October 2018 Issue

TheCampusCurrent.com

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Tech

Arts

Voting

Students can test virtual

The college will show the

AACC students will vote

reality goggles on

musical “Hairspray” this

for governor and others

campus this fall

semester

on Nov. 6

Page 9

Page 12

Page 13

October 2018

I VOTE D

AACC Athletics plans to develop esports teams Alex Fregger Tech Editor AACC Athletics plans to make esports part of its program next fall.

Electronic sports, called

The college will have a new Accuplacer in spring.

Photo by Alexandra Radovic

esports, involve established teams that play video games competitively for fun, ranking or monetary rewards.

Athletics Director Duane Herr said he’s hoping to introduce esports officially

to the college along with a men’s cross-country team in fall 2019.

“We’re very early in the process in terms of athletics

Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief

College Transitions Deneen Dangerfield, College Board is changing the content of the classic Accuplacer test to create the Next-Generation Accuplacer, which will replace the existing one on Jan. 29.

Additionally, the English Department may begin accepting a writing sample to

Continued on Page 4

College to change Accuplacer The college will have a new version of the Accuplacer placement test next fall, and will accept the GED as a way to place students into math and English classes.

According to Dean of

Campus gets $300,000 to fight sexual violence Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief The U.S. Justice Department awarded AACC $300,000 this semester to hire a new manager and train staff to better address sexual violence on campus.

Esports players, like third-year systems analyst student Thomas Harris (third from left) and second-year transfer studies student Kyle Taylor (far right) can join esports through AACC Athletics next fall.

Photo by Nikko Maresca

The college was one of 57 institutions nationwide, including three in Maryland, to receive the grant.

The Office on Violence Against Women grant is designed to reduce sexual violence—including domestic violence, dating violence,

Third-year game art and design student Jesseca Greene will serve as executive vice president of the Student Government Association this fall.

Photo by Nikko Maresca

stalking and sexual assault— on college campuses.

With the money, which the Justice Department released to the college on Oct. 1, AACC will design a program of prevention education for

Continued on Page 4

replace the score a student earns on the English portion of the new Next-Generation Accuplacer and help determine which first-year English courses the student should enroll in.

Dave Meng, department chair for English and Communications, said the writ-

ing sample would consist of a short essay that will be a “much better way” to place students, he said.

AACC traditionally has relied on the Accuplacer test to determine whether students need to take non-credit

Continued on Page 4

AACC will use $300,000 to address sexual violence this year. From left to right are first-year undecided student Robert Evans and first-year aircraft operations student Jessica Link, who posed for this shot.

Photo by Graig Bracey

Clubs place new reps in office this semester Ashley Sokolowski Associate Editor The Student Government Association Advisory Council elected four vice

presidents and seven senators on Sept. 24.

The council elected Jesseca Greene, a third-year game art and design student, as executive vice president.

Her role is to assist SGA President Jacob Smith with his duties.

“I wanted to give back to

Continued on Page 4

2 | Campus Current | 2018 | October

Editorial

Meet the Staff

College police: Up the security Editorial Board

Editor-In-Chief

Alexandra Radovic Associate Editor

Ashley Sokolowski Multimedia Editor

Sarah Noble

Multimedia Producer

Daniel Salomon Photography Editor

Nikko Maresca Graphic Designer

Kenzie Airey

Web Designer

Daniel Nickerson Tech Editor

Alex Fregger Sports Editors

Sanyee Barjogar Jr. Tommy Parker Noah Reem Brady Reilly Reporters

Arianna Beers Nick Burns Brooke Carneal Mike Pierorazio Photographers

Arianna Beers Graig Bracey Alexis Cochran Gerald M. Maravanyika

Faculty Adviser

Sharon O’Malley

Photographers on page 1, top

From left to right

Daniel Salomon Photo/Wikipedia Kenzie Airey

Twitter

@campus_current Facebook

Facebook.com/ CampusCurrentPaper Instagram

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After a mass shooting at The Capital Gazette in June, Campus Current is calling on campus security for stronger efforts to prevent any shooters from ever opening fire on campus.

On June 28, a shooter killed five people in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, just 15 minutes from AACC. Although AACC reports limited criminal activity, we shouldn’t underestimate the risk of a mass shooting on campus, especially considering recent incidents.

The most recent school shooting near our area occurred on March 20 at Great Mills High School in Lexington Park, Maryland, less than two hours away The Great Mills shooting, the 17th to occur in a U.S. school since Jan.1, left one student dead and another injured after the gunman, their 17-year-old classmate, Aus-

tin Wyatt Rollins, killed himself just before class started.

Campus Current believes that the most important part of promoting safety is preventing a shooting in the first place rather than preparing for one.

Although the state will, starting this year, require AACC, a weapons-free campus, to annually prepare faculty, staff and police at the college on safety measures to take in the event a shooter comes here, this doesn’t reduce the risk of someone bringing a gun onto campus with the intention of committing a mass shooting.

However, AACC does not have bag checks or metal detectors because “that’s more of a K-12 model,” according to Melissa Beardmore, vice president for learning resources management.

It may seem inconvenient for security officers to check your bag, or for you to walk through a metal detector as you enter a building,

Campus Current wants AACC to tighten security to prevent students from bringing guns on campus.

Photo courtesy of lifesizepotato on Flickr but isn’t the small inconvenience, or the few extra minutes it would take, worth potentially saving lives?

No student should have to wonder what to do if a shooter comes on campus, because AACC should eliminate this possibility.

Preparing for the worst isn’t good enough.

Students walk around campus every day with backpacks and purses that could have guns hidden in them.

That doesn’t seem unlikely in this day and age.

The college cannot trust that students are just going to abide by the rules without strict enforcement.

The only way to fully en-

sure that the campus is safe is to check their backpacks or force them to walk through metal detectors as they enter each building.

In order to enter any campus building, students should have to swipe security cards to prevent strangers from entering a building with the intention to shoot.

If AACC took these measures, it could protect students from mourning after an unnecessary and avoidable tragedy.

Our hearts go out to the victims of school shootings.

We can’t forget all the lost lives, just because they were not the lives of students at AACC.

Student Spotlight

Student marries at 18; starts new life at AACC Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief

An 18-year-old dental hygiene student married her long-time boyfriend in August just before they parted ways to attend separate colleges.

First-year student Samm Black, whose new motherin-law officiated the wedding, said she and her new husband have been together since the eighth grade.

Black said her husband was new to her middle school, and the two became fast friends. They cemented their status as a couple one day by hugging in front of the class as the bell rang to dismiss sixth-period English.

Black said she and her husband, David, dated throughout high school.

They planned to move to California together after graduation.

According to Black, her husband has a football scholarship to a community college in California, and she

wanted to attend UCLA. But they couldn’t afford to live off campus together, she said.

If he worked, she added, he couldn’t play football.

18-year-old Samm Black married her husband before he left for college.

Photo courtesy of Samm Black So Black decided to stay behind here, while her husband attends college to play football in California. Black said he is trying to get recruited by a four-year college. If he does, she will move to California and attend the same school.

Black said her decision to

stay in Maryland put a damper on her husband’s original plan to propose to her on Hollywood Boulevard once they settled in California.

Instead, Black said, he came home filthy from his construction job, offering a mug of green tea and a Reese’s peanut butter cup, and got down on one knee to ask for her hand.

