March 2019 Issue

TheCampusCurrent.com

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News

Black History

Sports

A former AACC employee

The college celebrates

Athletes at four-year

is one of Virginia Gov.

Black History Month with

schools tell what skills

Justin Fairfax’s accusers

events through February

recruiters look for

Page 5

Page 8

Page 19

March 2019

Prisoners take classes while still serving time Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief Sporting a Riverhawkblue cap and gown, retired U.S. Marine Robert Lee Moore marched to the front of the room alongside his fellow AACC graduates in 2016 and proudly accepted a di-

Students say campus construction has made parking inconvenient.

Photo by Christina Browning

ploma for completing a certificate in computer literacy.

He was 59. And he was serving a 37-year sentence at Jessup Correctional Institution.

“Education tells you nothing is impossible,” said Moore, a husband, father and grandfather.

Moore is still in prison, and he still takes AACC classes. In fact, Moore is one of 10 inmates in his entrepreneurship class at the prison.

Two years before Moore, who has a criminal record of second-degree rape and

Alex Fregger Technology Editor

a five-point scale, one rated the situation as “negative 10.”

“I hate it,” Amber Kelley, a third-year nursing student, said. “Every morning I come in and think that I can go the short route and I can’t, and then I get behind all these people who don’t want to go anywhere … and then I’m late … each day,” she said.

The construction of the

Continued on Page 4

Construction causes tardiness AACC students said in February the detours and altered parking lots on the Arnold campus are making them late for class.

In an informal survey of 45 students on the Arnold campus, 20 complained about parking and traffic. On

Students to show films at new campus festival Chance Iheoma Photography Editor AACC’s Video Club will host a film festival featuring student work on April 26.

Video Club faculty advis-

Eric Brunner, an inmate at Jessup Correctional Institution, created a digital photo of the 2016 class of graduating prisoners who earned certificates from AACC. Photo courtesy of Pamela Polgreen

er Chanan Delivuk said students who show their films could win cash prizes.

Delivuk, a video professor, said any AACC student with a knack for video can enter. The filmmakers do not

have to be enrolled in film classes or be members of the club.

“The goal really is so that students, even if they’re not

Continued on Page 15

new Health and Life Sciences Building has created traffic detours and the removal of parking spots on campus.

College officials have redirected traffic from Ring Road through parking Lot C and have removed some parking spots in Lot D near the Dragun Building.

Because of the lack of parking in Lot D, spots for

disabled drivers have moved to Lot B near the solar panels, leaving fewer spaces for other students, faculty and staff.

Construction of the new Health and Life Sciences Building, which will open in August 2021, began over the summer. The Ring Road

Continued on Page 3

James Katzaman, a first-year transfer studies student (left), and Dylan Siebenhaar, a third-year film student, are members of the Video Club. Katzaman will enter his work in a campus film festival in April.

Photo by Chance Iheoma

Trustees decide on tuition hike The AACC Board of Trustees voted on Feb. 26 on whether to raise student tuition by $4 per credit hour as part of a $118.6 million budget.

The college has raised tuition by between $2 and $4 a credit every year since 2004 except from 2007 to 2009.

To find out what the

trustees decided and to read Campus Current’s full story about the college’s fiscal year 2020 budget, visit us online at www.thecampuscurrent.

2 | Campus Current | 2019 | March

Editorial

Meet the Staff Editor-in-Chief

Alexandra Radovic Associate Editor

Bethany Probst

Multimedia Editor

Daniel Nickerson Daily Editor

Sarah Noble

Photography Editor

Chance Iheoma

Graphic Designer

Kenzie Airey

Technology Editor

Alex Fregger

Sports Editor

Arianna Beers Reporters

Jameson Evans Luke Gabel Xander Hanlon Car’lyle Lee Reese Levin Noah Reem Daniel Salomon Rob Samson-Krebs Royal Snyder Ashley Sokolowski Philip Van Slooten Photographers

Tyreesha Bolton Christina Browning Gerald Maravanyika Gage Savoy Faculty Adviser

Sharon O’Malley

Photographers on page 1, top

From left to right Flickr Photo Chance Iheoma Anthony Bellotte

Twitter

@campus_current Facebook

Facebook.com/ CampusCurrentPaper Instagram

campuscurrentaacc

Today’s posts will affect future Editorial Board AACC students should scrub their social media accounts now to get rid of embarrassing or incriminating photos and information. And consider what you post from now on with an eye to how your actions today might affect your future.

If you believe that your college-age antics won’t come back to bite you 20, 30 or 40 years from now, consider how history is treating Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

Northam was recently outed for a photo that appeared in his 1984 medical school yearbook showing a man wearing blackface—dye or shoe polish applied to the face of a white person, usually as part of a costume—posing next to someone wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood.

Northam has denied that he is in the photo, but admitted wearing blackface when he appeared at a 1984 dance contest dressed as Michael Jackson.

The governor has said he will not resign, despite calls

from voters and fellow politicians for him to step down.

Amid the controversy, student journalists at the University of Virginia sifted through old yearbooks looking for racially insensitive content.

They found it. Nick Popli, the editor of the student newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, uncovered a staged lynching photo in a 1971 yearbook.

The photo featured a group of hooded Chi Psi fraternity brothers, rifles in hand, gathered around a hanging mannequin, which was wearing blackface.

The insensitive and dehumanizing message of discrimination will not fade as the photo ages, and the University of Virginia’s reputation will be tarnished for years to come.

Whether it’s a racist photo, a homophobic tweet or an insensitive caption, students should understand that their offensive actions are not as temporary as their age.

Those 1971 University of Virginia students likely thought their insensitive antics were a joke at the time.

University of Virginia Chi Psi fraternity members stage a lynching in the 1971 edition of the college’s yearbook “Corks & Curls.” AACC students should scrub their social media accounts of offensive content like this and stop making posts of this nature.

Photo courtesy of The Cavalier Daily No one is laughing now.

With modern technology, the newspaper’s editor was able to expose the social injustice in a single tweet.

And that’s how easy it will be for employers to find anything on your social media, from a crude comment you posted yesterday to a racist photo from ages past.

Take five minutes out of your day to scroll through your Twitter, Instagram and

Facebook and delete any inappropriate photos or posts.

Then, stop making those sorts of posts.

The mindless jokes you make now won’t just ruin your reputation—now and in the future. They also could ruin the reputation of our school and of its future students, who don’t deserve to take the backlash for something you shouldn’t be doing anyway.

Student Spotlight

Student offers nutritional tips Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief As a senior in college, Amanda Behrens fought tooth and nail to find the magic solution to her mysteriously dry and irritated skin.

Behrens said she saw little improvement after multiple doctor’s visits, countless skin creams and endless medications she used to treat her developing eczema.

According to Behrens, she has the book “Wheat Belly” by William Davis to thank for her health transformation.

After reading the health advice book in 2013, roughly four years after graduating from college, Behrens cut gluten from her diet for two weeks and said she noticed drastic changes in both her skin and her digestion.

“That’s the first time I thought, ‘Wow, food is so powerful,’” Behrens said.

Behrens, who worked as a video editor for AACC from 2009 to 2016, started taking nutrition and fitness classes

at the college in 2014.

But it wasn’t until she was editing a promotional video about AACC’s Ratcliffe Scholars program, which helps entrepreneurs start up their businesses, that she realized she wanted to use her passion for health and wellness to create her own company.

“The Ratcliffe Scholarship was changing their lives,” Behrens, who recalled being teary-eyed while watching the footage of successful entrepreneurial students, said. “They’re good promoters. They hooked me.”

Behrens won the Ratcliffe Scholarship in 2015.

This meant the college would pay for the entrepreneurial, nutrition, fitness and business courses she took in 2016 as she learned how to start her business.

She presented her idea, “Real Food Store Tours,” one-on-one grocery store touring to help clients shop for healthy foods, at the 2018 Entrepreneurial Institute’s Business Pitch Com-

Advertise With Us! Discounts for AACC student organizations Entrepreneurship student Amanda Behrens offers grocery tours to her clients to help them eat healthier.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Behrens petition and won $2,000.

“I want to be able to help other people struggling like I did,” Behrens said.

Behrens said she uses the money to maintain her website and attend professional development seminars. Behrens plans to use her remaining scholarship money to become certified in entrepreneurship this semester.

Since she won the contest, her company, now dubbed “Get Real With Amanda,” has expanded beyond just grocery store tours.

She’s now a health coach and offers non-credit wellness workshops to faculty and staff here. She said she hopes to offer the workshops to students in the future.

