Professor suspended over student’s claims
A business professor was suspended from his job over the summer after agreeing to comply with a protective order filed against him by one of his 18-year-old former students.
Reb Beatty, 43, said he agreed to the Anne Arundel County District Court order requiring him not to contact the teenage student and to stay away from her home, workplace and school.
The teenage student said in the petition for protection that she had met Beatty as a 17-year-old high school student taking his accounting class at AACC, and that their relationship began shortly after her 18th birthday.
The student accused Beatty of manipulating her, turning her against her parents and not allowing her to leave his home, according to the petition.
In an email statement to Campus Current, Beatty said he plans to file a defamation
lawsuit against the young woman and her parents.
The student did not respond to Campus Current's request for comment as of the newspaper's print deadline.
Beatty alleged that the teenage student’s request for a protective order was “almost entirely comprised of exaggerations or outright lies. [The student’s] statement is an attempt to rewrite history.”
In her petition to the
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crosscountry returns to AACC.
AACC adjunct makes homophobic remarks
Jose Gonzalez Editor-in-Chief
An AACC adjunct professor running for a seat on the Anne Arundel County Board of Education made negative remarks about the LGBTQ community at a June fundraiser.
SGA president plays goalkeeper for team
Jose Gonzalez Editor-in-Chief
The new president of the Student Government Association doubles as a goalkeeper for the Riverhawks soccer team.
Jayeim Blake, a second-year kinesiology stu-
dent, said he likes to stay busy.
“The good thing about it is that at some point in your life you’re going to be busy,”
Blake, an international student from Trinidad and Tabago, said. “Whether it be, like, when you’re in your adulthood or you’re in your teen-
age [years], you’re always going to be busy. You might as well get the flow going.”
Blake, who won the race for SGA president in May, replaced communications student Zack Buster, who graduated in the spring and
LaToya Nkongolo, a mental health therapist who has taught human services courses at AACC since 2015, did not respond to Campus Current’s requests for an interview. But in a video of her June 22 remarks, Nkongolo said the county school system's pro-LGBTQ policies
are “causing mental illness.”
The LGBTQ advocacy group Annapolis Pride and the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County distributed a link to the video, along with a statement calling Nkongolo “irresponsible”
Continued on Page 3
Student Government Association President Jayeim Blake, center, plays goalkeeper for men’s soccer.
Photo by Finch Cobb
Adjunct professor LaToya Nkongolo makes negative remarks about the LGBTQ community at a fundraiser. Campus Current archive
A student won a protective order against her former accounting professor, Reb Beatty, shown in 2021. Campus Current archive
Tomi Brunton Reporter
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Social
Students can fight sadness
Editorial Board
School can cause some anxiety-inducing moments. And with the start of the fall season, the changing weather can make students more sad than happy.
There is a name for this: seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD.
It’s a sort of depression that sets in for some people every fall as it starts getting dark outside earlier in the evening.
That gradual loss of sunlight can make us, well, sad.
However, we can fight it off. And we should.
For example, we can get outside more while the sun is still out. We can exercise more, which is proven to boost the endorphins that make us feel good. We can make a point of socializing and spending more time having fun and lively conversations with others—so we’re not alone wallowing in the blues.
We can resolve these issues on campus or at home.
For example, AACC offers a fitness and weight room for all students enrolled in credit courses. We can socialize with others on campus
Letter from a leader
through club meetings and classes.
Feeling depressed doesn’t put you in the best mood to study, participate in class or do homework. In fact, it can contribute a lot to procrastination—when you put everything off until tomorrow—and then when tomorrow comes, you have more to do than is humanly possible to finish.
Then you feel even worse.
For some students, SAD can feel like a case of the blues or even fatigue. Others, though, wind up spiraling into a deeper depression that can prevent them from keeping up with school, friends, hobbies and their regular routines.
Luckily, not everyone gets it. For those who do, it usually starts at around age 18. About 5% of adults suffer from SAD, while up to 20% experience the milder winter blues, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
However, those who suffer from depression, anxiety or other mental health issues are more likely to get it than other students.
Symptoms include: a feeling of despair or worth-
lessness, a change in your sleeping schedule, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, cravings for carbs and junk food, agitation, negative thoughts, and an overall feeling of heaviness, like in the arms and legs.
If you’re at risk or if SAD already has a grip on you, try spending more time outdoors to experience more sunlight. Study near a window during the day. Ask your professor to consider holding class outside. You also can eat a balanced diet, drink lots of water, avoid spending too much
time alone and get plenty of sleep. And, of course, talk to your doctor if those simple steps don’t help you feel better. AACC offers counseling on campus from trained therapists, whom you can talk to about anything you want, and all discussions are confidential.
Our years in college should be among the happiest times of our lives. Let’s not spend them—or even a few months out of the year—being sad—or SAD. Let’s be proactive about being productive and happy, even when the sun sets way too early.
Leadership role can help you
Waleska Cruz Features Editor
Before joining our student newspaper, Campus Current, and becoming features editor, I was pretty shy.
If I noticed a classmate who was dressed cool or was wearing a T-shirt that showed off something I am hyper-fixated on, the extrovert in me would come out. I would introduce myself, start conversations and sit near my cool classmate in class.
But if I saw someone like that outside of class, I would be too nervous to say anything. Sometimes even with relatives, I wouldn’t know what to talk about besides a quick recap of how our lives were going.