“We didn’t want to go to the courthouse because that’s where all the young kids go when they don’t know what they want to do with their lives,” Black said. “We actually had his mom officiate it, so I don’t really know how credible my marriage is.”

After her plans to move to California fell through, Black said she didn’t know if she wanted to go to college this semester. But AACC turned out to be a good fit for her, she said.

“I like it a lot,” Black said.

“A lot of my friends from high school are here, and I think [we] share the same mentality.”

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October 2018 | Campus Current | 3

AACC enrollment drops for 2019, college says Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief AACC will offer more eight-week classes this spring in an effort to increase enrollment.

According to Vice President for Learning Mike Gavin, enrollment this fall dropped 4 percent from the same semester last year.

Gavin said this is likely because Anne Arundel County has a low unemployment rate—about 4 percent. When the economy is strong, he said, more people have jobs, so fewer of them enroll at AACC. Increasing the number of eight-week classes will allow

“students [to] take as many classes as they can,” Gavin said. “[More eight-week classes] is a good idea, because they would attract more people to come here, because they could get their degree quicker and just be done,” first-year nursing student Hailey Gorman said.

“I don’t know if I would do it, because eight-week classes are more sped-up, but it’s good if you don’t want to be here long,” first-year biology student Paige Gorman said.

This proved successful last-year, when the college’s enrollment had dipped by 6 percent. It decreased to

3 percent after AACC added more eight-week winter classes.

However, Gavin said the dip in enrollment isn’t as significant as it is at Maryland’s other 15 community colleges.

Although he said he’s “not sure [low enrollment] will be a trend [at AACC],” Gavin reported that “all the community colleges in the state have been progressively declining in enrollment over the past six years.”

“We measure enrollment from July 1 to June 30. … I hope by June 30 we aren’t 4 percent down.”

Starting in spring 2019, the college will pack two eight-week sections of some

News 8% 7% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0

AACC Low Enrollment Rate

Fall 2018

Spring 2018

Enrollment at the college dipped by 4 percent this fall; AACC is planning to add more eight-week classes.

Graphic by Kenzie Airey classes into a single semester, so students can take two eight-week courses—one during the first eight weeks and one in the second—rather than taking one 15-week class—to earn six credits, Gavin said.

In combination with this, the college started running a data literacy program this fall to better train future mid-level managers on how to analyze data, which is a

‘Redefine’ campaign revamps Daniel Salomon Multimedia Producer AACC added five new slogans to its “Redefine Yourself” marketing campaign over the summer.

The new slogans are similar to “Redefine Yourself”— such as “Recharge Yourself,” “Reboot Yourself” and “Rebrand Yourself.”

Second-year English student Joshua Krause called the slogans “empowering.”

“I have a lot of friends in that 20- to 25-year-old age range that are definitely in that, ‘Ah, my life is ending’

Students can do more than just “Redefine” themselves at AACC. Check out the five new slogans in a commercial produced by the college.

Check out more at: www.TheCampusCurrent.com

kind of quarter-life-crisis state,” he said. “I think … guiding them like, ‘No, you can still figure something out and get started’ is kind of empowering.”

Second-year transfer studies student Noah Simpler agreed.

“For 20-somethings and up, they’re definitely like, ‘Man, I’m kind of in a rut. …

I definitely have a few friends that are in that state right now,” he said.

College offers classes to assist new students Daniel Salomon Multimedia Producer Students can learn about time management, organizational skills and campus resources through a one-credit, eight-, seven-, six- or fiveweek course.

ACA 100—Achieving College and Career Advancement: Student Success Seminar—teaches students how to manage their course loads and everyday life.

“It’s the class that teaches you how to do college and it’s the class that specifically teaches you how to do Anne Arundel Community College,” Audra Butler, chair of achieving college and career advancement, said.

Butler was the chair of the Education Department,

but as interest in ACA 100 expanded, her job changed so she could focus solely on the course.

“Everybody was coming to me saying, ‘Hey, you know, we should make this class bigger; we should make more students take it; we should have more teachers teaching it; we should have more sections available at different times,’” Butler said.

According to Butler, the course teaches students how to use planners and set reminders in the Canvas and MyAACC apps.

Students also learn to use other apps, such as the Google and Outlook calendars.

“It’s all about planning your program of study, using the right resources to get there, understanding who’s

here on campus to help you and really providing a credit’s worth of a class that helps you make goals for what your future will be here at our college and beyond,” Butler said.

Throughout the course, students can choose their preferred methods of study and time management. Their grades depend on their use of those styles and their progress toward the goals they have set, according to Butler.

Butler said ACA 100 might become a requirement for first-year students.

Helena Bryant-Holland, a third-year applied science student who took ACA 100, said she “loved it. It really shows students an introduction to the college experience. … It should be a requirement for first-time college students

Fall 2018

The AACC website will direct students who search for the new slogans to pages about the fields of study that match each theme.

For example, a search for “Reboot Yourself” or “Rediscover Yourself” will link to the School of Science and Technology. “Recharge Yourself” will lead to the School of Health Sciences. “Rebrand Yourself” and “Reinforce Yourself” will lead to the School of Business and Law.

job that their bosses used to do.

Gavin said the college also will increase enrollment by creating a more effective and easier transfer process for students.

“We are engaging in constant conversations with four-year colleges to see if we attract students for a seamless transition from Anne Arundel to a four-year,” Gavin said.

REBRAND YOURSELF.

Hit the market running.

Get a degree in Business.

REDEFINE YOURSELF.®

www.aacc.edu/rebrand

AACC is advertising “Rebrand” as part of its “Redefine” campaign on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, Hulu, cable TV, buses and at the Westfield Annapolis shopping mall.

Image courtesy of AACC

Audra Butler, chair of achieving college and career advancement, is pushing for student success through AACC’s Achieving College and Career Advancement: Student Success Seminar course.

Photo by Nikko Maresca and students who are coming back to school after being out for a while.”

According to Butler, about 550 students enrolled in the class’s 40 sections this semester.

First-year business student Samantha Padilla said she wishes she had taken ACA 100 during her first semester because she “had trouble knowing how to fill out financial aid forms. …

[It] sounds like it would be especially good for students straight out of high school.”

One student said the course should be optional.

“I think it’s a good class for people who need it,” Brennen Tomassoni, a first-year transfer studies student, said.

But he said another required class would “add … to the amount of work I have to do with balancing five classes at a time.”

4 | Campus Current | 2018 | October

News

ESports to join as new Riverhawk sport teams Continued from Page 1 and sanctioning [esports] with the National Junior College Athletics Association,” Herr said. “It’s something that they just launched last year.”

Herr said Northern Virginia Community College “has jumped in on it, so we’re

kind of looking at the same thing to see how realistic that is and can be.”

Herr said four-year universities offer scholarships for playing esports. “It’s a very serious competition. I think it’s just a matter of the two-year colleges jumping on board with it.”

Not all students who want

to play esports will be eligible for the official athletic team, but the campus ESports Club—which is separate from AACC Athletics—welcomes part-time, full-time, past and present students.

AACC’s ESports Club has started teams to prepare gamers for competition with Northern Virginia Communi-

AACC’s esports teams will be a part of the college’s athletics program next fall.

Photo by Nikko Maresca ty College when those teams become official.

Teams will not be official until fall 2019, so the ESports Club plans to scrimmage

Northern Virginia Community College in the interim, said former cyber security student Conway Johnson, an ESports Club coach.