Now offering web advertisments

Advertising Manager Amber Nathan 240-825-6284

CampusCurrentAdverts @gmail.com

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March | 2019 | Campus Current | 3

Jump

Site work near parking reroutes East Campus Continued from Page 1 detour started over winter break. “[I’m] coming to [school] 30 minutes before [class] just to find parking,” said Aadil Shekh, a first-year computer science student.

“[The parking lot is] pretty lame,” said Alex Sawyer, a fourth-year Spanish education student. “I’m not going to lie.”

Sawyer said students should not have added stress when coming into school in the morning.

“I get it; there’s no real way around it,” he said. “I’m probably the last person who should be complaining, because complaining is an aversion to problem solving.”

Eight students said the parking and traffic situation is not a problem for them.

emergency operations plans up to date, interacting with the county’s emergency management agency, training the department’s staff to properly set up an emergency operation center—the center of police operations during an emergency—running drills on campus and coordinating police efforts in case of an emergency. “[My] overview is to make sure this campus is ready to respond to any kind of emergency, be it a tornado, or an active shooter or

anything in between,” Crow said.

Crow said she is a good fit for the job because of her prior experience as a firefighter and EMT in central Florida, positions she filled from 1995 until 9/11, when she took a government job that focused on preparing for natural disasters and biological terrorism.

Crow and her six-person team worked in Orlando, protecting people in Walt Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal Orlando Resort.

Students say the altered parking lots due to construction are causing them to be late for their classes.

Photo by Christina Browning “You just have to be more careful when you’re walking and ... parking,” Hunter

Davis, a second-year mechatronics student, said. “Other than that, it’s been OK.”

In case of emergencies, “we had to [be able to] get medication to our entire population within 48 hours,” Crow said. “That entire population for me could have been anything from a million to 2 million people.”

Crow said she retired in 2013 to “let somebody else save the world for a while.”

She said she began taking classes at AACC for fun in 2007, and eventually started teaching part-time before the college hired her for the new position.

Arlene Crow is the first emergency manager of the campus Department of Public Safety.

Photo by Chance Iheoma

New manager oversees safety Alex Fregger Technology Editor AACC in January hired a former firefighter as the campus Public Safety and Police Department’s first emergency manager.

Arlene Crow started her job after teaching biological warfare as an adjunct professor from July to December 2018.

According to AACC Police Chief Sean Kapfhammer, Crow’s responsibilities will include keeping AACC’s

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4 | Campus Current | 2019 | March

News

AACC offers classes to incarcerated students Continued from Page 1 kidnapping, got his first diploma, AACC business and entrepreneurship professors began working part-time at Jessup.

“We’re giving them skills they can use immediately when they get out,” Pamela Polgreen, AACC’s coordinator of accelerated cohort programs, said.

“Even though we don’t share the same classroom, we share the same teachers and the same learning philosophy,” inmate Patrick Holmes, who has been at Jessup for 24 years, said.

Students at Jessup said education means more in prison.

“It’s been a journey,” Moore said. “I’ve seen the bad [and] now I can see the good. Businesses will see my

Campus Current Technology Editor Alex Fregger helped cover a shooting at the Arundel Mills mall on Feb. 16.

Photo by Daniel Salomon

certificates and say, ‘Oh, this man has value. He understands the technology [that] businesses today need.’”

Moore said he wants to start a company to help small businesses learn how to better use technology to grow their brands.

“What is given to me, I need to give back,” Moore said.

Zakaria Oweiss, who is serving a 17-year sentence, said he wants to work with schools to teach troubled youth how to solve problems in non-violent ways.

“If I knew then what I know now, I’d be on a very different path,” said Oweiss, who has a criminal record of first- and second-degree murder. “I take my challenges and turn them into something positive. … If we think before we act, the outcome

can be different.”

“I was so scared when I first came [to Jessup],” Oweiss said. “[The classes] create a home environment that is positive.”

Anthony Joyner, who has been at Jessup since 2014, said he wants to run a music production company for gospel and blues artists.

“It’s definitely a blessing to take these classes and try to stay on a course,” Joyner said. “These guys really work together.”

Levar Douglas, who has been at Jessup for nine years and has charges of drug possession and assault, also said he wants to turn his passions into a future business.

Growing up on a farm, Douglas, who was also charged with murder, said he plans to start a plant-based farming company to teach

Daniel Salomon Reporter Campus Current Multimedia Editor Daniel Nickerson was working a Saturday shift at Medieval Times at Arundel Mills on Feb. 16, when his manager rushed employees into the kitchen and told them to stay there.

Nickerson didn’t stay there for long.

Once he realized that store managers all over the mall had corralled their employees to safety after hearing reports of a shooting

outside, Nickerson said, his journalistic instincts kicked in.

“It was a crazy situation,” Nickerson said. “But I knew that I had to immediately start gathering whatever information I could for this story.”

AACC has a classroom building near the mall. It was closed for the night by the time the shooting occurred shortly before 8 p.m.

After his shift taking souvenir photos of Medieval Times customers ended, Nickerson, a fifth-year web

chaeological digs after Rapine got a three-credit AACC internship with the Anne Arundel County Archaeology Lab in Edgewater, five minutes from home.

Rapine processes, washes, categorizes and collects artifacts, like ceramics from the 1800s and ancient animal bones she finds at historical sites across Maryland.

She determines the age of the relics and collects other data about them.

The Anne Arundel County Trust for Preservation, a

nonprofit that gives awards to those who work to preserve the county’s history, granted Rapine the Westy Award for intern excellence in October, through which she earned a $200 grant toward her AACC classes.

“It was for an archeological student who shows dedication and excellence,” Rapine said.

Her boss also recognized this work ethic and promoted her to a paid position for six months as an independent contractor.

On each sunny day of the summer since early childhood, second-year archaeology student Gabrielle Rapine has taken to her backyard in historic Londontowne with her father and four siblings, metal detectors in hand.

“We would find coins dated throughout the 1900s and little things like bottle caps,” Rapine recalled.

Those backyard treasure hunts turned into real-life ar-

others how to grow healthy foods.

In addition, Douglas said he wants to own a business that cleans up crime scenes.

Student inmates said they hope to be as successful as the students who take classes on AACC campuses.

“We’re thirsty, we’re hungry and we want the same things you do,” Darnell Roberts, who is serving 11 years, said. Roberts said he wants to train youth athletes both physically and academically.

Not all of the prisoners know if they will get a chance to use their education beyond the prison walls.

Holmes, who is serving a life sentence but is working

with a parole officer to shorten his time, said he takes entrepreneurship classes so he can realize what prisoners need to know in order to re-enter society.

“Sometimes in society we think of convicted felons as morally bad people, and of course some of them are,” Lou Carloni, who teaches Introduction to Business at both Arnold and Jessup, said. “These are men who made one or two very serious mistakes—they are otherwise good men—doing everything in their power to make it right.”

Part 2 (April): AACC faculty members share their own prison stories.

and graphic design student, called classmates he knew who worked at the mall and pushed the story out on Campus Current’s website and social media.

Campus Current Technology Editor Alex Fregger helped.

“I was at my desk [at home in Crofton] writing another article that was due at midnight, when all of a sudden Daniel Nickerson calls me,” Fregger said.

“And he’s like, ‘Hey, did you hear what happened?

I’m working at Arundel Mills

and this is all crazy,’” Fregger said. “‘We need to talk to some cops. We need to figure this out.’”

Fregger got on the phone and interviewed AACC Officer Don Medtart. “From there we really tried to figure out what was going on,” Fregger said.

Campus Current was among the first media outlets in the area to publish information about the shooting.

“It was so inspiring. …

They took the initiative to educate the public,” Campus Current Editor Alexandra Radovic said.

Journalists cover live shooting

College intern digs to find, clean-up artifacts Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief

AACC entrepreneurship and business professors teach classes to students who are in prison.

Wikimedia Photo

Archaeology intern Gabrielle Rapine won the Westy Award for intern excellence in October 2018.

Photo by Sarah Noble Now, Rapine earns $15 an hour, working 14 hours a week to sift through artifacts from archaeological digs and find out information on what era they are from, and what this could reveal about the history of Maryland.

“She’s really self sufficient and reliable,” Her boss Zac Singer said. “She’s our star intern.”

AACC students seeking internships for class credit can visit Careers Room 314 to find an opening.

March | 2019 | Campus Current | 5

News

Past fundraiser alleges rape by Virginia Lt. Gov. Sarah Noble Daily Editor One of the two women who has accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault worked at AACC in the mid-2000s.

School fundraiser Meredith Watson, a Baltimore resident, worked for the AACC Foundation for about two years starting in 2006.

Watson on Feb. 8 said Fairfax raped her when they were students at Duke University in 2000.

Fairfax’s attack was “premeditated and aggressive,” Watson’s attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, said in a statement. She said the two were friends but never had a romantic relationship.