Then, complete, awkward silence.
But now, with Campus Current, I have to interview students and staff members. That has helped me overcome my shyness. But it didn’t happen overnight.
For my first person-onthe-street article, which is a story that requires inter-
views with at least 50 students—mostly strangers—I had to rush to the bathroom after every two interviews and try to breathe and calm myself down.
It was super nerve-racking, even though my professor would tell us, “Worrying about it is worse than actually doing it.”
I didn’t agree, at least at first.
But she was right. Once I finished my interviews, I felt accomplished and relieved.
I’m really grateful for that experience, because my passion for journalism started when I was just a child.
It started with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” The character April O’Neil, a fierce reporter who covered stories in the news while helping out the turtles, inspired me to pursue a career in journalism.
However, I quickly realized that there were no turtles or any kicking butts involved, sadly. But my passion for journalism remained strong. In elementary, middle and high school, I joined
the news broadcasting and yearbook clubs, and when I entered AACC, I decided to enroll in a journalism class and become a reporter for the student newspaper. I truly enjoyed coming up with ideas and writing stories and how it felt to see my name on a published story.
I still have a long way to go when it comes to overcoming my shyness. But thanks to Campus Current, I’ve gotten somewhat better at approaching people, even outside of school. Now, whenever I see someone cool, I start talking.
If you are shy and looking to overcome your fear, I highly recommend taking on a leadership role or joining a club here on campus. Being a part of something and surrounding yourself with people is something that will help you overcome that fear.
Once you fully commit to your role in a club or in a leadership position, you will grow to be more confident. Plus, you’ll make some great friends along the way. Trust me, I’ve been in your shoes before.
And if I can try to do this, then you can, too.
Students can fight off seasonal affective disorder. Shown, first-year visual arts student Caleb Bickford.
Photo by Jose Gonzalez
Second-year communications student Waleska Cruz (right) says she was shy before joining Campus Current.
Photo by Katie O’Neil
Student files for order of protection
Continued from Page 1
court, the student alleged that the relationship began shortly after her 18th birthday, when Beatty asked her to babysit his children for a second time. While she was at his house, she said, he flirted with her and tickled her.
After her high school graduation, she said in court papers, “he bought me flowers, found my address on his own, and left them at my front door. He didn’t sign it so my parents wouldn’t know who left them.”
They began to have a sexual relationship after she graduated and turned 18, the student said in her court petition. She alleged
that Beatty insisted on having unprotected sex, which she initially resisted to avoid getting pregnant.
In the petition, she alleged that he gave her so much alcohol that she couldn’t walk, and continued to pressure her to drink more.
Later, she said, she moved into his house.
She also alleged in the petition that he tried to convince her to move her money into a joint bank account with him.
Once she realized she wanted to leave him, she said in court papers, “He would manipulate me and make me feel like I can’t leave. He was very adamant that he had a
lot to lose and I had little to lose.”
Finally, she said, she ran away from his house, without her shoes so he didn’t think she was trying to leave.
Beatty said he voluntarily accepted the protective order to “de-escalate the situation and allow all parties to move forward,” not because the student’s claims were true.
In his statement to the student newspaper, Beatty said, “At no point during the semester was there any type of intimate relationship.”
On a website he created to “share the truth” about the relationship, Beatty said he didn’t know the student was in high school when he met her in his class.
Bd. of Ed. candidate gives anti-gay speech
Continued from Page 1
for her characterization of LGBTQ individuals.
Nkongolo, a Republican who is running in District 5, called the Anne Arundel County Public Schools system an “institution of grooming” and said she opposes non-gendered restrooms and does not want to see “boys … playing girls’ sports.”
“[I’m] disappointed and appalled that she is a ... teacher here at AACC [who] would misrepresent queer identities as mental illnesses,” Ellie Jasen, a sixth-year mecha-
tronics student, said. “Especially when she’s in a position where new … students would be learning from her.”
Jasen, president of AACC’s Gender and Sexualities Alliance, said campus students are “entirely justified” to be upset with her.
“If these are the beliefs … that she holds [as] a … teacher, and the ones that she’s maybe passing on to her students, that could widely affect the queer community as a whole,” Jasen said.
Jasen added: “It is important in this day and age to ensure, especially mental
He alleged on his website that she said she did not care about their age difference.
As of Sept. 17, Beatty’s website said he was suspended from the college following an allegation that he was in a sexual relationship with the teenager while she was a student in his class, which he has denied.
The student petitioned to the court to have the website taken down, which was denied by the Anne Arundel County District Court.
Dan Baum, AACC’s executive director of strategic communications, said in a statement that the college does not comment on personnel matters. He added, however, “Anne Arundel
Community College is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all members of our community. ... Please be assured that we always take the necessary steps to address any concerns with the utmost seriousness and in accordance with our institutional policies and all federal, state and county laws and regulations.”
AACC’s Nepotism and Personal Relationships Policy “discourages a faculty member from having an intimate relationship with an adult student, even if there is not a faculty-student relationship," adding that a professor in such an intimate relationship cannot evaluate the student’s work.”
health professionals, do not misunderstand or misrepresent queer identities as mental illness.”
Jasen also referred to Nkongolo’s arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol in January. The charge was dropped when she pleaded guilty to negligent driving.