AACC plans to fight sex crimes

Continued from Page 1

This fall, AACC will use a new $300,000 grant from the Justice Department for further training of public safety and faculty to combat cases of sexual violence on campus.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy on Flickr

incoming students. It will also develop a disciplinary hearing board to investigate cases of sexual violence more in-depth.

“Right now, if a case comes in, we have assigned investigators who will investigate the case and make recommendations to the Title IX coordinators, so if they wanted to appeal, they would be doing so to a single entity,” Dr. Tiffany Boykin, assistant dean of student services, said.

“We are looking to move towards still having these in-

vestigators, but having the case also go before a hearing board.”

The college is also adding training for members of the disciplinary board and for public safety and campus police officers on how to most effectively respond to incidents of sexual violence.

AACC will hire a project manager this semester who will manage the development of the hearing board and the updated training process.

Using the grant, the college will coordinate with the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Forensic Nursing Exam-

iners program at University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center so AACC can refer students who report sexual violence to appropriate off-campus services.

“I am absolutely ecstatic about this opportunity,” Boykin said.

Although a sexual assault climate survey the college sent out to students last spring showed that few AACC students have reported sexual violence, “we know from surrounding community and county statistics that we get from Anne Arundel County Police that cases of

She said the new test will better correlate with the course pathways AACC offers within its field of interest program, and will ensure that students don’t end up taking unnecessary developmental math or English courses.

She said students will need to meet with an adviser after taking the new Accuplacer to make sure they place in the correct math and

English classes for their major or field of interest.

Dangerfield said although incoming students next fall may need to take the Next-Generation Accuplacer test, certain SAT and ACT scores, or a GED, could qualify them to skip it.

Regardless of the changes, some students reported that they don’t believe the Accuplacer is an accurate

way to measure students’ true intelligence.

“I am a really good test taker, so maybe you can get a good score without really knowing [the material],” first-year student Braden Huntoon said.

“I have friends who bombed the Accuplacer, but are really good students in class,” second-year business student Caleb Patrick said.

Continued from Page 1

inclusion for SGA. She will reach out to all AACC campuses on behalf of the SGA and to the diverse student population.

Garner will chair SGA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.

The council decided on Nick Bilzor as the new vice president of public relations.

Bilzor will maintain a record of all SGA meetings and

Accuplacer will debut new test Continued from Page 1 developmental English and math classes before enrolling in credit sections of those subjects.

According to Dangerfield, students who placed into classes using the classic Accuplacer will not have to take the new one.

Dangerfield said the new Accuplacer will mimic an SAT.

Student Government Association President Jacob Smith and Program Coordinator for Student Engagement Leslie Cook hosted elections for seven new SGA senators and four new vice presidents this fall.

Photo by Nikko Maresca

sexual violence are severely underreported,” Boykin said.

“I’m very excited about this opportunity to give students who are victims or survivors of sexual violence the necessary resources so that they can be successful.” “[The grant] is good, especially with all the stuff happening in other colleges— they try to cover it up,” first-year business student Kyle Gioffre said.

“Girls don’t want to go to the police, because it is embarrassing and it will be brushed off,” first-year business student Bre Devlin agreed.

The college will release a new version of the Accuplacer test for students this spring.

Photo by Alexandra Radovic

Advisory Council picks student gov’t senators the school,” Greene said.

The council chose Chelsea Johnson as vice president of finance. Johnson will serve as chair of the SGA Finance Committee and attend all budget meetings.

Aubrey Garner, a sixthyear criminal justice student, is the new vice president of diversity, equity and

members and chair the Public Relations Committee.

The new vice presidents and senators will meet for the first time with Smith this week.

The seven senators the council selected are: Matthew Barcel, Adrianna Russell, Marcy Augustine, Angelica Knott, Esther Kuhnert, Mitchell Santos and Rosco Lee.

October 2018 | Campus Current | 5

News

Private donors to fund trade student building Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief The college started raising money this fall to build a new workspace on campus for skilled trade students.

The “dirty space” will be a building whose upper floor holds classroom space, and whose ground floor houses an open lab with multi-functional workspace for students studying HVAC, plumbing,

manufacturing, carpentry, electrical engineering, welding or forklift driving.

Its name, Vice President for Learning Mike Gavin said, comes from the fact that it “requires students to use their hands and apply what they learned in the classroom to some sort of industry trade.”

Gavin said the structure will expand and the trade programs will swap different labs in and out of it, depend-

ing on how those industries change over time.

“I think it should be pretty great,” Gavin said.

According to AACC Foundation Director Vollie Melson, private individuals, foundations and businesses in the community will donate to fund the project, which will complete in 2021 and cost $4 million.

“This academic year, we’d like to be in the $1.2 to $1.5

construction project on Aug. 20, which included newly paved walkways on the inside loop of Ring Road. Construction will finish with a new “living wall” this November.

The chocolate, yellow jasmine and Virginia creeper vines that will make up the living wall will grow along the south and west sides of the Physical Plant Building,

so as students walk from parking Lot B to the center of campus, they will see it on their right.

According to Jim Taylor, director of facilities, planning and construction, sculpture students will decorate the area surrounding the living wall with self-made work, which the college will replace every six months to one year.

Bethany Probst, a second-year transfer studies student, is taking a welding class—one of the courses a new trade building will house.

Photo by Daniel Salomon million range,” Melson said.

“It’s good for students to have these opportunities,” third-year sociology student Erick Raymond said.

“It’s good for a commu-

nity college to offer trades so students can learn the skills they need and get experience to find jobs,” 11th- year cyber forensic student Giancarlo Lodevico said.

“It gives the college a good image and shows that it cares about students,” fifthyear sculpture student Benjamin Evans said.

“It’s a good idea to switch out the sculptures,” agreed first-year sculpture student Ashley Ross. “[The college] shouldn’t keep everything all the same. … It’s good to change it up.”

The college Facilities, Planning and Construction team plants vines around the Physical Plant Building, and will add sculptures this fall.

Photo by Nikko Maresca

AACC constructing ‘living wall’ Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief The college Facilities, Planning and Construction team is working with the Fine Arts Department to beautify the Physical Plant Building by adding new greenery and sculptures this fall.

The college finished part of a $360,000 county-funded

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Opportunity comes to students who take control of their job search and make the preparations necessary to meet employers’ expectations. AACC’s Employment Services offers a number of self-help and in-person services to help you find the position that’s right for you.

www.aacc.edu/resources/careers-and-employment/

6 | Campus Current | 2018 | October

Diversity

Professor uses cards, showcases pronouns Sarah Noble Multimedia Editor At least one professor this semester asked students to write their preferred pronouns on name cards on the first day of class.

Dr. Rachelle Tannenbaum, a psychology professor, said she usually has students write their names on cardstock name tents, which they prop up in front of them so classmates can see each other’s names. This semester, she added an option for pronouns.

Students can circle “she/ her,” “he/him,” they/them” or “other” with an explanation.

“I’ve already had students email me,” Tannenbaum said. “I know ... one student said they go by “they/ them” and ... one whose pronouns clearly do not match their body shape,” she said.

Tannenbaum said the 1 SU_CC_10x8-Ad042018.qxp_Layout experiment has allowed both

students and the professor to properly address each other during class discussions.

“Granted, you may not be able to see their name card all the way across the room, but at least it increases the odds,” she said. “It gets people thinking.”

Tannenbaum said several students asked her if she asked for the pronouns to be politically correct.

