all they need to do is let us know that the family and themselves … need to come at 2 o’clock for the ceremony so that we can be sure that they’ll be home by evening.”

Gauntt, who was the newspaper’s associate editor starting in August 2022, attends AACC and is also a homeschooled high school senior.

Buster said being editor helped him become a “fingeron-the-pulse type of person.” Presidential nominees can campaign from April 3-21. Elections start April 24 and go until April 28.

Photo by Dan Elson

Photo by Mason Hood

The college will hold two graduation ceremonies on May 25 at Live! Casino & Hotel’s event hall in Hanover. Shown, AACC President Dawn Lindsay speaks at the college’s 2022 graduation ceremony.

Photo by Frank Fitzgeralde Libom

Trustees vote to raise costs by $4 per credit

Sam Gauntt Managing Editor

AACC’s Board of Trustees voted in February to raise tuition and fees by $4 per credit hour starting next semester.

The increase is part of the $134,475,700 operating budget for fiscal year 2024, which the board approved at the same meeting.

As part of the approved budget, the college will raise in-county tuition by $2 per credit hour and increase student activity and athletic fees by $1 per credit hour each.

“The reason [for the tuition increase] is the guiding principle that we have for moderate tuition increases

each year, versus going two or three years with no increase and then doing a large increase that’s inequitable,” Vice President for Learning Resources Management Melissa Beardmore told Campus Current. “Moderate increases, keeping pace with inflation, if you will. … We’ve been advised by students that that’s preferable to years with no increase, and then a big increase.”

Trustees also approved the 2024-29 capital budget, which funds construction, repairs on campus and renovations of buildings on campus, like Florestano and Dragun.

The college gets its funding from state and county

Big telescope working again

Tomi Brunton Associate Editor

The largest telescope in the AACC observatory is up and running again after breaking down about a year ago.

The lens, which has a diameter of 14 inches, was inoperable because of a broken gearbox in the mount, which prevented it from aligning with objects in the sky.

The roof of the observatory on East Campus also was repaired after being unable to

open for about three weeks.

“The 14-inch coming back ... will definitely improve the experience for anyone taking an astronomy class,” second-year astronomy and physics student Zoe Brunton said.

The telescope’s diameter is three inches more than the next-largest in the AACC observatory, which houses five other telescopes.

Professors use the telescope for astronomy labs, and the student Super Science Club uses it for “star parties.”

governments, and from tuition and student fees. The 2024 budget requests 40% from the county and 33% from the state, and assigns student fees and tuition to fund the rest.

A statement to Campus Current from Gov. Wes Moore’s office said, “Governor Moore’s proposed budget includes historic investments in education, including a record $393 million for Maryland’s ... local community colleges.”

In February 2022, the Board of Trustees raised tuition by $2 per credit hour for the current fiscal year.

The $4-per-credit-hour increase will cost full-time

AACC’s Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition and fees for next semester. Shown, the Board of Trustees in a budget workshop on Feb. 21.

students—who take 30 credits per year—$120 a year, according to Beardmore. That will bring a fulltime, in-county student’s tuition and fees, excluding lab fees, from $4,460 to $4,580 per year.

AACC President Dawn Lindsay forwarded the budget proposal to the Anne Arundel County executive, who will share it with the County Council. Finally,

Moore must sign off on the state’s contribution.

First-year transfer studies student Omar Hassan said a tuition and fees increase is fine as long as it is “something that is actually benefiting people and clubs.”

But second-year kinesiology student Travis Peach disagreed, saying, “It sucks.” Associate Editor Tomi Brunton contributed to this article.

Brunton, who does social media for the club, said the large telescope “lets AACC take observing to a whole new level. You can see so much more. You can see so

College releases new MyAACC portal setup

Sam Gauntt Managing Editor

Dan Elson Sports Editor

AACC launched an updated MyAACC portal for students, faculty and staff on March 8.

Users can customize their homepage on the updated portal with links to MyAACC resources they use most and add links from outside the college if they want.

The new portal includes more than 30 display cards for users to choose from. For example, students might pop-

ulate their homepages with cards containing links to registration, financial aid or student engagement.

Links to student emails, Self Services and Canvas are permanently fixed on the homepage.

“I’m just really excited about just the ease of use of it,” said Amanda Sachs, AACC’s web service team leader. “As well as the customization for people to be able to have the information that they want to see when they log in, instead of trying to scroll through … all of this, and then find what you’re looking for.”