“I cannot say that I would trust someone who drinks and drives to make responsible decisions,” Jasen said. “I personally would not trust them in a position on the Board of Education.”
Finch Cobb, a first-year EMT student, agreed.
“I don’t believe that someone that would intentionally make a poor decision should be in charge of the children in Anne Arundel County schools,” Cobb said.
“I feel like it would be a horrible representation of what we stand for as a county.”
Cobb said AACC should
take action against Nkongolo. Jasen, a transgender woman, agreed.
“I do not believe that AACC should continue to support or employ someone who has publicly stated any kind of discriminatory values against the queer community,” Jasen said.
Men’s soccer player holds president title
Continued from Page 1
transferred to the University of Maryland this semester.
“Seeing how the group that Zack … would like, coordinate events and stuff, I always thought that … is the type of thing I wanted to do,” Blake said. “I’m more into sports, but I’m also into leadership.”
Blake said his dual duties are “a lot of work” but added, “I’m enjoying the things that I’m doing.”
Blake, who also played soccer for the Riverhawks last year, was previously a goalkeeper for Trinidad and
Tobago’s U17 national team from September 2022 to January 2023.
Blake, who was valedictorian of his high school class in Trinidad and Tabago, described his role as goalkeeper for the U17 national team as “very hard.”
“When I was doing that, it took a lot out of me,” he said. “It would take me about two to three hours to get to practice, meaning I’ll have to leave school much earlier than usual to get a practice so it would take out a lot of my grades.”
Still, Blake added, “After like, you know, putting everything together, I was able
to … pull my grades together.”
AACC Athletic Director
Duane Herr said Blake is capable of balancing his roles as SGA president and goalkeeper.
“He’s proven that he has [a] very good work ethic,” Herr said. “He’s been a great student, from what I’ve seen.”
According to Blake, his family and friends agree.
“My family thinks it's really cool because it can go towards my resume. It goes towards my personality,” Blake said. “So they were … very excited for me to take on this role” as SGA president.
LaToya Nkongolo, an AACC adjunct, is running for the Anne Arundel County Board of Education.
Photo by Divine Mesumbe
Jayeim Blake, an international student, serves as the Student Government Association president.
Photo by Finch Cobb
Full-time professors consider unionizing
Jose Gonzalez Editor-in-Chief
AACC’s full-time faculty members are deciding this month whether they will unionize.
Professors who support joining the Maryland State Education Association have said the union will advocate, on behalf of faculty, for more paid parental leave and for more of a focus on teaching than on administrative tasks.
“We need to be represented,” history professor Rita Gomez, one of the union organizers on campus, said. “We need to have a voice, and we need to be recog-
nized as competent professionals who know what they’re doing and do not need over-management.”
Gomez added: “We don’t have a say, and this is something that I take very personally.”
Psychology professor Matt Patton, another organizer, said faculty have an important perspective that should be included in the college’s decision-making.
If 50% of faculty members—plus one person—sign membership forms saying they want to join the union, the union can be certified. If fewer faculty members sign up, the union effort will stop.
Faculty members can get membership forms from union advocates like Gomez, Patton, English professor Suzanne Spoor, history professor Frank Alduino and about 15 others who have been working behind the scenes to bring a faculty union to AACC for more than two years.
Spoor said the group hopes to collect enough membership forms to have the union certified before Thanksgiving.
In 2021, a vote in the Maryland Legislature allowed community college faculty and staff to unionize. Since then, four com-
AACC professors who support unionization might join the Maryland State Education Association. Photo courtesy of Maryland State Education Association
munity colleges in Maryland have unionized or have unions. An effort for faculty to unionize at Prince
New lab opens up on Florestano 4th floor
Julissa Mendoza Robles Reporter of different services, as far as like, instructional design, distance learning, accessibility,” operations specialist Elizabeth Shaw said. “It’s so many different things.”
A large new computer lab and study space on the fourth floor of the Florestano building on West Campus is attracting students who visit it to collaborate, take classes and do homework.
Called the IDEA Lab, which stands for Innovation, Design, Accessibility and Engagement, the space, which takes up an entire floor, combines a computer lab, conference room, recording studios, classrooms, and offices for information technology and distance learning faculty and staff.
“The IDEA Lab in itself is … a whole department in such that it’s made up of a lot
Student talks about recovery from drugs
Jose Gonzalez Editor-in-Chief
An AACC student said he’s grateful after nearly dying in a car crash.
Michael Richardson, a second-year transfer studies student, started using drugs like cocaine and marijuana as a freshman in high school and drank “as much as I could … until I would throw up.”
He paid dearly for his lifestyle: In January 2019, Richardson, high on cocaine, drove his car into a bridge on Route 50. The accident left him in a coma off and on for four months.
“I almost died,” he told an audience of students during a Sept. 17 event on campus.
And because he didn’t, “basically, when I would wake up in the morning, I would
want to kill myself. ... I was so depressed.”
Richardson, who admitted he was a drug addict, said he decided to speak at the Health and Wellness Center event to help others who might think there’s no way up from the bottom.
“Never give up,” Richardson said. “Always look … for new ways that you could get better.”
The four-story Florestano building closed in 2021 for a total renovation. The fourth floor reopened last fall, and the other floors are scheduled to open in 2026.
On the fourth floor, classrooms are equipped with features like speakers that pick up sound all over the rooms, Shaw said.