Fairfax has admitted he had sex with Watson, but

said it was consensual. He also said he had a consensual sexual encounter with another woman, Scripps College professor Vanessa Tyson, who has accused him of forcing her to engage in oral sex in 2004.

In a statement issued

by Smith, Watson called for Fairfax to resign. Fairfax has said he will not.

The allegations of assault against Fairfax are a part of a series of scandals at the highest levels of Virginia’s government.

On Feb. 1, Big League Politics published a photo from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s 1984 medical school yearbook showing a white student wearing blackface and a classmate dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.

Northam has said he is not in

that photograph but admitted he wore blackface when he dressed as Michael Jackson for a dance contest.

Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, the third-highest ranking official in the state, said he wore blackface at a college party in 1980.

In a Washington Post opinion piece on Feb. 18, Watson wrote that she came forward to support Tyson and “to remove that man from a position of national prominence.”

Women on campus said they believe Watson.

Second-year nursing student Sarah Davis said no matter how long ago the alleged event happened, “an assault is an assault.”

“We shouldn’t treat it as if it never happened,” she

said. “Many victims stay quiet out of fear and sometimes embarrassment. It takes courage to talk about it.”

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 25 percent of women experience sexual assault while they are in college. More than 90 percent of those victims do not report the assault.

First-year undecided student Ruth Stimely said AACC

should show support for Watson, but said, “Schools are too concerned with their image.”

Stimely said she supports a public trial for Fairfax.

“In my eyes, it’s really brave to want to tell your story about something that can be seen as humiliating, or even scary, in front of so many people,” she said.

“People need to hear about things like this.”

trip’s goal was to partner with Mote, a coral reef restoration lab in Florida, to assess the damage.

Kiraly said he and his classmates used a student-built remote-control submarine named Bonefish and collected data from the shorelines using aerial photos to compare with post-hurricane images and maps.

The students also learned the lasting effects of the two-year-old debris created during the storm. In one picture taken by a drone, a roof blown off of a house appears to be stopping the growth of plant life around it.

“You had building materials that were once attached to structures ripped from their places and scattered all around,” Kiraly said. “Some pieces of material … when they decompose, sometimes chemicals come out of them.”

While the students’ original goal was to test Bone-

fish’s ability to place coral, they instead focused on using the drone to monitor the growth and health of the reef.

“The color of the coral is actually due to the bacteria that live in the coral,” Disney, a second-year computer science student, said.

“When certain temperatures happen, the reason why the coral goes white is because it’s literally expelling the bacteria and basically killing itself.”

Davis said 55 percent to 85 percent of the world’s oxygen comes from ocean life like coral. “In the past four years or so, we’ve lost a quarter of the world’s coral,” he explained.

The students said they used technology in Florida similar to equipment they worked with on a project to monitor the Chesapeake Bay. “I think it was a really amazing experience overall,” Kiraly said.

4 students help repair Florida Keys coral reef Alex Fregger Technology Editor

Four AACC students traveled to Florida over winter break to mend a coral reef that was damaged by storms and climate change.

Photo courtesy of UAS Academy

Two women have accused Virginia’s Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assaullt. One worked at AACC. Edward Kimmel/Flickr Photo

Four AACC students went to Florida over winter break to help repair the country’s only living coral reef.

Hurricane Irma, the superstorm of 2017, was the most powerful Atlantic hurricane in U.S. history. Its eye crossed directly over and damaged the coral reef off of the Florida Keys. The reef also has suffered damage from climate change.

Students Nick Kiraly, Nathaniel Disney, Michael Beachum and Hunter Davis arrived in Florida on Jan. 8 as part of a UAS Academy mission.

UAS Academy is the company that set up a lab in the Careers Center—called LASR@ AACC—where students learn to use drone technology.

Kiraly, a fourth-year business student, said the

Good Hawk podcast:

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March | 2019 | Campus Current | 7

News

Entrepreneurs vie for $100,000 Reese Levin Reporter The AACC Entrepreneurial Studies Institute in February hosted a kickoff event for students interested in entering the group’s $100,000 Business Pitch Competition.

The competition is open to all AACC students and offers scholarships, mentoring and funds to help grow businesses.

To compete, participants need a business plan of less

Accounting professor Mike Gavin and 26 volunteers are helping students and staff with their taxes.

Photo by Amber Nathan

than 10 pages and a business pitch of up to two minutes.

Judges who score the business plans will look for ideas that appear to be feasible; plans for generating income; a well-written resume; and evidence that team members have the necessary skills and experience to start the business.

At the kickoff, Andrew Carlson, a Capital One business banker, offered students advice on how to become a finalist and possibly

win the competition.

“What we’re looking for in this competition and really any business is: Get really good at one thing first [and] know it inside and out,” Carlson said.

Professor Stephanie Goldenberg, the chair of the competition and organizer of the event, listed resources that students have access to.

“We have accounting professionals, bankers and people who have been in business and advise busi-

nesses and they are there to give [students] practical, free advice,” Goldenberg said.

First-time participant Erica Szymanski, a Severna Park high school senior who takes classes at AACC, recognized the opportunity.

“I am really passionate about entrepreneurship,” she said.

During her freshman year of high school, Szymanski won a Ratcliffe Scholarship at an AACC-sponsored business pitch contest, which

Amber Nathan Advertising Manager

gram, students, staff, faculty and community members who earn $55,000 or less can have their taxes filled out for free through early April.

VITA is a federal government program that uses IRS-certified volunteers to review clients’ tax situations and prepare returns.

“People have anxiety about taxes and we try to relieve that anxiety,” Gavin, who is in his first year as a

full-time professor, said.

AACC has 26 certified volunteers, 22 students and four faculty members who work alongside Gavin to prepare, review and electronically file federal and state taxes.

“He noticed that I picked up accounting pretty easily,” Kristin Kohout, a second-year business administration student and tax volunteer, said. “He knew

Business banker Andrew Carlson speaks at an annual Business Pitch Competition.

Photo by Gage Savoy allowed her to take the classes required for an Entrepreneurship Certificate at AACC.

Prof offers free tax return help An accounting professor is helping students and faculty complete their tax forms for free this spring.

Accounting professor Mike Gavin replaced Reb Beatty, a business administration professor who used to run the tax program.

Through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance pro-

that I could do this.” “[Volunteers] are the most important part of the program,” Gavin said. “They have taken training and passed certification tests administered by the IRS, very hard tests.”

Students, faculty, staff and community members interested in the service can make an appointment by going to AACC’s official website and searching “VITA.”

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8 | Campus Current | 2019 | March

Black History Month

College runs activities for Black History Month Chance Iheoma Photography Editor AACC celebrated Black History Month in February with a number of events focusing on race relations, skin color and black art.

The month-long events kicked off on Feb. 1 on the Arnold campus with a visit by black guest artist Coleman Audwin Porter, who showed and discussed his paintings with students and community members in the Pascal Center for the Performing Arts.

To follow this, Professor Nicole Williams, chair of AACC’s Human Services Department, on Feb. 6 ran a discussion with students on “colorism,” which describes increased discrimination toward minorities with darker skin tones.

Remote campuses didn’t miss out on the affairs. On Feb. 6, students gathered for a screening of the documentary “Business in the Black” at AACC’s Arundel Mills campus. The film showcased the impact of education on slaves and black business districts throughout history.

The Arnold campus showed the same film in CALT on Feb. 7.

Also on Feb. 7, the Hawk’s Nest hosted a performance by the KanKouran West African Dance Company, which performed a series of drumming routines for and with students as they ate lunch.

This wasn’t the only event that included student participation.

Sociology professor Gina Finelli set up the “Race Card Walls” on Feb. 11 in the Ca-

reers Center, Humanities Building and CALT. Students, staff and faculty used this wall to post notecards that expressed their feelings about race in six words.

But students learned how to express their feelings about race in unwritten ways as well.

On Feb. 13, A “Psychohairapy” lecture by clinical psychologist Dr. Afiya Mbilishaka drew connections between styling black hair and the psychology of black women. She taught students and community members how to be empowered by their race through hair styling techniques.

Also on Feb. 13, students watched the film “Loving,” which tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whom Virginia police

The KanKouran West African Dance Company performers put on a show in the Hawk’s Nest on Feb. 7.

Photo by Chance Iheoma arrested in 1960 for interracial marriage.

Another film that highlighted racism, “Dancing Through the Flames,” shares the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and showcases D.C.-area teenagers who danced on WOOK’s Teenarama Dance Party in 1968. The film showed in the theater in the Humanities Building.

Students also got involved through literature during a reading of Adrian Matejka’s “The Big Smoke,” a

poetry book written from the perspective of Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight boxing champion.