“I said, ‘Yes, but I don’t know if it’s the way you mean it,’” Tannenbaum said. “Because sometimes politically correct means nothing and you’re doing something just to look good. So it’s politically correct, but not in that sense.”

First-year film studies student Annabelle Browne said it shouldn’t be the professor’s responsibility to address pronouns.

“I don’t think [students] need to announce their pronouns 12:21 to the 3/22/18 PMclass Page…

1 but they should probably just tell

their professors,” she said.

In a Campus Current social media poll, 34 followers said professors should address preferred pronouns on the first day of class and 22 said they should not.

AACC’s Chief Diversity Officer Deidra Dennie said pronouns “support an inclusive classroom atmosphere where the professor is establishing a space for students to be their authentic selves.”

Dennie said she encourages people to include their preferred pronouns in prominent places when their names appear for the first time.

“One way we can discover something more about our identity is by what we think when we look at other people,” Dennie said.

Tannenbaum said she wants students to be more open minded when they come into her classroom.

“We talk about suicide, abortion, sexual orientation

First-year students Lizzie Gauthier and Victoria Fitez take notes in Dr. Rachelle Tannenbaum’s psychology class. Tannenbaum uses name cards during her classes to display students’ preferred pronouns.

Photo by Sarah Noble and identity. … They’re allowed to disagree on [some] topics but they are not allowed to say, ‘Sexual orientation can be easily changed.’

No, it can’t,” Dennie said.

“You don’t get to contradict evidence and what’s been proven.”

Tannenbaum said part of the reason why she chose to give pronouns as an option on the name cards was to set

the tone for class.

“We are going to push your boundaries,” she said.

“We are going to get you to think about things you haven’t before like gender identity.”

She said she hopes other professors will follow her example.

“It’s showing respect,” she said. “I’m not going to be disrespectful.”

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October 2018 | Campus Current | 7

AACC

GAY-STRAIGHT

ALLIANCE GSA Meetings: Wednesdays at 12 p.m. in HUM 129 Upcoming Events: TUESDAY, OCT. 9 Coming Out Stories

THURSDAY, OCT. 11 Coming Out Fair

SATURDAY, OCT. 13 Fall Dance

3:30 p.m.–5 p.m.

CALT 107

11 a.m.–3 p.m.

SUN Dining Hall

8 p.m. –12 a.m.

SUN Dining Hall

Join students from the Gay Straight Alliance as they share their personal stories.

Stop by to meet representatives from organizations from AACC and the surrounding area that serve our LGBTQ+ community.

Everyone is welcome to come out and dance as their true, authentic selves!

For more information, follow us: nest.aacc.edu/organization/gsa

8 | Campus Current | 2018 | October

Police

Truck strikes student; cops cuff panhandler Alex Fregger Tech Editor A homeless man panhandling on campus allegedly threatened to kill an AACC police officer on the first day of school in late August.

AACC Police Officer First Class Don Medtart arrested 22-year-old Pierre McDowell and charged him with trespassing after the man allegedly threatened to kill the officer on Aug. 28.

Earlier in the day, McDowell was begging for money at the Subway in Careers, when Medtart cited him for trespassing and drove him to the nearest off-campus bus

stop, the officer said.

McDowell returned to AACC shortly after, and Medtart confronted him again.

According to Medtart, McDowell started shouting profanities, saying that he would find Medtart in his car and shoot it up. McDowell told Medtart he was “nobody to mess with,” and that he would “bring his people here” to “deal with” the officer.

The following week, a student escaped injury when a truck backed into her near the Schwartz Student Union Building, according to campus police.

Police said a commercial

truck hit the student, who was on her way to math class, as it backed out of the loading dock near the Schwartz Student Union Building on Sept. 7.

The victim, who attended her class before reporting the accident to campus police, said she suffered pain in her left arm, but she did not require medical attention after the accident, according to the police report.

When the police confronted the driver, he said his truck doesn’t have a reverse alarm, and he did not notice the woman.

Police did not arrest the driver.

AACC

T R O P E R E M CRI A homeless man threated a police officer and a truck injured a student on campus early this semester.

Graphic by Kenzie Airey

Monday Oct. 1, noon-1 p.m. on the Quad

Coffee with the t n e r r Cu

Free coffee Free newspapers Meet the Campus Current staff

Police officer comes to AACC to cap off career Alex Fregger Tech Editor From the Mojave Desert to Hawaii, from West Germany to Maryland, Police Lt. Gary Vernon has been all over the world. Still, he chose AACC to call home.

Vernon, a shift commander, was born at Fort Irwin, a military base in the middle of the Mojave Desert, in April 1954.

Growing up in a military family, Vernon moved a lot.

At 5 years old Vernon moved to San Miguel, California, where he would take day trips to Hollywood with his dad.

Vernon met both Jon

Campus Current Tech Editor Alex Fregger and Photo Editor Nikko Maresca went on a ride-along with AACC police officer Don Medtart on Sept. 27.

Check out more at: www.TheCampusCurrent.com

Provost, who played Timmy Martin in the TV show “Lassie,” and singer/actor Roy Rogers. But he recalls his meeting with Clint Eastwood on the set of the 1960s American Western movie “Rawhide” most fondly because the actor taught him what the word “legal” means—a concept he carried with him throughout his career in law enforcement.

In 1964, Vernon moved to West Germany.

Vernon said when he visited his uncle in Berlin, the journey through East Germany was where he experienced what life under USSR control would be like. “[The East German soldiers] would stop our train 14 times in a hundred miles,” he recalled.

“They’d thoroughly check the train. ... You’d see the guards outside with their machine guns and canine dogs, so you felt the oppression, something I’ve never felt in this country.”

Vernon said seeing the

Berlin Wall was an influential moment in his life.

“You’d just see wreath after wreath after wreath where people had actually died after trying to escape [from East Berlin],” he said. “To a young mind that makes a big impression. People are dying to become free.”

In 1967, Vernon’s family left Europe to return to the U.S., where his family eventually settled in Harford County, Maryland.

He graduated from high school and attended Harford Community College, University of Baltimore and Loyola University Maryland, where he earned his criminal justice degree.

In December 1979 Vernon, then 25, joined the Harford County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy. He worked there for 30 years.

Vernon retired in 2010 as a captain at age 55 and took a job with Harford County Public Schools for a year.

Vernon joined AACC’s Department of Public Safe-

AACC Police Lt. Gary Vernon lived in the Mojave Desert, Hawaii and West Germany before coming to the college.

Photo by Graig Bracey ty and Police in 2011. Compared with his job as a sheriff’s deputy—where he spent his days moving from crime to crime—he said he is able to focus on helping people on campus.

Officer William Busch said Vernon is a great su-

pervisor and a good role model whose experience has changed the college for the better.

“Lt. Vernon was kind of my mentor,” Officer Don Medtart said. “He taught me a lot about policing at the college.”

October 2018 | Campus Current | 9

Tech

Virtual reality coming to AACC classes in ’19 Alex Fregger Tech Editor AACC is bringing virtual reality—VR—to classes and clubs during the next two years.

Manager of Instructional Technology Cathy Bosse said several programs on campus are looking to integrate VR so it will be more available to students during classes.

VR headsets—high-tech goggles—work by placing a small screen in front of each eye of the wearer. Each screen shows a slightly different image, tricking the brain into seeing depth and filling

With the use of VR goggles, Campus Current editors in August explored both the bottom of the ocean and an IKEA house simulator.