“So it doesn’t matter where you are in the room, the students can hear, whether they are in person or online,” Shaw said. Those classrooms were designed with the need for accessibili-
ty in mind, Shaw said.
The computer lab, which houses multiple computers and a printer, is open for students between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on school days.
“You’re welcome to come in and use the computer lab if you have, like, a test, or, let’s say, you just want a quiet place to sit and do homework or write out a paper,” Shaw said.
Fourth-year plant biology student Troy Spencer said it is beneficial to take a restoration ecology class in one of the IDEA Lab’s classrooms.
“You have more open seating, tables that can move around, space for computers, and it makes it easier to do activities beyond just listening to a lecture,” Spencer said.
A new computer lab and study space is open on the fourth floor of the Florestano building.
Photo courtesy of Strategic Communications
George’s Community College is reportedly underway.
AACC’s adjunct faculty unionized in October 2023.
Michael Richardson, a second-year transfer studies student, says he’s grateful after recovering from a car crash.
Photo by Finch Cobb
Why put it off till tomorrow?
Waleska Cruz Features Editor
“I’ll do it tomorrow.”
Sure you will.
Up to 95% of college students procrastinate on a regular basis, according to a survey by the website Solving Procrastination. AACC students do it, too.
“I feel like I work better, like … under more pressure,” first-year transfer studies student Evan Bathras said. “I guess when there’s less time, I’m more motivated that way [because] I guess that’s just how I work. I try to get some stuff done early, especially if it’s like a big project, but little stuff I procrastinate on.”
Itamar Shatz, who teaches at Cambridge University and puts out a digital newsletter called Solving Procrastination, said research shows half of college students procrastinate in a “consistent and chronic manner,” while 75% said they are procras-
tinators, and 80% to 95% admitted they sometimes procrastinate.
AACC psychology professor Rachelle Tannenbaum said students might say they’ll do something tomorrow, thinking they won’t be in the mood to work on their assignments today but they will be ready later.
“They think that they’re going to magically be in the mood tomorrow, which they’re not right,” Tannenbaum said. “But it’s easy to think that now. And a lot of times, it’s not even that the task itself is that bad … but because it’s producing anxiety. Then as soon as you make the decision [not to do something], you say, ‘I’m not going to work on that right now,’ [and] at least temporarily, all that anxiety goes away.”
Tannenbaum added:
“And that is a really nice feeling. And so it encourages you to do it again.”
ARE YOU IN THE RIGHT SPOT?
Transfer studies student Imani Wortham said she can relate to this.
“I’d just rather do literally anything else,” Wortham, a second-year student, said. “Like, I know that it’ll just be easier to get little increments done, like over a longer period of time, than waiting to do everything at once. And I know that, and that’s obvious, but at the moment, it’s just like, ‘I’d rather sit in bed than look at calculus.’”
Procrastination is, “You know what you have to do, when you have to do it, and you’re still not doing it anyway,” Tannenbaum said.
That’s the case for firstyear visual arts student Caleb Bickford.
“I don’t touch [my homework assignments] for, like, forever,” Bickford said. “And then I only have, like, two or three hours to do [everything]. And it’s just like the only time I do work is when
I’m overwhelmed.”
Some students said they don’t procrastinate.
“I try to get things in earlier because I work, so I don’t really have time to finish it when I get home [at 11:45 p.m.] because I just want to go right to bed,” first-year transfer studies student Corah Klein said. “I have a gap between classes, so I try to get everything done right after class, so then I know it’s done and it’s in my bag.”
TRANSFER STUDIES
ELECTIVES are courses that you get to choose. Electives allow you to explore your interests and become a well-informed member of society. But how many should you take? Your four-year school decides. Go to their website and find the degree planner for your bachelor’s degree program. Some programs at Maryland public universities allow you to take up to 27 credits of electives. Some allow as few as 8, so choose carefully. Talk with your professors and your academic advisor now to start making your transfer plan. To meet with someone about Transfer Studies email Prof. Scott Cooper at sacooper@aacc.edu
Second-year communications student Darian Moya Perez, like many students, procrastinates on schoolwork by doing other things like scrolling on social media.
Photo by Divine Mesumbe
Escape game new to college
Divine Mesumbe Associate Editor
Paramedic students learn about identifying hazards and looking for clues in an escape room on campus tailored with puzzles to build hands-on experience.
The students have escape room days in addition to their lectures and labs.
During an escape room day, students are taken into a specialized room where they simulate the experience of walking into a medical emergency.
“I love it … because it’s so intricate and because it’s so meaningful and because it’s relevant to their assessment skills,” Trisha Wanamaker, the paramedic program instructional specialist, said.
In the room, students assess the environment for hazards that could pose a threat to them. They look for clues that hint at the medical situation in the simulation.
They then do a detailed body assessment of a mannequin in the simulation and use this information to solve six puzzles in a 90-minute session, according to Wanamaker.
They’re not allowed to leave the room until they solve all of the puzzles.
Wanamaker said she got the idea to develop an escape room after visiting Atlantic City in November 2023.
“It’s a very different world from where I grew up in,” Wanamaker said. “The college is allowing us to, kind of, meet students where they’re at and … what they’re growing up with, and I think that’s key.”
Wanamaker said she didn’t realize how difficult creating an escape room would be.