The redesign process began in September. The old MyAACC portal will be accessible until April 3, when the new portal will become the sole option.

The college last redesigned the portal in May 2013, according to Sachs.

The college remade the portal because the old version is outdated, Sachs said.

“It’s an effort of modernization of our applications that we support,” Sachs said. “The existing MyAACC … was no longer going to be supported. … And this was the most logical step to moving

much clearer. You can see so much better. … It really sets us apart.”

Deborah Levine, an astronomy professor and a faculty adviser for the Super

Science Club, agreed that the 14-inch model “does give a more detailed view. It does allow us to observe some things that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to.”

AACC launches an updated MyAACC portal with customization options.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Sachs

ourselves forward.”

First-year nursing student Muriel Meboe said she’s “always open for change. So if they think it’s going to be cool, why not?”

Sachs said during the design phase the portal got “a really good response [from students and faculty] across the board. And the feedback that we did get, where there was difficulty, we tweaked

some of the language on the cards to help folks.”

First-year aerospace engineering student Jered Simmons said the new portal “looks easier to see things.”

Meboe noted it’s important for the college to stay up to date on technology.

“We are in education, and we’re always striving for knowledge [and] better technology,” Meboe said.

Photo by Lexi Grieder

AACC repaired the largest telescope in the observatory this semester.

Photo by Megan Cunningham

‘Intrusive’ advisers check on students

Zack Buster Editor-in-Chief

The advisers in the nursing school have become intrusive. At least that’s what they hope.

Faculty members who double as advisers began checking in on students’ mental health and personal struggles this semester.

Almost 120 AACC nursing students have access to what nursing faculty are calling “intrusive advising.”

Nursing Assistant Dean Scott Olden said the purpose of the program is to preemptively address “any challenges in a student’s success … [that] would hinder that student from being successful.”

Olden said the college wants to “proactively” help students “and not wait until there’s a situation in which a student has done very poor-

Nursing students have advisers who focus on their mental health and proactively check up on them throughout the semester. Shown, nursing students perform simulated medical tests in class.

ly” because of an issue “that we could have potentially averted using the resources that the college has.”

The pilot program started this semester with a survey faculty gave to students that asked questions about various obstacles that could affect their schooling—such as family issues, test anxiety and mental health.

Olden said the resource is important for student retention because of the “high stakes and very demanding” nature of the program. He added it’s important for the advisers to “build relation-

Nursing ranks top in region

Zack Buster Editor-in-Chief

AACC’s nursing program is the best in the Northeast region, according to a 2023 ranking.

The associate degree program also topped all other community colleges in two statewide rankings last year.

the reasons for the success, saying the Health and Life Sciences building gives the students the opportunity to have “real-time experiences” in an “extensive simulation of a clinical environment.”

ships” with the students.

First-year nursing student Thais Gilligan described the advisers as “mentors [who] work individually with you … if you’re having problems, or if you’re struggling in nursing school.”

“Last week, I had an issue with my son, and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, how am I going to go to school now?’” Gilligan said. The mentor told her, “‘When the hard time comes, remember your purpose for being here [and] where you want to be in the future.’ … It was really helpful,” Gilligan said.

According to nursingprocess.org—which ranks nursing degree programs for students searching for the best colleges—AACC “prepares you for a promising career” in nursing. This site ranks programs nationwide divided by region.

The other websites— rncareers.org and nursingschoolsalmanac.com— ranked AACC’s associate degree in nursing as the best in the state.

Scott Olden, AACC’s assistant dean of nursing, said the combination of “amazing” faculty and facilities are

The 175,000-squarefoot Health and Life Sciences building is the largest building across AACC’s three campuses. It includes multiple lab spaces for nursing students to experience simulated emergency scenarios as part of their schooling.

Some students said the reason AACC ranks high is because of facilities like HLSB.

First-year nursing student and Baltimore resident Lily Pastor chose to come to AACC instead of a closer college like Johns Hopkins University “because the facilities are really amazing.”

First-year nursing student Thais Gilligan said the program’s faculty and staff are “helpful” because they “work individually with you.”

Photo by Lexi Mercedes

BLAST classes focus on group discussion

Sam Gauntt Managing Editor

Approximately a dozen AACC professors have converted their humanities courses into seminars that focus on class discussions rather than lectures.

Faculty from St. John’s College in Annapolis instructed AACC professors over the last three summers on how to teach seminar-style classes.