Check out more at: www.TheCampusCurrent.com

the wearer’s vision with a 3D virtual environment.

Bosse said VR is “substituting your reality with something else” and the headset creates “full immersion, you’re there. You are underwater, you’re on the moon, you’re there. Everywhere you look, up, down, sideways, you’re there in that location.”

With VR in classes, for example, nursing students could watch a simulated human heart undergoing a heart attack, or marine biology students could see the bottom of the ocean, Matt Papa, a second-year computer science student, said.

“It’s incredible stuff,” he said.

Michael Ryan, the chair of the Architecture and Interior Design Department, said he is spending the fall semester on sabbatical researching how AACC professors and students can use VR in the classroom.

Ryan said students would learn a technology that they could use when they become professional architects and designers. For example, they might learn how to create 3D models of buildings that their future clients could virtually walk through before construction starts.

Ryan said he expects to introduce VR into some of his classes as early as this spring, and to make it part of the department’s curriculum next fall.

Dean Elizabeth Appel said the School of Health Sciences might begin using new technologies like VR once the new Health Sciences and Biology Building opens in 2021.

Jacob Bollinger, a firstyear physician assistant student, said if he had the opportunity to use it, he would be willing to try VR. Bosse said AACC club members who want to use the VR headsets could contact her to schedule an appointment.

AACC’s Campus Current Tech Editor Alex Fregger tries out a virtual reality headset for the first time in the college’s VR room in the CALT Building.

Photo by Daniel Salomon

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10 | Campus Current | 2018 | October

Campus Life

Advice from an editor: Hone skills to ace tests Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief

Fun and Games

As midterm exam season approaches, it’s crucial for students to develop the skills they need to ace their tests.

College life is a lot to balance, what with school, sports, family life, friends and all of the other activities we juggle on a daily basis.

Your midterm exam score can make or break your final grade in a class, so it is important to feel confident and prepared, as opposed to overwhelmed and stressed out.

The easiest way to conquer the procrastination that leads to lots of last-minute cramming, and too little sleep, is to make studying fun. As fun as it can be, that is.

There are lots of ways you can make studying more about learning and absorbing useful information and less about simply memoriz-

ing and reciting facts.

According to Psychology Today, science proves students learn better when they space out study time, studying a little bit of everything every day or so, rather than waiting until the night before the big test to study all you will need to know.

This method, known as chunking, doesn’t require you to study any more than you would with cramming, but it helps you better organize your time.

But, reviewing notes can be boring, and repeating this process over and over isn’t the most exciting way to learn.

The first thing you should do is use a calendar, or your phone, to plan out what content you need to study, when, for how long and in what way.

For example, if I have a biology exam in five days that will cover evolution, DNA, habitats and cells, I

could study each topic on a different day, using a different method each time.

I could study evolution on Day 1, using flashcards, and habitats on Day 2, using arts integration activities.

Arts integration is a creative way to use artful thinking to make studying feel less like studying.

But you don’t have to be artistic to use artful thinking while studying.

For example, maybe when I review DNA, I do so by coming up with a catchy song to memorize the parts of DNA and their functions.

Another fun way to study is through sketch noting, which involves adding pictures, color and designs to existing notes, to emphasize the most important topics in a lesson.

Ask your professor to send you the lecture after class for review, so you can focus on listening during class time instead of trying

Campus Current Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Radovic recommends spreading out study time and using creativity to make studying fun.

Photo by Alex Fregger to race your pencil across the page as the PowerPoint slides switch.

When it is time to sit down and study, put yourself in a real-life testing scenario. midterms can be high pressure, because you have a limited time to complete them, and you can’t rely on your notes for help.

One way to prepare for

this is to complete questions from previous homework, quizzes and classwork without looking at your notes.

Time yourself and see how much you can remember.

AACC also has a free Writing Center in the library and free tutoring in nearly all subjects to help Riverhawks soar through their exams and land those As.

Did you know?

AACC’s online writing center launched a new feature on its website called “Ask A Tutor.”

According to Dr. Jessica Rabin, director of The Writing Center, the college test-ran the feature last spring to gauge student interest and found it to be a tool that will help students save time this semester.

Students can press the orange “Ask A Tutor” button on the right side of the screen if they have a quick question about their writing but don’t have time to make an appointment and wait for inperson help.

?

Looking for answers?

Check TheCampusCurrent.com on October 31.

?

Reporting by Ashley Sokolowski Screenshot from aacc.edu

October 2018 | Campus Current |11

Campus Life

Student clubs to throw campus events in Oct. Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief AACC student clubs are holding a number of events in October to raise awareness about domestic violence, disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community.

On Oct. 3, SODA—Students Out to Destroy Assumptions—will hold its second annual Assumption Destroyers Festival from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Quad, so students can experience what it is like to have a disability.

Activities will involve a wheelchair simulation, therapy dogs, emergency evacuation chair training, martial arts training and sculpture building.

Kelly Sweeny, a disability support services specialist, said the goal of SODA is to “increase acceptance of individuals with disabilities as active and contributing members of society.”

Following this, the Cam-

pus Activities Board will host a club cafe from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the SUN Dining Hall on Oct. 8, where students can have cookies and tea, and listen to live music.

They will also throw a Halloween costume and dance party at 7 p.m. on Oct.

SODA’s Assumption Destroyers Festival on Oct. 3 will feature art.

Photo by Kelly Sweeny 26, with a costume contest, dancing, candy and a live DJ. On Oct. 10 on the Quad, the Service Learning Committee will set up the Clothesline Project, as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Students can hang personal messages

on a clothesline.

“It can be about hope, or what you went through if you were a survivor yourself,” Program Coordinator Leslie Cook said.

Beginning on the same day, the Gay-Straight Alliance will participate in a Coming Out Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the SUN Dining Hall, during which students can meet representatives from organizations on campus that serve the LGBTQ+ community. Events for Coming Out Week will run through Oct. 13.

“I can’t wait for the student body to see how much the GSA can offer,” GSA President Garrett Hutchinson said. “We are such a fun yet progressive club and it is something the GSA will be showing more proof of as the months go on.”

Club events are “awesome” because “even though we are a community college, you still get that college feel,”

AACC clubs, including Students Out to Destroy Assumptions, the Gay-Straight Alliance and the Campus Activities Board, are hosting October events relating to domestic violence, Halloween and coming out.

Photo by Alexandra Radovic first-year law student Devin Chatmon said. “You don’t just go to classes and go home; you have an outlet to make school less stressful.”

“Clubs make AACC fun,” first-year biology student Rebekah Rodriguez said.

This fall, AACC also launched three new student clubs: the Drone Club, Active Minds and the Video Club.

The Drone Club makes and races drones. Its next event, a photography with drones activity, will be in

Careers 240 at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 2.

Active Minds is the AACC chapter of a national non-profit organization that advocates for mental health and builds a community for students coping with suicidal feelings.

Neither Active Minds nor the Video Club have announced any events.

Stay up-to-date on club events by visiting The Nest, AACC’s official club website, at nest.aacc.edu.

E N TREP REN EURIA L ST U D I ES I NST I T U T E O CTOBE R E V E NTS AND DEADLI NES

Entrepreneurial Studies Institute Speaker: Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley Tuesday, October 9th 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Humanities 112 Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley will share his entrepreneurial journey and field questions from the audience. Learn about his motivations, his approaches to obstacles, and his advice to future entrepreneurs. This is a ticketed event due to limited seating.