“There’s a lot of moving pieces and a lot of parts, so [it was] very intense to create it,” Wanamaker said. “The feedback from every
Fun and Games
single student has been, by far, fantastic.”
Jordan Hopkins, a second-year paramedic student, said he had a “positive experience overall” in the escape room, with “no complaints.”
“I like the hands-on education … [and] the interactions we are able to have with teachers,” Hopkins said.
Michael Ebanks, a second-year paramedic student,
said the escape room “has definitely challenged me to dig deep into what I really know.”
Ebanks said, “It has helped me expand [my knowledge] and become an even better person and really [use] my critical thinking skills.”
Second-year paramedic student Tavaris Murray said the knowledge he learned from the escape room is
“outstanding” and “second to none.”
And second-year paramedic student Jermaine Mills, who works for the Prince George’s County Fire Department, said the escape room helped him grow as a firefighter and first responder.
“I’m excited to take the knowledge I gained in this program and apply it onto the field,” Mills said.
Paramedic students recieve hands-on learning experience by identifying medical hazards and looking for clues in an escape room-style classroom.
Photo courtesy of Emiley Sale
Facilities mows down HLSB natural habitat
Waleska Cruz Features Editor
Divine Mesumbe Associate Editor
The college’s Facilities Department in August mowed over a small meadow behind the Health and Life Sciences Building that housed native wildlife.
Contractors cut down the meadow, which stretched from Ring Road to the parking lot behind the building and was home to plants such as milkweed, goldenrod, black-eyed Susans, scarlet beebalm, iris, Queen Anne’s lace, yarrow, partridge peas and vetches that provide a natural habitat for animals such as skinks, mice, snakes, sparrows, chickadees, wrens and bluebirds.
“To the untrained eye, it looks like a patch of weeds, it really does,” Michael Norman, AACC’s Environmental Center laboratory manager, said. “To the person that
understands ecology and ecosystems, it’s a beautiful thing.”
But Larry Gregory, AACC’s director of facilities maintenance and operations, said the college’s public safety officials requested the change because the overgrown patch blocked the view of nearby surveillance cameras that monitor the parking lot.
According to Norman, the college planted the meadow, which students volunteered to help maintain and thrive by planting additional foliage over time.
“I’m not trying to pick a fight with grounds or facilities. … I’m not at war with [them],” Norman said. “[But] if they’re going to commit themselves to trying to establish native plant communities, specifically along the whole border of [HLSB] … they can’t put them in, and later, decide that it’s too much work and mow them all down. So they
need to be committed to it, and they have to manage them properly.”
Gregory said the college thins out overgrown plants two to three times a year for security reasons. He added that those who plant the gardens should choose locations that are farther away from buildings.
Alex Bradford, a thirdyear plant science student, said she “couldn’t believe it” when she found out the meadow was gone.
She said she saw the mowers demolishing the garden.
“I stopped in my tracks,” Bradford said, adding, “I was like, ‘Am I really seeing this right now?’ Like, they’re in the middle of destroying it right now. It was there, and now it’s gone. … These plants and these flowers are in the middle of their bloom time. It’s the worst time to get rid of them.”
Third-year environmen-
Facilities staff mulched over a garden featuring native plants behind the Health and Life Sciences Building in August.
by Waleska Cruz
tal science student Emily Price said she remembered the meadow as “flourishing and very beautiful.”
“We actually planted a lot of those plants,” Price said. “And a lot of those plants were very important ecologically.” Price criticized the college for removing them.
“We don’t really have the power,” Price said. “They have the power, which, in my head, makes no sense, because why are there people who don’t know the significance of these plants? Why do they get permission to send people out to go destroy all these plants?”
Photo
Transfer studies not right for all students
Julissa Mendoza Robles Reporter
Students who select transfer studies as their major simply because they are undecided or don’t understand how to declare an area of study might be in the wrong major.
That’s the advice of transfer studies faculty, who have suggested the major is for students whose desired major isn’t offered at AACC or who have specific course requirements for transferring to a four-year university.
“It is supposed to help students meet their academic goals by letting them customize the classes that they take to meet the program and specific requirements of the four-year institution that they’re interested in transferring to,” Khadijat Richmond, director of transfer studies, said.
Interim Assistant Dean for Transfer Studies Scott
Cooper said he encourages students to reach out to their academic advisers and professors to ask questions about fields they’re interested in, and then create a plan that will work best for them.
Then, they can select a major from the programs that AACC offers.
“I would say, as soon as after the first semester, they can start reaching out to their academic adviser, but also their current professors, and say, ‘I think I have an interest in this area,’” Cooper said.
“AACC programs actually do a really good job transferring outside of the state of Maryland,” Richmond said. “It’s really about making sure as early as possible you know the program requirements, and if we can make it align with an existing program we have, we’re going to put you there before transfer studies.”
The transfer studies degree is one of AACC’s five
most popular programs, with more than 1,500 students enrolled.
Second-year transfer studies student Christopher Robinson said he chose transfer studies as a community college major because he wants to study international relations, which AACC does not offer.
“[Transfer studies] really helps me to get the more general education classes out of the way without going to a main four-year and paying the premium,” Robinson said. “So you have the flexibility to take the specific classes that you need for your degree program choice.”
Richmond said she encourages students, especially if they rely on financial aid, to sign up for general education courses here.