Seminar-style classes, said English professor Candice Hill, “re-emphasize … the value of community within classrooms. And if a community college isn’t valuing community, the classroom itself or the community outside, I don’t think it’s really doing its job.”

Through the program, called BLAST, or Bridge to the Liberal Arts through Primary-Source Texts, professors learned how to adjust their existing humanities cours-

es—like English, philosophy, history, music appreciation, art history and anthropology—into discussion-based learning.

“The idea behind seminar is really simple,” English professor Steve Canaday, who is teaching all of his courses as seminars this semester, said. “And the idea is that you learn better when you figure stuff out for yourself in a group of other people who are trying to figure stuff out for themselves. … When I’m teaching the seminar, I try to keep my mouth shut, which is hard for me to do. And the students who’ve all read the same text discuss the text. We’re all equals; that’s the idea in seminar. I’m not trying to lead them anywhere.”

AACC and St. John’s partnered to apply for a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund the training. The grant expired in January,

but professors said they will continue teaching seminars.

Dean of the School of Liberal Arts Alicia Morse said the program is “absolutely moving into the future.”

“In fact, we offer more [BLAST classes] now than we had” last semester, Canaday said.

First-year computer science student Gaelle Milfort said BLAST classes are “amazing.”

“It’s very insightful; it’s very proactive and I think it’s a great way to understand the material and the book we’re reading,” Milfort said. “I look forward to coming to this class.”

St. John’s graduate student Siobhan Petersen, who attended AACC from 201316, sat in on one of Canaday’s classes.

“They had just started [learning] the ‘Tao Te Ching,’” Petersen, who attended the University of Baltimore from 2017-19, said. “It’s a very

Did you know?

Fun and Games

difficult text. … So I was incredibly impressed with how well they tackled it. They really did get to the heart of the thing. … I don’t think there can be much doubt that Socratic seminar is really good for the humanities.”

Petersen added she hopes to teach at AACC after she graduates.

Hill said liberal arts classes were “never meant to be lecture anyway. I mean, historically, it’s been based in conversation wherever that liberal arts education was happening.”

English professor Timothy May agreed.

“It provides a space where if you want to be active in your education … it provides that space,” May said. “And so [it] really is a place for people who want to be active, to be active, and to break out of an educational model that doesn’t seem to serve them or value who they are.”

AACC students who take BLAST classes and are later admitted to St. John’s are eligible for a $4,000-a-year scholarship to the private liberal arts college, according to Emily Langston, the associate dean and head of St. John’s graduate program.

You can vote for the Student Government Association’s new officers from April 24-28.

Graphic by Summer Cox

English professor Steve Canaday, center, teaches seminar-style classes through the BLAST program.

Photo by Megan Cunningham

Students take game art, creation classes

Approximately 125 students are enrolled in an AACC program that teaches them how to develop, design or code video games.

Students can earn a transfer studies degree in game art and design, or a career degree or certificate in game development.

Professor Drew Snyder, who started the program approximately seven years ago, said the goal is to let students find which part of video game development suits them best before they graduate.

“The idea is we give you the basic skills and understanding of the process so that you can make it your own,” Snyder said. “If you think you’re interested in studying games, I mean, our first goal is, do you understand how games are made? Like what is the production

pipeline? What are the different jobs there? What are the different skills that are needed?”

Snyder added those in the program will be able to “reverse engineer” a video game by the end of it.

“If you came into the program … you would have a good understanding of how any game is made,” Snyder, who has taught game design for 20 years, said.

Second-year game art and design student Julius Ighade said he felt discouraged by his previous career in management so he came back to school to learn about a field he loved.

“I got really just frustrated with it,” Ighade said. “And I just fell into a pool of depression. … I saw game development. Then I took it and I was happy.”

First-year game development student Da’Monte Booze echoed Ighade, saying his college “journey” started

when he took a few classes on video games to “just mess around.” Then, after realizing he liked them and taking some time to think, he made game development his major.

Snyder said the classes ditch the traditional course format for a project-based structure so by the end of the program, students have a demo—or game preview— to show to potential employers and build their portfolios.

“We don’t do quizzes,” Snyder said. “We don’t do tests and that kind of stuff. It’s all really making something and applying whatever you learn.”

Booze said the program is an “interactive” experience with a “learn-as-you-go atmosphere.”

Snyder said through that environment, the program can serve as a “bridge” to the next step in students’ lives.