Visit www.aacc.edu/esi for a link to register.

Big Idea Competition DEADLINE Thursday, October 25th Noon Online Come up with an original idea, create a two-minute or less pitch, record a video of the pitch, and submit it online for a chance to win cash prizes up to $1,000.

New this year: An AACC Big Idea category is open to students, faculty and staff.

Yes, you could win $250 for your big idea for AACC! Visit www.aacc.edu/esi for the link to submit.

Entrepreneurs Scholarship DEADLINE Wednesday, October 31st Noon Online The Entrepreneurs Scholarship provides funding for tuition, fees, books and supplies for credit and pre-approved non-credit courses, practical experience, and resources to support entrepreneurial student success. There is a lifetime maximum of $12,000 per student for the Entrepreneurs Scholarship.

Visit www.aacc.edu/esi to learn more.

12 | Campus Current | 2018 | October

Arts

College actors to show ‘Hairspray’ next month Mike Pierorzaio Reporter

The theater cast for this semester’s musical rehearses for “Hairspray,” opening Nov. 9.

Top photo by Mike Pierorzaio Bottom photo by Nikko Maresca

The Theater at AACC started rehearsing its fall musical, “Hairspray,” in September.

The show will open on Nov. 9 in the Kauffman Theater.

“It’s a show about acceptance—both of yourself and of other people—and it carries a great energy,” said second-year transfer studies student Alec Moyes, who plays Wilbur Turnblad.

Based in Baltimore, “Hairspray” tells the story of an overweight teenager who helps to integrate the cast of an all-white TV dance show.

Strong themes of body positivity are evident throughout “Hairspray.” “I also think it’s relevant today,” stage manager Logan Spates said.

“Hairspray” was written by film director and screenwriter John Waters in 1988

AACC literary magazine gets new office, editor Brooke Carneal Reporter AACC’s student-run literary magazine, Amaranth, got an office in the Humanities Building and a new editor-in-chief this semester.

According to Ren Bishop, the club’s layout manager, the staff used to hold meetings at different locations across campus. Now, the magazine will share a space with the Ambassadors Campus Team.

“The new room is extremely exciting,” former editor Jonas Pallaro-Sonneborn said.

“Before, it didn’t feel like we were important or a part of the campus,” Bishop said.

According to Mike Pierorazio, the club’s new editor-in-chief, Dr. Susan Cohen, Amaranth’s adviser, has “pushed for an on-campus office for 20 years.”

“The club is my favorite thing to do on campus,” Pallaro-Sonneborn, a fourthyear student, said.

Bishop said a “fundamental reason why giving the club an office space [is beneficial is it] gives people opportunities and [allows] them to express themselves.”

Pierorazio said he “be-

Mon 10/8

Coming Out Week 2018

Tue 10/9 Wed 10/10

came a better editor” since joining the staff.

“At Amaranth, we want to see students’ best work and there are so many steps along the way, a lack of professionalism can really take away from the art of their submission,” Pierorazio said.

Because of his new editing experiences, he said he “thinks once or twice or three times before sending out literary submissions.”

Amaranth holds monthly Coffee House events, according to Pierorazio, where students can perform “anything they’d like.”

According to Pierorazio,

• Into the Crevasse: An Evening with Queer Songwriter Jack Pinder 7 p.m., HUM 112

• My Coming Out Journey: Weird, Funny and Hard Stories About Figuring Myself Out / with GSA students 3:30-5 p.m., CALT 107

• Coming Out Fair: Meet Representatives from organizations from AACC campus 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Dining Hall

Thu 10/11 National Coming Out Day

as a film that was adapted into a Broadway production of the same name in 2002.

That Broadway show was remade into a 2007 film starring John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Jump Start student Kennedy Cole, who will play Ka-

Theater at AACC held auditions and rehearsals for their upcoming show, “Hairspray,” the Broadway musical.

Check out more at: www.TheCampusCurrent.com

millah, said she has seen the 2007 version many times and said it is one of her favorite shows because of the overall message of acceptance.

“And so, my dear, so short and stout / you’ll never be ‘in’ / so we’re kicking you out,” Kylie Sjolie, a fourthyear education student, will

sing on stage, as the character Velma, to third-year culinary arts student Annie Gorenflo, who will star as Tracy Turnblad.

Set in the 1960s, “Hairspray” addesses racial segregation and racial acceptance.

“It shows how much we’ve progressed, but also how much further we can progress as a society,” said first-year creative writing student Laura Temples, who plays Little Inez.

All 33 actors in the production are students.

“There is amazing talent in the theater program here and we bring life to the stage in a way that professional groups have difficulty achieving,” said Jonas Pallaro-Sonneborn, a fourth-year creative writing student, who plays Edna Turnblad.

“I love the music because it has very ’60s feel and it’s so upbeat,” said first-year theater student Allison Vallario, who plays Penny Pingleton.

Amaranth members pose after their monthly open mic night event, called Coffee House.

Photo by Brooke Carneal the last Coffee House event of each semester includes an informal reading of the magazine.

“A real treat is the visual artists will talk about their work,” Pierorazio said. “They do this thing where they step back and make critical anal• This year marks the 30th anniversary of National Coming Out Day, founded by Robert Eichsberg and Jean O’Leary. www.hrc.org/resources/the-history-of-coming-out

• Coming Out Fair

11 a.m.-3 p.m., Dining Hall

• Intergroup Dialogue “No Fats, No Femmes, No Asians or Chocolate”: A discussion of issues of prejudice and discrimination w/in queer communities.

6:30-8:30 p.m., HUM 112

ysis of their decisions they made while working.”

Submissions for Amaranth are open for any student or alumnus. The club will accept work for the fall reading period until Dec. 13 at https://amaranth.submittable.com/submit.

Fri 10/12

Sat 10/13

• Rainbow Network Training with Professor Robert Hurd, Ph.D. 1-4 p.m. www.aacc.edu/about/diversity-andinclusivity/rainbow-network.

• Everyone is welcome to come out and dance as their true and authentic selves.

Hosted by GSA. 8 p.m.-12 a.m., Dining Hall

October 2018 | Campus Current |13

Voting

Gov. candidates differ on academic concerns Ashley Sokolowski Associate Editor AACC students will have the chance to vote for a new Maryland governor on Nov. 6.

Candidates Larry Hogan, the incumbent and a Republican, and Ben Jealous, a Democrat, have said they will take different approaches to issues that affect college students.

Hogan, who did not respond to requests for an interview with Campus Current, has endorsed free community college tuition for recent high school graduates. He signed a bill over the summer that offers some students up to $5,000 a year in tuition assistance. Hogan said he has committed $7 billion to higher education and has limited tuition increases to 2 percent a year.

In an interview with Campus Current, Jealous, a civil rights leader and businessman, said Hogan’s Community College Promise Scholarship doesn’t go far enough. It is “a good first step,” he said.

Jealous, a former national president of the NAACP, said to make Maryland community colleges tuition-free for everyone, it will cost the

state around $20 million. laws to keep guns out of [the “Simply, public education hands of] the mentally ill and should be open to the pub- people with criminal backlic,” Jealous said. “Everyone grounds.” in your state who is workJealous criticized Hoing hard enough, ambitious gan for waiting “too long” to enough, smart enough to be declare a state of emergency in that school … should be over the state’s opioid crisis. able to be there without going He suggested using the deep into debt or burning up state’s “rainy day fund” to ima family fortune.” mediately fund opioid addicBoth candidates have tion responses in Maryland. said they favor stricter gun “Then you go, and you sue laws. the pharma“We need ceutical comto make sure panies and that we stem you win back the flow of ilthe funds,” legal guns into Jealous said. our state,” Jeal“You hold ous said during them rea televised desponsible. bate on Sept.