“I think that can get pretty dangerous because you start spending a lot of money and a lot more time than
necessary,” Richmond said of students who wait until enrolling in a more expensive university before they take their gen ed credits. Still, Cooper said major-
ing in transfer studies can benefit students “who … just really want to earn an associate degree quickly and get right into the workforce with an associate degree.”
Professor Scott Cooper, the interim transfer studies assisstant dean, says students should reach out to their academic advisers for help in choosing a major.
Photo by Finch Cobb
Many to skip senator vote
Divine Mesumbe Associate Editor
An informal campus poll showed 36% of students do not know which of Maryland’s U.S. Senate candidates they will vote for in November.
In a poll of 50 students, 18 said they do not know whom they will vote for. That compares with nine who said they will vote for Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive, and seven who said they will vote for former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican.
Sixteen said they will not vote.
Political science professor Dan Nataf said the numbers do not surprise him, noting that 60% of young people did not vote for president in 2020.
“There’s a natural reluctance to engage [in politics] … because, you know, politics kind of labels you, and some people may feel that they don’t want to be labeled with partisan tinge,” Nataf, director of the college’s Center for the Study of Local Issues, said. “The fact that they’re young kind of makes political involvement, you know, a novelty.”
Second-year computer engineering student Joseph Jackson, who said he does not plan to vote this year, said he is “mostly disenchanted” with the political system.
“I might just write in, I don’t know … that guy who wears, like, a boot on his head [Vermin Supreme],” Jackson said.
Darian Moya Perez, a second-year communications student, said she is “just not
Hispanic Heritage Month events
Sept. 15 - Oct. 15
“Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together” Exhibit
Andrew G. Truxal Library
“Perspectives Latinas” Exhibit
Pascal Center for Performing Arts Gallery
HCAT Meals to Go Order meals to go form.jotform.com/242534595398167
Wednesday, Oct. 9
Baile Con Sabor: A Celebration of Hispanic Rhythms Noon-2 p.m. HLSB patio
educated in politics overall.”
“I just don’t really care for politics,” Moya Perez, who said she has no plans to vote, said. “I don’t feel like educating myself about it … [but] I feel like I probably should care because, you know, it’s something that affects all of us as a whole.”
Among those who said they plan to vote for Mary-
land’s next U.S. senator, some are undecided.
Third-year entrepreneurship student Zachary Lawrence, an undecided voter, said he hasn’t done enough research to make a decision.
Third-year entrepreneurship student Cameron Millar, who plans to vote for Alsobrooks, said, “I would
prefer the Democrats because the Republican party is very anti-women, anti-LGBT [and] anti-people of color.”
Second-year student
Phillip Michaels, who plans to vote for Hogan, said he met the former governor because his dad used to work with him.
“I believe he is going to do his best,” Michaels said.
Hispanic Heritage is theme of Sept./Oct.
Waleska Cruz Features Editor
AACC is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 with art exhibitions, a cooking demonstration and a dance class.
The campus kicked off the month-long celebration with a Sept. 27 showing of portraits by mixed-media artist Glory Paredes of El Salvador, featuring remarks from the artist.
Hispanic students said it’s important for the college to acknowledge the month.
“I think it’s important for Hispanic Heritage Month to
be celebrated so other people are able to learn about different cultures, colors and food,” second-year nursing student Maryuri Ramos, who is from Honduras, said. “I think it makes me feel more welcomed. … I think it’s very welcoming for people to attend AACC because of this upcoming celebration.”
The college began celebrating the month in 2008, when Hispanic students made up approximately 2% of the campus enrollment despite a larger proportion of Latinos in Anne Arundel County, Wilfredo Valladares Lara, this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month chair, said.
Students wear band T-shirts
Jose Gonzalez Editor-in-Chief
Students are showing the music they listen to by wearing T-shirts advertising their favorite bands and artists.
Second-year biology student Gabe Aquino, who wore an NBA Youngboy shirt, said wearing band T-shirts is good for students. “They should wear what they like,” Aquino
said. “They can, like, make friends or meet people that have … similar interests, if someone notices their shirt.”
Alyssa Fox, a second-year graphic design student, agreed.
“I support it,” Fox, who wore a Ghost T-shirt, said.
“That’s nice to see.”
Fox discovered Ghost
“maybe a year ago,” through the band’s music and con-
cert videos on TikTok.
Fox added: “I work at Spirit Halloween, so I can get away with wearing a lot of, like, weird things, I guess … I was going to wear this.”
Connor Braun, who also wore a Ghost shirt, said it’s “awesome” seeing other students wear band T-shirts.
“I can immediately be like, ‘Oh, you like a band that I like,’” Braun, a first-year
transfer studies student, said. “It’s a common interest of being like, ‘Hey, I like your shirt.’ You know … and I can be like, ‘Oh, it’s sick.’ I can talk to them about the music.”
Emma Dean, who wore a Green Day T-shirt, said she got into the band after seeing the group open for a concert. Reporter Jason Kalshoven contributed to this article.
“This significant representation gap inspired me to propose the first [Hispanic Heritage Month] celebration at the college,” he added.
First-year psychology student Mia Alvarez-Santiago, who is from Florida, but her parents are from Puerto Rico and Cuba, said Hispanic Heritage Month is a way for other Hispanic students to connect with one another.
“I feel like it’s nice to know that there’s other people like me around and that the college is able to put a name and title, and like a day for those students to get together and get to know each other,” Alvarez-Santiago said.