As the month came to an end, the Black Male Initiative Summit met for the ninth year in a row. Students discussed the best ways to find success at AACC as minorities.

To wind up the month’s activities, the Legal Studies Institute invited students to the Cade Building to discuss the gender gap and celebrate the first black female judges in Maryland.

Photo by Graig Bracey

Photo by Chance Iheoma

Black History Month Students celebrated Black History Month in February with events across campus.

Photo by Tyreesha Bolton

Photo by Philip Van Slooten

Painting, “44th President,” by Coleman Audwin Porter

March | 2019 | Campus Current | 9

Darker skin tones lead to more racial division Car’lyle Lee Philip Van Slooten Reporters Dark-skinned black people face greater discrimination than those with lighter skin, speakers told a campus audience in February.

As part of the school’s Black History Month program, Professor Nicole Williams, chair of AACC’s Human Services Department, led a panel discussion about “colorism,” or discrimination against dark-skinned African-Americans compared with those who have lighter skin tones.

Panelist Helena Bryant Holland, a second-year human services student who co-organized the event, noted that the issue of color

affects other ethnicities as well.

Bryant Holland said she has observed “a dysfunction in our ethnic groups on campus with invalidating ourselves and others.”

Williams explained that a goal of the event was to “educate everyone about colorism and all the ways it is impactful and harmful” in the world and on campus.

The discussion began with panelists explaining the origins of color prejudice in slavery and colonialism. Williams went on to show how change is slowly occurring with the inclusion and promotion of more dark-skinned entertainers such as Kenyan-Mexican Lupita Nyong’o and Dominican-American Amara la Negra.

Williams said the media tends to show more lightskinned celebrities, giving the public the impression that “lighter is better.”

Panelist Dr. Deidra Dennie, AACC’s chief diversity officer, noted that while films like “Black Panther” did much to promote darker-skinned actors, it was still just a movie.

“I hate to break the news to y’all, but Wakanda’s not real,” she chuckled, adding levity to a heavy topic. “But it did raise awareness of a very real issue.”

Dennie said colorism is present in many workplaces.

People with darker-toned skin, she said, are more likely to have to work harder than others to prove they, too, can be worthy of promo-

“Colorism,” or increased discrimination against darker-skinned minorities, was the topic of a panel discussion on campus during Black History Month.

Photo by Daniel Nickerson tions and payraises.

“An awareness of colorism in the workplace helps everyone,” Dennie said. “It takes it out of the shadows in a way it can be examined, deconstructed and addressed in a way that heals.”

Audience members said the message was important.

“It’s eye opening,” Kait Warner, a second-year nurs-

ing student, said. “It … needed to be talked [about] out loud to end stigmas. … Everything is equal and beautiful.”

Myrian Garcia, a firstyear political science student, said she “can relate [to the colorism discussion] because I have various ethnicities in my family. More discussions need to happen.”

“Empathize with what you don’t understand. We may all bleed red, but we don’t bleed the same amount or from the same wound.”

An AACC student who signed the name “Cassidy Jane” wrote that sentiment on a note card in February and posted it on a wall of the Careers Center alongside nearly 60 others. The cards, which also covered walls in the Humanities and CALT buildings, were part of a Black History Month project called Race Card Walls.

The campuswide display project, started by sociolo-

gy professor Gina Finelli in 2016, invited students and staff to write their experiences involving race, using six words only. Each card has an extra space for any additional thoughts the writer wishes to add.

“The first time [a wall] went up was after President [Donald] Trump was elected,” Finelli said. “Certain patterns emerge over and over, including politically charged statements.”

The idea for the project came from black journalist Michele Norris in 2010. Norris, who won the 2013 Peabody Award, asked people from all 50 states to send her postcards describing their

perspectives on race, using six words.

Students at AACC said the project shines a light on important societal conflicts.

“I think it’s a very important discussion for everyone to be involved in … for people to learn and understand about different perspectives and great controversies,” second-year nursing student Alayshia Florida said.

Third-year film student Sanyee Barjogar agreed.

“It expresses the mindset that people may have about racial injustice and how we, as a society, can take these opinions and figure out a good way to provide justice,” he said.

most audience members reported seeing results featuring the famous horse from the 1877 novel, “Black Beauty,” which was made into films in 1946, 1971 and 1994.

Mbilishaka said she got the same search results when she was researching job opportunities for black hair stylists. She said she realized black women are underrepresented in the hairstyling world, and she set out to change that.

“A lot of people aren’t aware of what goes on with [the black] community in regards to our hair,” Ria Freeman, who graduated from AACC with a communications degree last spring and attended the event, said.

Mbilishaka runs group styling sessions at N Natural Hair Studio in Silver Spring, where she counsels clients and helps them work through their problems while she styles their hair.

Psychologist Afiya Mbilishaka styles clients’ hair while she counsels them.

Photo by Graig Bracey

Notecard walls prompt discussion about race Alexandra Radovic Editor-in-Chief

In celebration of Black History Month, AACC students and staff wrote their experiences with racism and posted them on Race Card Walls in the Careers Center, Humanities and CALT. Photo by Tyreesha Bolton

Black History Month

Therapist helps by styling hair Royal Snyder Reporter African-American women should “view [their] hair as a form of stress management,” a Washington, D.C., clinical psychologist told an AACC audience on Feb. 13.

During a presentation titled, “Psychohairapy,” Dr. Afiya Mbilishaka advised the audience of 16 people in the Florestano Building to “set up a haircare routine that

stimulates all your senses.”

Mbilishaka suggested using natural produce, like apple cider vinegar, to moisturize hair, and playing music while styling it.

She began the presentation by asking the audience to Google the word “beauty” on their cellphones and compare it with the results they get when they search “black beauty.”

Although Mbilishaka meant black as a skin color,

10 | Campus Current | 2019 | March

Campus Life

Keep working; don’t slack off Alexandra Radovic Editor-in Chief

aren’t earning the grade you wish you were in some of your classes.

St. Patrick’s Day may If you are earning a charm students in March, grade you’re happy with, but it will take more than luck don’t let it go to your head for them to see the spring se- and decide now is the time mester through. to slack off.

As the semester apKeep up the good work proaches its halfway mark, and don’t expect to keep it’s easy for students to get your grade up by putting in lazy and lose motivation to any less effort than you have keep up with since the seschool work. mester started. ’s Alexandra But the The great good news thing about is there are having classes plenty of ways on Canvas is to clear your that grades are head, reduce never a guessstress and ing game. The make looming grade book is organized so grades feel less dreaded and more man- that students can see exactly ageable. what they will need on each Before you become over- assignment in order to rewhelmed with all of your ceive the grade they desire. upcoming assignments and Take advantage of this tests, remind yourself that tool to reduce anxiety about you have plenty of time to your grades and calm your turn things around if you nerves before testing. Based

Fun and Games

Advice

Allison Kral, a first-year phlebotomy student, and Hannah King, a first-year nursing student, took advantage of campus resources by borrowing a model of a leg.

Photo by Daniel Salomon on how your professor weighs each type of assignment, you may find that you only need a 70 percent on that super hard test in order to pass the course.

Plug in theoretical scores for your remaining assignments and make a chart of exactly what you need on each one to meet the overall grade you want.

This way, you only have to prepare enough to meet a minimum score and you can spend the rest of your time

enjoying life outside of school.

Take care of the not-sofun stuff, like school work, first. Once you have a concrete idea of what’s due when and how well you need to do on it, you can check off each assignment as you complete it and you’ll be flying out of school and into summer vacation before you know it.

If you want to take the weekend off to have fun, you can because you know ahead of time when everything is due. Don’t be afraid to plan

Did you know?

a day when you will complete future assignments, so that you don’t get trapped by procrastination.

Above all else, don’t make excuses. You’ll get the grade you deserve and your professor will likely notice if you are making extra efforts.

Don’t forget, you only get back the work you put in.

Whether you’re focusing on school, sports or both, don’t let the half-time score determine the end result of the big game.

Sudoku

AACC campus police officers have tourniquets In the unlikely event of a shooting on campus, police offers know how to stop the bleeding.

Most can treat wounds that would require a tourniquet—a device wrapped around an arm or leg and tightened to stop blood loss.

Reporting by Alex Fregger Photo by Alex Fregger

?

Looking for answers?

Check TheCampusCurrent.com on March 31.

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March | 2019 | Campus Current |11

AACC faculty double as politicians, professors Ashley Sokolowski Reporter At least three AACC professors are leading double lives: as faculty members by day and as politicians after school.

Dr. Darian Senn-Carter, an assistant professor with AACC’s Homeland Security and Criminal Justice Institute, is the latest to take his oath of office. He was sworn in as a member of the Bowie City Council on Feb. 19 to represent the city’s 3rd District.