Zack Buster Editor-in-Chief

College offers drone classes

Students looking to fulfill their technology requirements can take a class on how to fly drones.

The AACC Drone Center offers the class, UAS-111, which prepares students to take a Federal Aviation Administration exam. The course also teaches students to incorporate drones into science, industry and commerce.

“I think it is a great class and it’s going to touch all the majors in some way,”

Tim Tumelty, an instructional specialist who teaches UAS-111, said. “If you are a business major, your business in the future may use drones. … It has a direct link to architecture, landscape architecture. … I work closely with the Art Department in video, [and] I team up a lot with the environmental science majors.”

Tumelty started the Drone Center in 2019, and also teaches a one-credit class, UAS-100, that focuses entirely on the Federal Aviation Administration license.

Tumelty said UAS-111 was “targeting people that wanted to get their drone license” but it turned out differently.

“Most of the students in the class are interested in getting their technology credit, and they think, you know, doing a drone class would interest them more than other gen-ed technology options that are out there,” Tumelty said.

Tumelty added he “learned a lot last semester” about why students take drone classes.

“I learned that everybody in the room wasn’t … excited about getting their drone license,” Tumelty said. “So, you know, I adjusted the learning objectives. What I promised this

semester different than last semester is [that] I’m going to be more general and less nuanced.”

Brady Weichert, a second-year business student who is taking the class, said it “prepared” him to work with drones.

“I like flying drones as a hobby and I saw that you could, like, take this class

and get your license,” Weichert said.

First-year forensics student Arman Jones said he took the class to fulfill the college’s technology requirement.

“It’s actually pretty cool,” Jones said. “The teacher is really cool, and … you get to fly drones and stuff.”

Tumelty said he hopes to

start a drone club.

But, Tumelty said, “I need interest. You need to have 10 students and a president or vice president to start a drone club. Those are run by students, not by faculty. So I need to really just put the word out there, to let people know that I’d be willing to be the … staff representative for the drone club.”

Tomi Brunton Associate Editor

Students can take classes here to learn how to fly drones and get their Federal Aviation Administration license.

Photo courtesy of the AACC Drone Center

Cheer on your favorite student businesses in A ACC ’s version of the ABC Network ’s “ Shark Tank ” Finalists will pitch their ideas live to a panel of judges who will evaluate and determine awards .

Tomi Brunton Associate Editor

Theatre at AACC will perform the existentialist tragicomedy “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” in April.

The 1966 production by playwright Tom Stoppard, which will run April 14-16 and April 22-23 at the Kauffman Theater, is an absurdist take on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”

“It’s one of the most brilliant plays ever written,”

Madeline Austin, a theater professor and the director of the play, said. Stoppard “does strike chords in, you know, our existence in a very brilliant, funny, tragic way.”

The absurdist play is centered on the actions of the two titular characters, who are minor courtiers in Shakespeare’s original play, as they struggle to understand their own existence within the story as the events of “Hamlet” play out.

Gabriel Duque, who portrays the Player, said the

show is “wacky.”

“I love it,” Duque, a high school senior who does not take classes at AACC, said. “It’s so funny. … I find [it] very exciting and intriguing.”

Cameron Walker, a second-year transfer studies student who plays Guildenstern, said he likes the different “perspective” that the play brings.

“Guildenstern … is a confused, sad little fellow,” Walker said. “He is trying to find a purpose in life in the

world of Hamlet, where it was basically written [with] not much purpose at all. He gets lost and frustrated and he’s trying to make sense of it all but he just can’t.”

AACC graduate Eliza

Geib, who plays Rosencrantz, said the play was a “cool twist” on “Hamlet.”

“I love this show so much,” Geib said. “I love the way it plays on the language, and I love Shakespeare.”

Theater troupe to put on existentialist play Music depts. to host 4 May performances

the performance this semester “really reflects the strengths of the orchestra.”

an easy piece of music to listen to. There will be people that will cry, I think.”

Four student music ensembles will perform concerts at the end of this semester.

The Small Jazz Combo will perform on May 9; the Large Jazz Combo will perform on May 6; the Symphony Orchestra will perform on May 7; and the Concert Band will perform on May 5.

“We … have quite an eclectic mix of music,” music professor Ian Wardenski, director of the Small Jazz Combo, said.

Music professor Anna Binneweg, director of the Symphony Orchestra, said

Dance Co. to present spring-themed show

the … beautiful flowers.”