Second-year graphic design student Alyssa Fox wears a T-shirt showing off a favorite band, Ghost.
Adobe Stock image
Most students don’t know which candidate they want to vote for in the upcoming Maryland U.S. Senate election. Pixabay image
Photo by Jose Gonzalez
Kamala Harris: brat? Students don’t agree
Ayla Cole Reporter
Charli XCX might think Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is brat, but some AACC students say she’s not.
In fact, they told Campus Current, no politician can be brat because no politician is ever authentic. Brat, as defined by the hyperpop singer, means, loosely, unapologetically authentic.
“I wouldn’t say I would describe her as authentic,” first-year business administration student Kaleia Techur said. “I think she just says what people want to hear.”
Some said Harris is trying too hard to be brat to get the young vote.
“She’s, like, really trying to appeal to the younger people, but with the music and what language she’s using,” second-year theater student Milo Starling said.
But a few called Harris “authentic.”
“Kamala is very true to herself and her beliefs, and she’s very open and honest about that with the public,” second-year education student Lily Peaper said. “And she’s doing, like, the best she can to, like, realize those actions. And to me, that is brat, being, like, authentically yourself.”
Charli XCX released a chart-topping album called “Brat” in June and later referred to the vice president, who is running for president against former President Donald Trump, as brat—as a compliment.
The artist tweeted on July 21, a few hours after President Joe Biden dropped out of his race for re-election, “Kamala IS brat.”
Brat skyrocketed over the summer not only as an album but as a movement.
Adults, teens and kids began wearing lime green,
the color of the album cover, and claiming things they do are brat.
Even Harris embraced the brat movement by making the background of her campaign’s X profile lime green.
Harris’ famous “fell out of a coconut tree” speech got remixed into Charli XCX’s song “360” from her “brat” album and went viral on social media.
A few students told Campus Current they believe they are brat, too.
“Yes, I’m passionately lazy,” second-year transfer studies student Christopher Robinson said.
“Yeah, I agree [I am brat],” Techur said.
Most students said Trump is not brat.
“No, I think he is very fake and only saying things that he thinks that … the people who are most likely to vote for him want to hear, so I think he is appealing to
After the hyperpop singer Charli XCX released her “Brat” album and called Vice President Kamala Harris brat, the candidate embraced the endorsement to appeal to young voters. Wikimedia Commons image
that side of people, rather than the issues that mean the most to him personally,” Peaper said.
First-year communications student Morgan Brown agreed Trump is not brat.
“He seems a little bit
more made up, if that really makes any sense,” Brown said. “It’s not really all that authentic or anything. He might be like, following what his PR [public relations] team does a lot or not really working with his PR team.”
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Theatre AACC preps for fall
Tomi Brunton Reporter
Theatre AACC will put on the Shakespearean comedy “Twelfth Night” in November.
Madeline Austin, the play’s director, said the “screwball comedy” will be “a whole bunch of fun.”
“This play is hysterical,” Austin, a theater professor, said. “There’s a lot of slapstick comedy, and we have a wonderful stage choreographer. … It’s going to be such an integral part of this show.”
Theatre AACC tapped fight scene director Jonathan Rubin, who came to AACC last year for a stage combat workshop, to work as stage choreographer for “Twelfth Night.”
“Twelfth Night” is a classic Shakespearean play, following an aristocratic young woman who, after a shipwreck, disguises herself as a man and begins working as a servant in a duke’s household.
Theatre AACC’s performance, however, is set in 1930s Morocco.
“I visited Spain two years ago, and I saw Alhambra and the beautiful Moorish structure … and I thought that kind of era is fun with clothes and costumes,” Austin said. “I thought it lended itself very well to the play.
I mean, ‘Twelfth Night’ has been done everywhere, you know, at every era. So this is just another one.”
Austin said acting in one of Shakespeare’s plays is a unique experience.
Actors “have to take Shakespeare’s language, his speech, his action, they have to take into account the type of language they’re speaking,” Austin said. “You need to see where Shakespeare put the hard stresses and the soft stresses, because he’s giving you clues. … He’s loaded his scripts with hidden directions.”
Andrew Agner-Nichols, a
second-year non-degree student who will play Duke Orsino, said acting Shakespeare is “a whole different beast.”
“The anxiety of having to memorize everything, word for word, [because] you can’t really … come up
with things ad lib, on the fly, with Shakespeare because of, you know, how it’s structured,” Agner-Nichols said.
“That’s got me a little nervous, but, you know, it’s part of the job.”
Third-year transfer stud-
ies student Nathan Garcia, who will play Antonio in Theatre AACC’s production, said “Twelfth Night” is “a great play.”
Editor-in-Chief Jose Gonzalez contributed to this story.
Adjunct professor to oversee productions
Tomi Brunton Reporter
During two years at AACC, a theater student might have opportunities to perform in a comedy, a tragedy, a musical and a classical play.
Madeline Austin, a theater professor, said the theater program’s faculty plans mainstage productions every semester to offer as much variety to students as possible.
“We’re trying to do a musical every other year,” Austin said. “This year we’re doing a Shakespeare play … so that we produce actors … who’ve had an introduction to both contemporary and classical work.”
Austin will direct Theatre AACC’s performance of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” on Nov. 8-10 and 15-
17 in the Kauffman Theater.