They are not 24. “We need funding my to make sure campaign that we treat like they are this as [the] funding [Hopublic health Photo from http://governor. gan’s] camcrisis that it is. maryland.gov/ paign. I have There is a pubno problem lic mental health crisis [and] taking on these companies, we have to make sure people suing them and making them get the mental health care pay for the pain and the havoc that they need.” that they have wreaked in our During the debate, Ho- state.” gan, who became governor in “I became the first gov2015, described himself as “a ernor in America to declare strong supporter of tougher a state of emergency on this

Voter registration info available online Many AACC students will vote for the first time on Nov. 6 when they cast their ballots in county and state elections.

Students who are 18 or older need to register to vote before Election Day if they want to help elect the governor, Anne Arundel County executive, County Council members, the sheriff and other officials.

Students may register online at www.maryland. gov. Click on the tab for “residents,” and then on “voting,” and finally, on “online voter registration.”

Next, click on “polling place search” to learn where to vote on Election Day. Those who are already registered to vote may use this site to request an absentee ballot or update their names, addresses or political party affiliations.

In addition, the site features a sample ballot, so voters can see which candidates are running for office this year.

Voters may select a state comptroller, attorney general, U.S. senator and representative, state senator, state delegate (District 32), Circuit Court judge, Court of Special Appeals judges, Orphans Court judges, state’s attorney, clerk of the Circuit Court, register of wills and Board of Education member.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6

Ben Jealous, above, and Larry Hogan, below, are both running to see who will be Maryland’s governor.

Photo by Sarah Noble crisis because we … were losing more people than shooting and traffic fatalities added together,” Hogan said during the debate. “We invested $600 million in state money. We have gone after it from every direction, from prevention to treatment … to stopping the crime and the dealing of these drugs.”

Sarah Fenton, a fourthyear transfer studies student, said reliability is important to her when she selects a candidate to vote for.

“Being able to back up things they say they are going to do with actual actions,” Fenton said. “Just being truthful and not lying about data and statistics that can clearly be found in places easily accessible to the rest of us.”

Austin Howard, a first-

year criminal justice student, said he favors candidates who will help education.

“I guess one thing is just teachers getting paid more because they do a lot,” Howard said. “They are the ones giving the education to the kids and their wages are lower than ever right now. So, I feel their wages should get bumped up because they are producing the future of the nation.”

someone else make it for me,” said Valerien, who noted she is more likely to vote for “someone who knows more about the issues than just saying the name of the issue.”

Smith told Campus Current.

Student Government Association President Jacob Smith said many of his friends will abstain from voting as well in november.

“Whenever I ask my friends why they don’t vote, they often say it is not important and won’t change anything,” Smith said.

According to the National Study of Learning, 48.3 percent of students voted in the 2016 presidential election, up from 45.1 percent in 2012.

That study, conducted by the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education, revealed that students turned out to vote in greater numbers than 18- to 24-yearolds in the general public.

“I think it is important for students to be civically engaged,” Mike Gavin, vice president for learning at AACC, said.

In September, Campus Current editors interviewed governor candidate Ben Jealous on his plans for K-12 and higher education.

Check out more at: www.TheCampusCurrent.com

Survey shows students intend to vote on Nov. 6 Ashley Sokolowski Associate Editor Nearly 80 percent of AACC students intend to vote for governor on Nov. 6, according to two informal polls in September.

Of the 32 students who answered the Campus Current polls in person and on Instagram, 25 said they will vote in the race between Democrat Ben Jealous and Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, the two main candidates for governor.

“It is my right,” said Tyler Kahl, a second-year criminal justice student, who said he will vote next month. “It is a civil right, and everyone should vote if [they] have the ability to.”

Sarah Valerien, a firstyear transfer studies student, said she will vote, too.

“I would rather be making a decision than letting

VOTE 80 percent of students intend to vote in November.

Graphic by Kenzie Airey But Ronaejah Smith, a first-year psychology student, said she will skip the polls next month.

“I don’t know who is running, so I don’t want to vote for just anybody without doing any research,”

14 | Campus Current | 2018 | October

Sports

Faceoff starter is No. 2

VA, PA athletes enroll at AACC Brady Reilly Sports Co-Editor

Noah Reem Sports Co-Editor A Men’s Lacrosse player who ranked second in the country for faceoffs last season has signed to return to AACC this spring.

Nick Karnes, a second-year faceoff player and graduate of Battlefield High School in Northern Virginia, won All American honors for his performance in the role during the 2017 lacrosse season.

“I came to AACC because it is close to home and I loved the downtown area,” Karnes said.

AACC Athletics Director Duane Herr said he is relieved Karnes will return.

“The guy before him was an All American in the same position and we were worried about filling those shoes,” Herr said.

At the end of his freshman season, Karnes ranked second in groundballs, with 140 for the season. In addition, Karnes won 193 of

Second-year AACC Men’s Lacrosse player Nick Karnes earns All-American honors from the National Junior College Athletic Association for his play last season.

Photo courtesy of Anthony Bellotte 249 faceoffs and scored four goals for the Riverhawks last year.

The National Junior College Athletic Association named the business student to its All-American men’s lacrosse team in May. “I know he’ll be No.1 [in faceoffs next season],” Rahsaan Johnson, a second-year midfielder, said. “I think he got cheated out of being No.1 last season.”

Jordan Brown, a second-year midfielder, said Karnes is “a beast at the faceoff position and as a scorer.” Brown said Karnes will exceed expectations if he keeps working to better himself at his position.

AACC’s Men’s Lacrosse coach Joe Stanilaus said

Players decide to stay at home

several Division I schools, including Towson, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Bryant University in Rhode Island and Furman University in South Carolina, are looking at Karnes this season. “I expect Nick to pick up right where he left off,” Stanilaus said. “He is the best player at his position at our level.”

Stanilaus said he was “excited for him to join us.

But we really had no idea he was that skilled. I say this with confidence that he is the best faceoff player I have ever seen in person.”

“We’re going to have a very good season this year,” Karnes said, “and expect nothing less than a national championship.”

It isn’t uncommon for athletes to transfer to AACC from states outside of Maryland.

Of the 295 students attending AACC from different states, two are playing for AACC sports teams: Men’s Lacrosse players Nick Karnes, from Catherine, Virginia, and Joel Rodriguez, from McGaheysville, Virginia.

Rodriguez, a first-year FOGO (faceoff get off) studying criminal justice, said he chose AACC over other schools for financial and competitive reasons.

“I was recruited to play at an upcoming program in Pennsylvania,” Rodriguez said. “Later on, I was told by a friend that I should play at AACC, and that I would be a good contributor for them.”

Rodriguez spent time at Keystone College in Pennsylvania before coming to AACC this fall.

“I decided to take a shot at it, and now here I am,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said AACC has a better team than his home-

town community college.

“Maryland Lax has more talent,” he said. “The game is quicker, and the players are bigger and stronger here.”

Rodriguez had high praise for his teammates and new team, saying, “There’s so many talented athletes on this team that I am pretty sure we will win it all, if we do everything right.”