“I see it as a way for me to deepen my impact in the community, to get more involved [in] ways to improve the community that I love,” Senn-Carter said.

At least two other faculty members also hold political offices.

History professor Frank Alduino is an elected member of the Queen Anne’s County Democratic Central Committee.

“I have been interested in politics for a very long period of time,” Alduino said. “[My wife and I] live in a very Republican, ultra-red district.

Both myself and my wife became energized … with the election of [President Donald] Trump. We joined the Democratic club … and we became very, very active in the last campaign. [We] basically became involved in helping to change this bright red district … to blue or at least maybe purple.”

Theresa Neumann, academic coordinator for AACC’s physician assistant program, is the treasurer of the Calvert Beach Civic Association, a neighborhood organization.

Neumann said she got involved with her community civic association because it seemed like a good way for her to invest in her neighborhood.

The part-time politicians said they don’t find it difficult

to balance the work they do on campus with the time they spend on their community jobs.

“It’s really just a great opportunity for me to apply a lot of the skills that apply here at the college … to a different setting,” Senn-Carter said. Political work, he said, helped him “gain a different insight; to have a different perspective ... because I am passionate about the work … and I care so … deeply about [it]. But I don’t see it as difficult to balance” school and politics.

Alduino said after 33 years of teaching at the college level, “you have an opportunity to compartmentalize … but I have other activities as well and one of them is my involvement in politics. It is time consuming and besides the meetings, there’s committees that we serve on, there’s community outreach that we do … [but] it doesn’t interfere with what I do here.”

Campus Life

Dr. Darian Senn-Carter is one of at least three professors at AACC who are also politicians.

Photo by Gage Savoy Senn-Carter accepted an appointment to the Bowie City Council after Councilmember Courtney Glass resigned in December for health reasons. Senn-Carter said he plans to run for election in November with the hope of filling the seat for another term.

“I am excited about the opportunity to really get out into the district, to hear

the perspective of the residents, to hear their concerns, to hear their ideas, to help shape what we do in the city,” Senn-Carter said.

Alduino said he encourages other faculty members to run for political office.

“I think that’s important because it gives faculty … representation on these levels of government that impact their lives,” Alduino said.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) You might be upset at having your objectivity questioned in the handling of a dispute. But it would be wise to re-examine your feelings to make sure you're being fair with both sides.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Devoting a lot of time to a current career move means having less time for those in your private life. But once you explain the circumstances, they should understand and be supportive.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) A family dispute creates mixed feelings about how you hope it will be ultimately resolved. Best advice: Stay out of it and let the involved parties work it through by themselves.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Organizing your many duties in order of importance should help you get through them pretty quickly. Additional information puts that still-to-be-made decision in a new light.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Making an effort to smooth over even the smallest obstacles now will go a long way to assuring that things run smoothly once you're set to move on with your plans.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Lingering bad feelings over a recent misunderstanding should fade as reconciliation efforts continue. Meanwhile, vacation plans might need to be revised because of new developments.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) A challenge to your authority can be upsetting, but your longtime supporters want you to defend your position so you can win over even your most adamant detractors.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Love dominates the Lion's heart this week, with Cupid shooting arrows at single Leos and Leonas looking for romance. Partnered pairs also enjoy strengthened relationships.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Being unable to get involved in a friend's problem calls for an honest approach.

Provide explanations, not excuses. Another friend might be able to offer support for your decision.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) "Getting to Know You" should be the single Virgo's theme song as you and that special person discover more about one another.

That workplace situation needs looking into.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) You find yourself swimming in circles, looking for some way to get back on a straight course. But things get easier once you're able to refocus your energies.

Horoscopes

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Your efforts in behalf of a colleague do not go unnoticed, let alone unappreciated.

Meanwhile, arrange to spend more time investigating that troubling fact you recently uncovered.

12 | Campus Current | 2019 | March

Campus Life

Art students tell about disapproving families Chance Iheoma Photography Editor AACC art students say their families don’t always support them as they pursue their creative dreams.

Some told Campus Current their parents would prefer it if they chose a major that would lead to a more financially stable career.

Sarah Evans, a second-year fine arts student, said she only recently began taking art classes at AACC because her parents wouldn’t allow her to go to art school.

“They didn’t see it as practical,” Evans said. “Finance, accounting. … My mother is a chemist, so be a scientist. … But I don’t like any of those. And if you don’t like it, you don’t study it hard. You don’t do well.”

Diane Osburn, a firstyear visual arts student, said she chose to study art after losing her job in finance

when another company bought the bank she worked for. She said she has creative hobbies, and uses sewing, ceramics and photography as a getaway from the rigidity of her job. Yet she said she has been interested in crafts since elementary school.

“Banking—that’s just sort of where I ended up because I just started working out of high school,” Osburn said. “It’s where life took me.”

Osburn took photography courses in college but didn’t pursue a career in photography.

“It’s corporate America,” Osburn said. “I wasn’t driven by money but you need to be able to survive.”

Some faculty members who teach art said they experienced similar challenges as students.

“There was some tension … because everyone in my greater family are business people,” art professor Chris

Mona said. “They’re all entrepreneurs. They all have their own businesses or they work for family businesses.”

Matt Moore, chair of the Visual Arts Department, said students who want to pursue art as a career but whose parents discourage it should take courses that are creatively engaging, even if they don’t major in art.

“As they mature and as they show their parents that they’re able to do well in the field of art, their parents will become more open-minded about the idea,” Moore explained.

An art major doesn’t necessarily leave a graduate with few options. Moore said students who choose to study art can pursue a variety of careers.

“When you’re majoring in art, you’re learning to be a critical thinker,” Moore said.

“There are a ton of creatively minded jobs out there ... for example, public relations

Matt Moore, chair of the Visual Arts Department, advocates for students who want to major in art.

Photo by Chance Iheoma and marketing, where they need critical thinkers and they need creatives to come in and help them figure out how to brand, how to market, how to sell things.”

On Liberal Arts Day last year, Moore’s department handed out flyers with quotes by billionaires Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, and the late Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, on the value of liberal arts degrees.

“People who are working at Apple, people that are working at Google ... they’re hiring artists … they know that they can take those problem-solving skills that we teach them and apply it

to a multitude of problems,” Moore said. “Apple’s whole deal is design. That’s what they do. There’s a sh*tload of jobs right there that are employed by creatives.”

The average salary for an artist in the U.S. ranges from approximately $43,000 to $63,000. The average base pay for a designer at Apple is approximately $116,000.

The boom of information technology in the 21st century has reframed art as a career. Once, the stereotype of the starving artist prevailed, but now corporate marketing teams seek artists to modernize their look and distinguish themselves among the herds of competitive brands.

THE ENTREPRENEURS SCHOLARSHIP Supported by the Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation

COMPETE FOR FUNDS TO SUPPORT YOUR BUSINESS VENTURE. AACC students submit a comprehensive business plan and then finalists pitch their idea to a panel of judges who evaluate and determine awards.

DEADLINE TO APPLY: March 29 due by noon online

BUSINESS PITCH COMPETITION FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

BUSINESS PITCH COMPETITION LIVE PITCH AND AWARDS CEREMONY

April 11th at noon online and in the SUN Hawk’s Nest

April 25th 2:30 - 5 p.m.

Humanities 112

www.aacc.edu/esi

The Entrepreneurs Scholarship program includes: • A lifetime maximum of $12,000 per student that covers all funding for tuition, fees, books, and supplies for credit and noncredit* courses at AACC. • Paid opportunities • Resources to support entrepreneurial student success

Entrepreneurs Scholarship Mentoring As part of the “Entrepreneur Ramp Up” (BNS 393) course, every scholarship recipient will sign up with a mentor who will provide guidance and advice. Mentors and their students will be required to meet and actively participate in the ESI Mentorship Program. * Includes BNS393. Other noncredit classes need prior approval.

Deadline to apply is Monday, April 1st by noon online

www.aacc.edu/esi

March | 2019 | Campus Current |13

Clubs

Religious clubs meet for prayer, Bible study Amber Nathan Advertising Manager Two Christian clubs on the Arnold campus regularly invite students and faculty to come together for prayer, Bible study and social opportunities.

Experience Apostolic Campus Ministries, or EACM, and Coalition for Christian Outreach, or CCO, are open to new members of any religious background.

CCO’s adviser, former AACC student Isaac Vineyard, said his club hosts Bible study every Monday through Thursday.

On Mondays, the club

Gay-Straight Alliance President Garrett Hutchinson performs at last year’s joint GSA/Amaranth poetry event.