Over the last four years, Theatre AACC has put on the musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” the courtroom drama “Twelve Angry Jurors,” the comedy “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” and the ancient Greek tragedy “Antigone.”
Austin said one of her goals is for theater students to get exposure to more modern playwrights.
“It would be nice to introduce a play that was a great play or well-known at one time and has been forgotten because we don’t read as much,” Austin said. “Who hasn’t seen ‘A View from the Bridge’ or ‘Death of a Salesman?’ I mean, these are great plays.”
On top of the mainstage productions once a semester, the theater puts on additional small productions.
Last year, the theater showed a staged reading of “Hurricane Diane,” an environmental comedy written by Pulitzer Prize nominee Madeleine George. This year, the department will show a staged reading of David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Proof” on Sept. 27-28 at 8 p.m. and Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. in Humanities 112 with two different casts.
In a staged reading, actors perform with scripts in hand, usually without sets or costumes.
Austin said Theatre AACC puts on staged readings to offer actors extra opportunities that normally wouldn’t be within the department’s budget, and to show unique and striking modern plays. Additionally, Austin said, staged readings aren’t as much of a time commitment for actors.
Theatre AACC members rehearse for the Shakespearean comedy “Twelfth Night,” scheduled for six dates in November.
Photo by Olivia Sage Howard
Adjunct theater professor Madeline Austin will oversee a musical and staged reading this semester.
Photo by Jose Gonzalez
a story?
College hosts regional bout
Jose Gonzalez Editor-in-Chief
AACC will host a men’s and women’s soccer tournament this month.
The National Junior College Athletic Association is holding the Region 20 Division II tournament at AACC for men’s and women’s soccer starting Oct. 19. Both soccer teams will need to qualify in order to play.
“It’s going to come down to head-to-head matchups in the division,” Athletic Director Duane Herr said. “It’s based on record.”
The eight teams that qualify for the tournament will play in a knockout format. The team that wins the final game of the regional goes to the national championship.
The Riverhawks made it to the women’s regional fi-
nal last year, but lost 2-1 to Community College of Baltimore County Essex with one second left in overtime. The women’s team started its fall 2024 season with a 1-0 loss to Harford Community College in late September.
“You have to finish within the top eight places in Division II,” men’s soccer head coach Drew Belcher said. “If you fall outside the top eight … [you] don’t … make it” to the tournament.
AACC’s men’s team won the Region 20 tournament in 2022 against Prince George’s Community College.
Drew Belcher was the assistant coach for the men’s team and Nick Cosentino, who left the college this summer after 18 years with the Riverhawks, was head coach at the time.
The men’s Riverhawks started the fall 2024 season
AACC will host the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Region 20 Division II tournament this month. Shown, assistant men’s soccer coach Ethan Belcher.
Photo by Finch Cobb
0-3, including a 12-0 loss to Harford Community College.
Still, Belcher said the team can “100%” qualify for the home-field tournament.
AACC Athletics adds new women’s sports
Jose Gonzalez Editor-in-Chief
The Riverhawks will add a women’s golf team and a women’s cross-country team to their roster of sports next year.
The teams will compete in Division II of the National Junior College Athletic Association.
AACC Athletics added the teams after the NJCAA discontinued women’s lacrosse at community colleges nationwide in July.
“We wanted to provide opportunities for women’s participation,” Herr said. “So we felt like it was a good time to bring back women’s cross-country.”
The college discontinued its men’s and women’s cross-country teams in 2022, citing a lack of interest from athletes. At the time, the women’s lacrosse team had five runners on the roster and the men’s squad had six.
Since then, Herr said, “We’ve gotten some interest at the high school level for running sports.”
The college is not bringing back men’s cross-country, but Herr said he has not ruled out its return.
“We’ll evaluate and see what it looks like for interest and see where we need to go,” Herr said. “We’re constantly evaluating the sports that we offer … and determining what the interest looks like here on campus, what interest looks like from student athletes coming from the high school level. And we’ll make our decisions based on that.”
The two new sports will begin in 2025.
According to men’s golf coach Dave O’Donnell, the addition of the new sports was because of Title IX compliance after the removal of women’s lacrosse
“It was a real disappointment, because our women’s
lacrosse team was ... really a point of pride for the school,” O’Donnell said.
Still, O’Donnell said he is “very excited” for the addition of women’s golf.
“I think that golf has become a really popular game in the last five to seven years among especially young people,” O’Donnell said. “Having the opportunity for women to be able to compete in their own tournaments is absolutely wonderful.”
Two female students golfed for the men’s team last year. One of them, Ela Simpson, carded the top score among women at the 2024 Region 20 Division III golf championship.
“We’ve kind of had the opportunity for women’s golf in the past,” Herr said. “But just with it coming in on board as a Division II sport … it’s a really good transition to bring it in and have it as its own separate sport.”
Returning left-winger
Brian Guillen, a second-year business transfer studies student, agreed.
“It’s been a rough start,
but … we’re getting there,” Guillen said. “Once we are there, we’ll be rolling.”
The national tournament will be in Alabama on Nov. 17.
will add women’s cross-country and women’s
next year
Herr said the college is trying to recruit coaches for the two new women’s teams.
offers five men’s sports and four women’s teams, plus a co-ed esports team in 2024.
AACC
golf
after the National Junior College Athletic Association discontinued women’s lacrosse. Pixabay photo
AACC