Men’s Lacrosse coach Joe Stanilaus explained the player’s decision to join the Riverhawks. “Joel reached out about joining us after his time at Keystone,” he said.

Stanilaus called the firstyear player “both coachable and available. … He is a very strong athlete.”

Stanilaus also said Rodriguez is “meshing quite well,” given that he’s from out of state and new to the area.

“My goal is to find great people and make them great athletes,” Stanilaus said.

He said he is open to having players from out of state.

“As a spring sport, we can offer scholarships in the spring,” Stanilaus said.

“When we get there, [Rodriguez] certainly [will] be in that conversation.”

Tommy Parker Sports Co-Editor

Reilly said when he considered the offer, he decided he couldn’t afford the tuition, Three student athletes even with the scholarship. who declined offers to play at Third-year transfer studother colleges are attending ies student Dustin Gosnell AACC this semester. also walked away from an ofTwo students, includ- fer with a four-year college. ing one who is playing here, “I was originally supbased their decisions on fi- posed to go to [McDaniel nancial and personal reasons. College in Westminster],” “I wouldn’t have anything the pitcher and infielder said. to show for it after playing,” Gosnell left after the first day said first-year broadcast jour- on campus because of a misnalism student Brady Reilly. communication about tui“I wasn’t going tion. to make it to Gosnell “I wouldn’t have the NFL.” had received anything to show R e i l l y for it after playing. an academplayed tight ic scholarship I wasn’t going end and defenfrom the Divito make it to the sive end for the sion III school.

NFL.” Chesapeake After leaving, High School —Brady Reilly Gosnell regisfootball team. tered at AACC He won a one-year scholar- and played for Riverhawks ship to play full back or wide Baseball for two years. receiver, depending on if he He made second team made weight, at Florida At- all-Maryland JUCO and first lantic University. team all-conference before

Second-year education student Stephen Darley quit the football team at Wesley College in Delaware to focus on academics. He’s an education student here now.

Photo by Nikko Maresca moving into a coaching position. Gosnell said he will transfer to University of Maryland Baltimore County in the fall to play baseball.

Finances aren’t the only reason why athletes stop playing college ball.

Second-year education student Stephen Darley quit sports because he wanted to balance his life better.

“That was probably one

of the biggest things I underestimated going into college,” said Darley of juggling being a football player and fulltime student. Darley played guard and center at Wesley College in Dover, Delaware, from fall 2016 to spring 2017 and had recieved grants from the Division III school. He quit the team during the last month of school to focus on his finals, he said.

“I didn’t really miss football during that month,” said Darley, who moved back to Maryland to enroll in AACC. Athletics Director Duane Herr said some athletes come here because they like being close to home and “it might not make sense for them” to leave their families, for personal reasons. Herr also said cost could be a factor when students come to AACC.

October 2018 | Campus Current |15

Sports

Cross country runners set goals for semester Sanyee Barjoger Jr. Sports Co-Editor AACC’s Women’s Cross Country coach in September pointed to academics as a major player in the team’s success this season.

Coach Jim Griffiths said the team wants to earn the NJCAA National Academic Team of the Year Award, which requires an average team GPA of at least 3.0.

Second-year cross coun-

try athlete Emily Jacobson said the team can “achieve their academic and athletic goals together, as a whole, to become successful.”

“Our goal for the runners is to individually improve each day and to progress as much as possible,” Griffiths explained. “… To perform as well in the classroom as they possibly can. If they can do that, then our [athletic] goals will be attainable.”

Athletically, Griffiths

said his goal is to prepare his runners to win this year’s Region 20 Championships, during which AACC will compete with teams from the other 15 community colleges in Maryland. If the Riverhawks win, they will reach the championships, where Griffiths said he hopes they will rank high.

“We’d like to finish strong,” Madeline Fitzgerald, a second-year transfer studies student and runner, said.

Spring sport athletes start practices in fall Tommy Parker Sports Co-Editor

AACC’s Men’s Lacrosse, a spring sport, practices during the Fall Ball season.

Photo by Alex Fregger

Baseball, Softball and Men’s Lacrosse started fall practices in September, even though their first games aren’t until the spring semester.

These teams begin Fall Ball practices and scrimmages every year before their seasons start in late February. “[Fall Ball] is a huge part of what we do,” said coach Chris Jenkins, who is in his fourth year with the baseball team and third as the head coach.

“We have a good group of guys but it all starts here

Students suggest food, ads to promote games Sanyee Barjogar Jr. Sports Co-Editor AACC students said in September they would attend campus sports games if the college advertised them better and sold food during the events.

In a poll of 50 students, 30 said food would entice them to go to games, while 20 said they would like to see more advertisements about when and where the games take place.

Fourth-year graphic design student Daniel Nickerson said he would like to see more ads around campus. “If I’m at the college and I see, hey a sports game, I’d be

likely to go to them,” he said.

“I’ve actually gone to two or three of the games when I’ve seen them happening and if I’ve had some time.”

“Maybe if I saw more stuff around, like pictures or banners and stuff like that,” Savannah Nielsen, a firstyear transfer studies student, said. “If I saw that a bunch of people were going, and if it were hyped up a lot, I think I would probably go.”

AACC Athletics Director Duane Herr said he plans to put out lawn games and other activities for fans during events.

“We’ll put out some cornholes [a bean bag game] and Kan Jams [a Frisbee game],”

Cross Country runners Leslei Garcia Mendez, left, and Emily Jacobsen keep in shape by running on campus.

Photo by Nikko Maresca

Herr said. “We’ll put them out around the stadium area, and around the facilities so people can be involved in that, while not just attending the game.”

Herr also said he hopes to connect with fans on a personal level.

“The reality of it is that you need to have a personal connection,” Herr said.

“And even if you go to a major league sporting event, the stadium is built for the experience, not just the game.

The game is just a sidebar of what’s happening. So, we’re trying to create an experience where someone can be involved in something that’s not as bad as it sounds. Just

in practice,” said Ryan Key, a second-year transfer studies student who plays catcher and infield.

Teams scrimmage against other local community colleges and even some fouryear universities in the fall.

“It’s a more accurate evaluation process,” Softball head coach Guy Klingensmith said.

“You can build strong relationships with the girls and learn how to work as a team,” said catcher and third baseman Katie Rosati, a second-year nursing student.

Coaches and players said they are excited to build on the success of their previous

seasons—and that the work starts now.

Baseball finished third in their division with an 18-23 record last semester. Softball finished with a 12-22 record.

And Men’s Lacrosse is coming off of an 8-4 record.

“We want to keep everyone healthy, keep everyone eligible, make sure we do the right thing in the classroom,” said third-year Men’s Lacrosse coach Joe Stanilaus. “[Fall Ball] keeps you on track: You do this, you do your schoolwork, you come here, you go home, repeat,” said second-year transfer studies student and midfielder Joseph Niles.

A Campus Current poll showed this fall that students would fill the stands at home games if they could buy food during the events.

Photo by Nikko Maresca sitting there and watching the game … there is no personal investment.”

Third-year nursing student Sarah Davis suggested that the Athletics Department should advertise the games more aggressively.

“I feel as though they have dozens upon dozens of posters and dull-looking flyers hanging around, but they don’t grasp the attention that

the people who printed them intended,” she said. “For instance, the only reason I even knew that we have sports teams was because I got bored and started reading the posters. Not many people stop to do that because they don’t care enough. If they want more people to come acknowledge them … they need to be bolder in their approach.”

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