Photo by Sarah Noble

meets for Bible study at 1 p.m. in Humanities 100. On Tuesdays, the meeting is at 1:30 in Humanities 116. On Wednesdays, it takes place at 10 a.m. in Humanities 101, and on Thursdays, the group gathers at 2 p.m. in Humanities 100.

Every fall, CCO members take a mission trip to Philadelphia to help at Rock Ministries, which offers music lessons and athletic opportunities for kids living in high-crime neighborhoods.

“We are very much about Anne Arundel Community College,” Vineyard said. “We love this place. … We want to do things just to make peo-

ple know that we care about them.”

Vineyard said when he started attending AACC, the campus had one Baptist student ministry, but it didn’t have many members.

“We realized that … a large number of students … didn’t feel like they had a place to go where they were welcomed,” Vineyard, who formed CCO in December 2015, said. “I was from the [Arnold] area already and was interested in the school, so it seemed to make sense.”

Mike McGurk, the adviser for EACM, said his reasons for working with the club are similar to Vineyard’s.

Kenzie Airey Graphic Designer Gay-Straight Alliance officers said at a February meeting of the student club that they will focus on LGBTQ+ history and collaborate with faculty and other student organizations this semester.

“We … have a few more collaborations in the mix,” GSA President and second-year psychology student Garrett Hutchinson said.

“We might also do another gay poetry night with Amaranth.”

He said few faculty members teach LGBTQ+ history, so “we’re doing some more history. ... That was something that a lot of professors and queer faculty and staff wanted to know; like, ‘Are you learning this stuff, are you teaching this stuff?’

And so when I heard that I was like, ‘We’re not, so let’s do it.’”

Hutchinson led a discussion about New Jersey’s decision to become the second state to require schools to teach LGBTQ+ history. He also talked about a viral photo of a split-gender northern

imation 1 course into two sections to accommodate the influx of students.

AACC offers Animation 1 and 2, and 2D Game Prototyping as the three game development courses.

He explained that AACC’s game development classes cover industry software like Maya and Blender—3-D modeling programs—and Unity, a game engine.

Angie Siaw, a second-year game art and design student, said she wants to be a game designer because she “loves

video games and cartoons.

What I’m learning allows me to make a career out of the two things I love.”

Rick Williams, president of the AACC Game Dev Club, said members design video game prototypes and learn the mechanics of gaming.

Williams, who has been at the college for more than 13 semesters, said he started taking classes in the subject four years ago because “the courses at AACC offer a great foundation in learning the fundamentals of game development.”

An introductory animation class doubled its enrollment between fall 2017 and last semester as AACC’s video game development program became more popular with students.

In fall 2017, 16 students enrolled in Animation 1, compared with 34 last semester, according to animation professor Aaron Granofsky.

Granofsky said he had to break last semester’s An-

“I’ve always had a passion for students and for students being able to have an opportunity to experience the love and peace of God,” McGurk said. “Now I’m a full-time minister.”

First-year business student William Spriggs called EACM a “safe haven.” “[It’s] an environment where everybody can come

in and no one is getting judged,” Spriggs said.

CCO club President Taylore Baillie said she has “great enthusiasm” for her group.

“I don’t think that anything can compare to the community and the friendliness and openness and welcoming atmosphere of being around people from CCO,” Baillie said.

cardinal bird found in Erie, Pennsylvania.

GSA plans to hold another Drag-A-Palooza campus drag show this April or May and is considering an upcoming collaboration with the Coalition for Christian Outreach for a panel discussion.

“I like the diversity of the members within the club,” first-year psychology student and GSA club member Jack Amann said. “I also like the fact that we do [have] events, because my high school GSA, we tried to do events, but we never were able to.

So the fact that this one is able to

gets me very excited, because I can participate in things now.”

GSA Vice President Erica Romero said she likes the club because she can be herself at events. “[The club is] a place where I’m not going to get judged for being who I am and liking what I like. GSA is a place for everyone and anyone is free to join,” said Romero, second-year studio art major.

GSA meets every Wednesday at noon in Humanities 127. The club is open to all students, faculty and staff.

GSA club to focus on history of LGBTQ+, involve more faculty

More students choose to study gaming in ’19 Rob Samson-Krebs Reporter

Students gather in the Humanities Building for a weekly Bible study meeting.

Photo by Gerald Maravanyika

Rick Williams, Game Dev Club president, created this Balrog, a creature from the “Lord of the Rings” series.

Photo courtesy of Rick Williams Granofsky said students are becoming more aware of game development because of the popularity of video

games among children and teens.

“People are talking about it more,” Granofsky said.

14 | Campus Current | 2019 | March

Clubs

Student-run clubs offer increased involvement Noah Reem Reporter Students who belong to campus clubs say they benefit socially and professionally from taking part in extracurricular activities.

Joining campus organizations helps students make friends and gives them experiences that will benefit them in the future, club members said. “You make so many amazing friends and professional connections by being more active in the college community,� Student Government Association President Jacob Smith said. “I would say everyone would benefit from being in a student organization,� said AACC Program Coordinator Leslie Cook, who oversees student clubs. “If you join the video club, and you’re really interested in that type of artwork, you will gain experiences.�

Nearly 70 student clubs meet on the Arnold campus.

Clubs with at least 10 members qualify for SGA funding. That translates into almost 700 students who are involved in campus clubs this semester.

Some clubs have dozens of members, while others meet with smaller groups.

Smith said AACC has clubs for all types of student interests. “No matter what your interest is, we have something on campus that meets it,� he said.

Cook said the college allots approximately $158,000 a year to student clubs and activities. Club members spend the money on events, activities, trips and refreshments.

Cook said the college gets a good return on its money. “The college gets back a sense of community,� Cook said. “Just having activities on campus promotes a sense

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Student Mathmatics Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament

11th Annual Mathematics Competition

of community on campus.�

Plus, she said, students who participate in clubs tend to stay at AACC longer than those who simply attend classes and then leave campus. “Hopefully if students find a place where they belong, they will want to stay in school and stay on the campus,� Cook said.

A study from College of DuPage in Illinois found that students who participate in extracurricular activities have fewer behavior problems; higher grades; a positive attitude toward school and are more likely to graduate.

In addition, club members learn skills like leadership; teamwork; time management and analytical thinking as they plan events; lead meetings and discover hidden talents and interests, the study said. “My life if I didn’t join a club? God, that would be boring,� Garrett Hutchinson,

The AACC History Club is one of nearly 70 student organizations on the Arnold campus.

Photo by Gerald Maravanyika president of the Gay-Straight Alliance, a student club, said. “I know a lot of people on campus because I’ve joined a club.�

He added: “It’s a great way to add purpose at the college. [Clubs] are a great way to give back not only to the college, but to yourself ‌ to create an experience with the knowledge you gain.â€?

AACC graduate Nyia Curtis, who works at the information desk in the Student Services Center, belonged to 10 clubs when she was a student from 2015 to 2018.

Among them were Campus Current, SGA, the Entrepreneurs Club and Students Out to Destroy Assumptions—or SODA—club. “I definitely encourage people to get involved,� Curtis said, but she advised students to join fewer clubs than she did.

Clubs are “important because you can potentially get experience for what you’re going to school for and [they] help you not only network but figure out what you want to do for a career,� Curtis said.

04.27.2019 101 College Parkway Arnold, MD 21012 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

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Compete on the AACC team in this prestigious math tournament for experts in precalculous and above

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March | 2019 | Campus Current |15

Entertainment

AACC hosts spring film festival Continued from page 1

Jacob Benton, a firstyear film student, shoots for a short film.

Photo by Chance Iheoma

really in this [video] program, they know about the festival, so even if they wanted to submit, they could,” Delivuk said.

Kenny Mullings, a firstyear transfer studies student and Video Club president, said he came up with the idea for a film festival after attending one at Stevenson University. He said it could engage the entire campus.

Mullings said the club will offer a monetary award for the best film in the categories of comedy, horror, drama, documentary, super-short or creative video.

“My love for horror films and wanting them to be bet-

ter than the stuff that was put out in the last decade is what drove me to take film classes and want to be a filmmaker,” Mullings said.

The maximum runtime for a submission is 15 minutes, while anything four minutes or shorter falls in the super-short category.

More ambiguous or experimental works that new filmmakers may submit would fall under the “creative” category.

James Katzaman, a firstyear transfer studies student, said he plans to major in film and spends “too much money” on camera equipment not to do it professionally.

Katzaman said he plans to submit one of his personal

take [an idea], internalize it, think about it, sleep on it … and come to the next [set design] meeting with an idea.”

Afterward, the production crew takes on the task of building props.

Sarah Valerien, a firstyear transfer studies student, works as the stage manager for “Romeo and Juliet.”

The stage manager’s job mostly involves delivering messages and sending reminders to the cast, crew and director, Valerien said.