The orchestra has “winds, brass, percussion and strings,” Binneweg said. “We do a variety of repertoire—standard traditional repertoire … and then of course, modern music as well.”

Music professor Paul Dembowski, director of the Concert Band, said this performance’s theme is “War and Peace,” and added it will be emotional.

“It’s not an easy piece of music,” Dembowski said. “It’s not an easy piece of music to perform in terms of what it asks of you. It’s not

Allison Stringfield, a second-year music and studio art student who plays the clarinet in the Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra, said the programs have “a really nice sense of community.”

“Something just really clicked,” Stringfield said. “I think my favorite part about the concert band and orchestra is simply just being able to play in an ensemble.”

The Symphony Orchestra and the Concert Band will team up with Opera AACC to perform the comedy “Pirates of Penzance” from May 19-21.

The AACC Dance Company will present a performance featuring modern, tap, jazz and West African styles in May.

Titled, “Spring Vibrations,” the show is “going to be all about colors, because spring,” said dance professor and AACC graduate Adjetey Klufio, who will direct the show. “Everything is reborn so … that’s why I named it ‘Spring Vibrations,’ because we’re going to bring the vibrations that come with all

The company performs at AACC once every semester and puts on small shows at local high schools. The students also teach dance at high schools as part of the program.

Klufio said the spring performance, which will run on May 12 and 13 in the Kauffman Theater, is a “step up” from the company’s fall show.

“Last year … the performance was great,” Klufio said. “I’m looking forward to doing the same thing [this semester], but also, like, stepping

it up, taking it up a notch to bring the students to a level where they know that this is the standard now.”

Kiera Richardson, one of the dancers this semester, said her favorite part of the Dance Company is “the people.”

“I like the people and I’ve made a lot of good friends,” Richardson, a first-year dance student, said. “We all get along really well.”

Second-year dance student Sarah Schulze, who also will perform in this semester’s show, said her favorite part about dancing is the

“feeling” she gets onstage.

“At the end of the performance when you just hear everyone clap, and you’re like, ‘I put my heart and soul into this piece and performance,’” Schulze said, “you just feel ecstasy.”

Richardson agreed.

“I like the performances,” Richardson said. “To be able to tell a story through movement, and be able to convey a message even when you’re not talking … it’s like communication through dance.”

Some musical programs at AACC will host performances in May. Shown, professor Anna Binneweg directs the college’s Symphony Orchestra in a rehearsal.

Photo by Mason Hood

Second-year dance and physical therapy assistant student Sarah Schulze, right, rehearses for “Spring Vibrations,” which AACC’s Dance Company will present in May.

Photo by Graig Bracey

Tomi Brunton Associate Editor

Tomi Brunton Associate Editor

Theatre at AACC actors sit for a table reading to prepare for “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” which will show on campus in April.

Photo courtesy of Maggie Urban

Lax team retires No. 12 for future players

Micah Smith Reporter

During the 2023 Riverhawks men’s lacrosse campaign, none of the players will wear No. 12.

AACC Athletics retired the number, which belonged to midfielder Nick Barton, who died in a June boating accident.

The number was retired on Feb. 25 in a ceremony prior to the Riverhawks’ game against the Army Prep Knights. Barton’s friends and family attended the ceremony to honor him.

I “think it’s well deserved,” men’s head lacrosse coach Jeremy Ross said. “It’s a tragic loss, but he embodied everything that this program is about. He worked hard on the field.”

The Athletic Department also painted Barton’s number on Siegert Field, where the Riverhawks play.

Barton scored 18 points in his final season, when he totaled 15 goals and tallied three assists. During his three-year stint with the team, he played 29 games, scored 39 goals and assisted with nine.

Athletic Director Duane

Herr said Barton “loved to play [and] loved to make people smile and laugh. [We] kind of always knew what to expect from Nick, which was always positive, always about bringing the best out of other people.”

Attacker Payton Williams, a captain, said retiring Barton’s number is “the best way to remember him.”

“I think retiring his number was great,” Williams, a second-year communications student, noted. “I think that he’s someone who everybody should look up to.

In honor of former lacrosse midfielder Nick Barton,

He was everybody’s best friend.”

Goalie Jonathan Inkrote, also a captain, said Barton was like a “brother.”