“If the director wants something to be sent out to the cast, I tell the cast,” Valerien said. “I remind people ... that ‘we have this deadline coming up.’”

Up until the show begins, Valerien’s job mainly deals with watching rehearsals and taking notes on the crew’s concerns and questions about prop placement and

actors’ movements.

“That’s what I’ve always thought it was to be a stage manager,” Valerien said.

“It’s troubleshooting all the problems that are happening in the moment during the show.”

When the members of the production team get their scripts, the sound and light crew figure out and brainstorm what they expect to do for it.

The members of the sound team also determine which mics go to cast and crew members who need them.

The director acts as the creative mind and the technicians work as the hands that carry out her vision, Valerien said.

“They take everything the director wants and make it a reality,” Valerien said.

While audiences may not

Chance Iheoma Photography Editor

down clay—to decorate the pot,” Lively said. “It gives the clay this kind of textured, fluid surface.”

Ceramics professor Rick Malmgren worked with the Ceramics Club to reach out to Lively after viewing his art online. The Ceramics Club hosts an annual workshop with different visiting artists.

“The Ceramics Club convenes for a meeting in the fall … to select the artist for the year,” Malmgren said.

Crew works backstage to make shows ‘great’ Chance Iheoma Photography Editor Theatre at AACC will premiere “Romeo and Juliet” on April 12, but the play production team has already started building and designing sets.

From 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the play production team works to craft, carry, adjust and create set pieces, such as balconies or doors, according to the concepts of performing arts professor AnnMarie Saunders, the play’s director.

The play will showcase the difference between the worlds of Romeo and Juliet and their parents, theater professor Sean Urbantke said.

“And that is very heady,” Urbantke said. “So that’s what the designers do. They

Chris Lively, a ceramics artist, works on his pottery.

Photo by Chance Iheoma

projects for the film festival.

Mullings said he encourages people to submit their work, even if they feel self-conscious about the quality of their content.

“It does not matter if you think it’s good or not,” Mullings said. “Getting your work out there and practicing getting your work out there is what’s going to make you better.”

Delivuk said she hopes to create an alumni category so recent graduates can come back and showcase what they have been working on.

“I think that’s important so that students know … how does the student’s work kind of change since they were a student here,” Delivuk said.

“You get to see that growth.”

Dina Fiasconaro, an associate professor of film and moving image at Stevenson University, will jury the festival.

Fiasconaro, a Baltimore-based filmmaker, has released a number of shorts, and has directed music videos and a feature documentary called “Moms and Meds.”

Delivuk said it’s important for students to see local filmmakers doing important things and having success as artists.

Submissions for the film festival, which will take place in the theater in the Humanities Building, are due by April 5.

Lauryn Damron, a first-year theater student, makes props for the “Romeo and Juliet” production.

Photo by Chance Iheoma notice the effect of color on stage, the impact of setting the mood for the scene can be felt, Logan Spates, a firstyear theater student, said.

Urbantke said managing personalities in a high-stress environment for long periods close together demands knowledge of psychology.

“You are working on a show together. … How can you deal with the fact that maybe you don’t agree with what that person said … and get the job done?” Urbantke said.

Katie Laubert, a second-year theater student and the actress playing Juliet, said working backstage has made her appreciate the

stage crew’s work more.

“Coming to it now … my job as an actor is extremely easy compared to what they have to do,” Laubert said.

“All these hours and building the set and all this extra time.”

With all that time working and no credit from the audience, some, like Spates, said they can end up feeling underappreciated.

“We want to make the show great for everyone who sees it,” Spates said. “But at the same time you put in a lot of work and most people don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Romeo and Juliet” will open in the Robert E. Kauffman Theater on April 12.

David Smith, a graduating anthropology and archaeology student, said he began taking ceramics to understand the historical side of Native American archaeology.

“It’s helped me learn more about the archaeology part, too,” Smith said. “Archaeologists see the scientific side where the ceramics sees the artistic side. So I can really merge the two.”

Dena Nidiffer, an AACC

alumna, returned for the spring semester specifically to take Malmgren’s class.

She and her daughter, Danielle, both study ceramics at the school. They plan to open a mother-daughter ceramics business.

“I was delighted … with the number of people who came … and that they stayed interested and involved all day,” Malmgren said. “To me, that’s a sign of [the event] being successful.”

Ceramics speaker shares skill The Ceramics Club held an open studio workshop with a guest speaker demonstrating various methods of working with clay on Feb. 15.

Chris Lively, a professional ceramic artist, showed a number of methods to enhance the aesthetic qualities of pottery pieces.

“I used what’s called slip—which is this watered

16 | Campus Current | 2019 | March

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March | 2019 | Campus Current |17

Sports

AACC student athletes attain honor roll status Jameson Evans Reporter AACC’s athletic director in February named 47 student athletes to his annual Honor Roll to recognize players with high grade-point averages.

Athletic Director Duane Herr said students with GPAs of 3.0 or higher who were enrolled in 12 or more credits were eligible for the award.

He added, however, “Most of our awards are 3.5 or better.”

The fall 2018 list included 24 female athletes and 23

males, including nine players with GPAs of 4.0.

The 4.0 athletes included Women’s Soccer players Hannah Hopkins and Madeline Stevenson, who also plays lacrosse; Volleyball players Serena Hochmuth and Deanna Valerien; Women’s Basketball player Sarah Healy; Softball players Carly Gernert and Emily Raines; Women’s Cross Country runner Heather Verdin; and golfer Luke Schwartz.

Healy, a first-year transfer studies student, said at-

tending study halls to meet with a peer tutor helped her keep her grades up.

“I went to a lot of the [supplemental instruction] sessions, where the successful student athletes teach the ones that are struggling,” Healy said.

Schwartz said efficiently managing his study time helps him keep his high GPA. “It wasn’t really about how many hours you spend,” he said. “It’s more about making an effort and being efficient about it.”

Riverhawks Men’s Lacrosse got safer helmets for this spring season.

Men’s Lacrossse head coach Joe Stanilaus said the Athletic Department buys new helmets every two years to stay up to date with the safest equipment.

“After two years it gets a little risky, so we wanted to make sure that we kept up with the most current thing,” Stanilaus said, “because protecting your head is very important.”

AACC’s lacrosse helmets are made by Cascade, a com-

Baseball team teaches young players in clinic Arianna Beers Sports Editor AACC’s Men’s Baseball hosted four youth clinics in February to teach young players how to pitch, hit, catch and play field.

The Riverhawks hosted the clinics every Sunday from Jan. 27 to Feb. 17 in the Jenkins Gymnasium from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Head baseball coach Chris Jenkins said the camp days were long, but he enjoyed hosting with his team.

“It’s first-grade through 12th-grade players, and it’s four, 90-minute sessions,”

Jenkins said. “A camper can come for one, two or three sessions and hit, pitch, catch and practice fielding.”

Jenkins said this is the third year the baseball program has hosted the youth clinics, which is the team’s largest fundraiser each season.

“It’s a big fundraiser for us,” Jenkins said. “We need to raise quite a bit of money each year to run the program so we can travel and give all the guys their equipment.”

Ian Sterling, baseball player and second-year criminal justice student, said he liked working with the camp-

Men’s Lacrosse player James Dipietro, who made the list, said he hopes the honor will help him win an athletic scholarship to a fouryear university.

“For athletes, if you want to play after this, grades are important,” Dipietro said.

Honoree Connor Mackrell, who plays lacrosse, said he “put[s] school first.”

The hardest part about that, he added: “Making sure schoolwork is done before going to practice and not procrastinating until the last minute.”

pany that designs helmets specifically for lacrosse players. The Riverhawks upgraded this season from the Cascade R helmet, to the newest model, the Cascade S. Stanilaus said the team has been wearing Cascade helmets since he has been coaching at AACC. He called Cascade “a very trustworthy brand that the players love.”

Jordan Brown, a firstyear computer science student who plays defensive midfielder, said he likes his Cascade S helmet because he can adjust it better than the outdated model.

Brown said he had “kind of gotten used to [the old-

er helmets] because I used them for so long.”

However, Brown and his teammate Caden Cote, an offensive midfielder, said they like the new helmets because they’re lighter. “[Cascade] took a lot of the inside [padding] out so it’s lighter on the sides,” Cote, a first-year business student, said.

Cote said the helmets come with three interchangeable pads, making them easy to adjust and increasing protection and comfort.

Men’s Lacrosse kicked off its season at home versus Onondaga Community College on Feb. 23 with a 16-6 loss.

Riverhawks’ Men’s Lax invests in new helmets Xander Hanlon Reporter

AACC Men’s Lacrosse purchases new helmets this season that are safer for players.