“He was like a best friend,” Inkrote, a second-year business student,

said. “If I needed anything, he was there. If I had a down day, he’s always there, patting my back, saying, ‘Look up, you have the next day, you’re going to be fine.’” Sports Editor Dan Elson contributed to this article.

AACC coach secures more than 370 wins

Dan Elson Sports Editor

Since Jim Griffiths became a head coach for AACC in 2001, he has won more than 370 games, including regular season and playoff wins.

Griffiths coaches two Riverhawks sports teams— women’s lacrosse and soccer. As of March 15, he had a career 200-64 record as head coach for lacrosse. For soccer, Griffiths is 171-91-24 overall.

they’re committed to make sure the program continues in a positive fashion.”

Under Griffiths, who earned Coach of the Year twice for lacrosse and once for soccer, the team won back-to-back National Junior College Athletic Association championships in 2006 and 2007. He also took the soccer squad to Nationals in 2014 and 2022.

Athletic Director Duane Herr said Griffiths, a retired teacher, is one of AACC’s greatest coaches of all time.

Lacrosse defender Kaitlin Kenney, a first-year emergency services student, said Griffiths has shown “tough love for us, but he really just cares about us and he wants us all to succeed.”

Goalkeeper Kaitlyn Evans said she looks up to Griffiths, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Western Kentucky University.

Since Jim Griffiths became a head coach in 2001, he tallied 370 wins, including regular season and postseason games. Griffiths coaches women’s soccer and lacrosse.

“I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had some longtime assistant coaches, that the majority of my assistant coaches, if not all of them, have played for me previously,” Griffiths noted. “So

Esports gains female member, goes co-ed

Aidan Gunn Reporter

With the addition of a female student to its roster, AACC’s esports team became the college’s only co-ed varsity sports team last semester.

Esports head coach Conway Johnson said the squad, whose three teams, Rocket League, League of Legends and Overwatch, compete against other colleges, has

always been open to all students.

“Once everyone’s sitting [with] their keyboard and mouse at the ready … everyone’s just gamers at that point,” Johnson said.

Kimberly Betters, who competes on the Overwatch team, said the esports coach and players have welcomed her.

That’s not the case on some other teams, Betters said.

“Overall, I feel like women aren’t exactly encouraged [to play],” Betters, a third-year secondary education student, noted. “Everyone likes to say [they are], but when you’re actually in the game, it doesn’t feel like it. It feels like you’re an outsider. So I wish that aspect of gaming and esports would be better. But in AACC I don’t feel any of that. I feel included.”

Johnson said Betters, who began playing video

“He’s obviously one of the best,” Herr said. “I’d say at our level [and] all levels, he’s just a tremendous coach. So his success is warranted. I’m certainly proud of his accomplishments.”

“He played college football, and now he’s a coach here for two sports and he’s coached other sports,” Evans, a second-year undecided student, said.

Griffiths also coached the women’s cross-country team for 10 years.

Reporter Micah Smith contributed to this article.

games at age 4 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, is a consistent player.

“I … can’t speak more highly of Kim as a player,” Johnson said. “She’s fantastic.”

Photo by Dan Elson

who died in June, the Riverhawks men’s lacrosse team retired his number, 12, and had it painted on Siegert Field.

Photo courtesy of Tim Tumelty

Student Kimberly Betters plays Overwatch with the AACC esports team, the college’s only co-ed varsity sport.

Photo by Mason Hood

Former softball team remembers nat’l win

Stoll’s and Barrett’s fathers, Kenny Stoll and Bob Bounelis, were both assistant coaches for the team.

Pitcher Tina Willis Johnson struck out the final batter in the AACC Pioneers’ final softball game of the 2003 season to win the National Junior College Athletic Association National Championship. The players stormed the field in joy and tears.

Johnson and her teammates this year are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their win, the last time an AACC softball team took home a championship trophy.

“I remember all of us crying,” former captain Christina Bounelis Barrett recalled of the team’s 9-6 win against College of DuPage of Illinois. “It was kind of like, ‘Hey, we gave our whole summers to this [and our] whole life.’ We ended it on a national championship win.”

First baseman Stephanie

“We were all so emotional, and I know it was because I was with my dad,” Barrett said. “I know Steph Stoll was with her dad. And these men deserve this championship just as much as we did. … I gave my dad a huge hug at home plate.”

Barrett, the team’s third baseman, added: “The coaching staff was dynamite, and they all knew us. They knew us our whole childhood, too. My dad was a coach, and who can say their college coach was their dad?”

Stoll, a paralegal, called the squad a “family.”

“I played with pretty much every single girl that was on that team since I was

young,” Stoll, who attended Glen Burnie High School, said. “The whole entire infield besides the shortstop was [on] my high school team.”

The Pioneers—now the Riverhawks—finished the 2003 season with a 37-7 record, including regular and postseason games.

Johnson said the season was intense.

“We fought, we laughed, we cried,” Johnson added.

“Everybody would practice hard. We enjoyed being on the field together all the way through the championship.”

Bounelis noted the squad “believed in each other. So it was a great team of belief.”

Johnson, who was the fourth-ranked pitcher in the NJCAA, finished with a 22-4 overall record and a 0.96 ERA.

She struck out 232 batters in 139 innings and won MVP in the national championship tournament. Pitcher Denise Schulteis went 21-1 with a 1.14 ERA. Schulteis had 100 strikeouts in 148 innings. She led the team with a .441 batting average and stole 19 bases—also a team best.

Second baseman and right fielder Dawn Vacek Jernigan said her first reaction to winning it all was, “Holy s---, we did it.”

Former softball assistant coach Bill Henderson said the winning team had

“high-quality players.”

“A lot of times when you have those types of players, there’s always conflict because everybody wants to be the top dog, but not with this team,” Henderson said. “This team worked together from Day 1. … They went out and they played their tails off each and every game to get to the Nationals.”

Former softball head coach Don Bishoff finished 169-71 in his career. He passed away in 2008 from colon cancer. Bishoff earned Coach of the Year in 2003.

2 sets of siblings play Riverhawks baseball

Baseball teammates often grow as close as brothers. But four players on the Riverhawks squad really are brothers.

First-year players Will and Jackson Burchick and Alejandro and Sebastian Casanova joined the team this season and said they practice with each other on and off the field.

Left fielder Will Burchick said he likes to face live pitching against his brother, a pitcher, outside of practice.

“It’s always a competition to see if [he] can get a hit off me [or] if I can strike him out,” Burchick, a business student, said.

Alejandro and Sebastian Casanova said they take reps at a batting cage outside of AACC.

“Next to our apartment we have a baseball field with cages,” Alejandro, a right fielder, said. “And we will go there and practice every day we have off and we will get our work in there.”

The Burchick brothers both attended Mount Saint Joseph High School. The Casanovas were born in Puerto Rico and attended Annapolis High School.

“It’s nice … growing up [and] playing together,” Will Burchick said. “It is cool to keep playing at a high level and playing with someone as close as your brother.”

Head baseball coach Nick Hoffner said it “feels good [to coach two sets of brothers]. I’ve had brothers on the team before. … Those guys always have familiarity with each other.”

Alejandro Casanova, a first-year engineering student, said his favorite baseball memory is of playing in a tournament with Sebastian.

“Our team from Puerto Rico was [in the] Top 3 in the tournament,” Casanova said.

But the Burchick brothers said playing together isn’t always easy.

“Since we are brothers, we are pretty harsh on each other,” Will Burchick noted. “But that’s for the best because that’s how the both of

us know that we can continue to become better.”

Alejandro Casanova said he’ll never forget the experience of playing alongside his brother.

“We learned a lot of valuable life lessons from baseball,” he said. “And [we’ll look back on] all the memories we had together since we were 4 years old. … We talk about it every day.”

Jackson Burchick agreed.

“It’s fun having somebody like your brother you’re playing with all this time,” Burchick, a transfer studies student, said. “Then you go home and talk about it. There is a good amount of banter that still goes on. So, you know, it keeps things competitive, which is nice.”

Sebastian Casanova, a second and third baseman, said the team has welcomed him and his brother.

“They’re great teammates,” Casanova, a firstyear business student, noted. “They help us … feel at home. So it’s like a family.”

Casanova added: “You never know when will be the last time we play together.”

Dan Elson Sports Editor

Third baseman Sebastian Casanova, left, and right fielder Alejandro Casanova are one of the two sets of brothers who play on AACC’s baseball team together.

Photo by Dan Elson

Megan Cunningham

Photo Editor Dan Elson Sports Editor

Members of AACC’s 2003 softball team pose for a photo on Siegert Field 20 years after winning the national championship.

Photo by Megan Cunningham

“My dad was a coach, and who can say their college coach was their dad?”

—Alum Christina Bounelis Barrett

Photos by Jamie Horton Photography