Photo by Chance Iheoma

Baseketball player Sarah Healy, a first-year transfer studies student, earns a 4.0 GPA and makes honor roll.

Photo by Arianna Beers

ers and sharing his experience with them.

“I think it’s nice because we give them a college experience and let them see what it’s like for college players and all of the drills we go through,” Sterling said.

Sterling said he saw the most improvement from the campers in hitting.

“The hitting seems to be paying off,” Sterling said.

“They seem to be doing a much better job, so it’s nice to see some reward coming from this.”

Dustin Gosnell, a thirdyear transfer studies student and baseball player, said he is

AACC Baseball player John Shupe teaches a youth player how to hit off of a tee.

Photo by Arianna Beers used to teaching baseball to kids because he also coaches his 11-year old brother’s team.

“I’ve been there so I know how they feel,” Gosnell said.

“A lot of these kids are just starting out and playing.”

“If you look at the bigger picture, it’s helping the little kids play a sport that we

love,” Gosnell added.

Baseball player Bradley O’Neal, a second-year business student, said he also liked teaching the campers at the clinic because it will help them in the future.

“I like to teach them and help them grow in their career and just show them the fundamentals,” O’Neal said.

18 | Campus Current | 2019 | March

Sports

Shenandoah U eSports visits AACC, offers tips Arianna Beers Sports Editor Getting work experience in the eSports field during college is the best way to land a job in the gaming industry after graduation, speakers from Shenandoah University told AACC eSports Club members in February.

The university’s director of eSports, Joe Gawrysiak, said students should try to find a way to manage tournaments and gaming events while they are still in school because having that experience will help them get jobs later.

“We are training our students to … be able to [run eSports] events while they’re getting their degree so that

Softball player Sylvia Frye throws to her teammates.

Photo by Arianna Beers

they can work events when they get out into the industry,” Gawrysiak said.

Gawrysiak added that while the eSports industry encompasses a variety of jobs, gaming event management is the most successful field.

“Any company or corporation that is in the eSports field needs people with that understanding of event management and running eSports events,” Gawrysiak said, “because there’s a component to event management no matter what you want to do in eSports.”

Also at the assembly were Shenandoah University’s game coach, Joel Oliver, and eSports student coordinator Morgan Keeler.

Oliver and Keeler stood on stage sporting red and blue jerseys, like those that athletes wear, to represent their school’s eSports Competition team.

In addition to having a varsity eSports team, Shenandoah offers an eSports major and two minors.

Keeler advised students at AACC who want to enter a career in eSports to get experience running gaming events, such as hosting tournaments where gamers can compete against each other on teams or individually.

“When most people think of eSports they think of the players and the coaches, but there’s a lot more to it,” Conway Johnson, AACC’s ESports Club con-

Arianna Beers Sports Editor AACC Softball moved up from Division III to Division II this season, which means the team will face tougher opponents in playoffs and coaches may offer scholarships to recruits.

AACC is a part of the National Junior College Athletic Association, or NJCAA, which has a three-division system for ranking sports teams.

AACC Athletic Director Duane Herr said coaches in Division II programs can recruit more aggressively because they can offer potential

players scholarship money as well as a spot on the team.

The softball team won the regional championships and came in second place in the district championships last year. Head coach Guy Klingensmith said he has high expectations for his team this year and hopes to have another successful season.

“We have a lot of young talent coming in with a team of all freshmen and one returning sophomore,” Klingensmith said. “So the freshmen are going to have to step up and show they can compete at this higher level.”

Herr said the softball

“We put this program in place to one, monitor all of our student athletes academically,” Anderson said, “and two, to allow them to use the full resources of our institution to help benefit them and our department by maintaining and increasing our overall GPA.” Athletic Director Duane Herr said offering several ways to study could help athletes improve their grades and help them narrow down which careers to focus on.

“In addition to providing help with classes, we want to

help athletes figure out what kind of job they want to pursue after college,” Herr said.

Noah Reem, a second-year journalism student and midfield lacrosse player, said he likes having options instead of traditional study hall hours because he finds group homework sessions distracting.

“In the traditional [study hall] setting there’s still so many distractions,” Reem said. “The enrichment hours allow the student to work one-on-one with someone.”

Reem also said he can

AACC’s new student athlete success coordinator in January started requiring athletes to spend at least four hours a week in tutoring or other organized study sessions.

Trey Anderson, the student athlete success coordinator, said the athletes may spend their mandatory study hours with online tutoring, peer tutoring or professor tutoring, or in the Writing Center and math labs.

sultant, said. “[There’s] really a whole ecosystem around [the eSports industry].”

AACC ESports Club President Joie Frank said the club invited the speakers to get insight from professionals on the various eSports-related career paths students can choose from if they aren’t sure where to start.

“We ... focus not only on the players, but on other things like team managers and coaches,” Frank, a

fourth-year undeclared student, said.

Dallas Coleman, an AACC ESports Club member and fourth-year music student, said the speakers from Shenandoah offered advice to AACC’s players on how to improve their program.

“They spoke about their own eSports program and things we can do to get better and how we can improve our eSports team,” Coleman said.

team will play in the Division II tournament instead of in Division III this post season, which means it will face more skilled teams than in previous years.

Katie Rosati, a pitcher and second-year nursing student, described the team as “a force to be reckoned with.”

“I think we have a lot of commitment and love for the game,” Rosati said. “I see people working so hard, like they want to be out here and get better and be competitive.”

NJCAA is considering a move to categorize colleges

by division in 2022, which would require each community college to choose a single division for all of its teams, rather than placing different teams into different divisions.

“We’re treating it as a pilot program and we’re looking at the potential of moving up the rest of our programs to Division II from the Division III level,” Herr said. “So we’re seeing just how successful we can be.”

Riverhawks Softball kicks off its Division II season at home on March 6 against Paul D. Camp Community College at 2 p.m.

Riverhawks Softball joins Div II

College requires study hall hours for athletes Arianna Beers Sports Editor

Speakers from Shenandoah University’s eSports team advise students on how to get a job in gaming.

Photo by Gage Savoy

AACC athletes Bret Devine, Joseph Threatt, Zach Burns and Joey Niles study in the Truxal Library.

Photo by Daniel Nickerson almost never find time to study, so having a dedicated time set aside for studying is beneficial.

“The enrichment hours encourage the students to strive for set times dedicated to studying and increasing their GPA, which I love because I feel that the biggest issue with studying is trying to find time to do it,” Reem said.

All student athletes, regardless of their GPAs, must complete a minimum of four study hall hours a week.

However, Anderson said most students choose to do more or as much as they feel they need.

“We are always thinking how we can encourage our athletes to grow weekly,” Herr said. “This is a terrific way of doing just that.”

March | 2019 | Campus Current |19

Sports

Former AACC athletes offer recruitment tips Arianna Beers Sports Editor Recruiters from fouryear schools are looking for community college athletes with good grades and athletic skill, according to coaches and former AACC players.

Four-year colleges recruited more than 14 AACC athletes out of the 175 who played last year to continue their athletic careers at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level.

Brittney Guy, a firstyear psychology student who played volleyball at AACC in fall 2018, is on the Washington College team this semester.

Guy said her path to recruitment came second to school work.

“Even when practices ran late, or the days I was exhausted and didn’t feel like doing homework, I did,” Guy said. “Academics always came first.”

Hood College women’s volleyball coach Dana Mitchell-Barstow agreed that academics is a crucial factor when she recruits athletes.

Mitchell-Barstow said she looks for community college athletes who have a positive impact on their teams and also have good grades.

“I would say everything starts with communication and we see where it goes from there,” Mitchell-Barstow said. “Once information, references and video is received, I meet with the athlete to try and get to know them on a personal level.”

Guy said her advice to student athletes looking to play at a four-year college would be to try their hardest in the classroom and on the field.

Justin Walsh, a junior biology major at Newberry College in South Carolina, played as a defender for AACC’s Men’s Lacrosse in spring 2018. He agreed that

recruiters place a heavy importance on academics.

“I took the approach that academics would get me a scholarship first before an athletics scholarship,” Walsh Former AACC Men’s Lacrosse defender Justin Walsh said. “So I made sure that says academics are important for recruitment. school always came first.”

Photo courtesy of Anthony Bellotte Walsh, who transferred to Newberry for lacrosse in committed to playing a sport. characteristics he looks for in the 2018-2019 school year, Stramanak, a junior community college transfer advised AACC athletes to criminology major and la- athletes are form, fitness, efprepare for the commitment crosse player at Randolph fectiveness and academics. that collegiate sports require. Macon College, said ath“We’re looking for the “It’s a big jump from the letes who want to play at the player to show they have the [community college] level to NCAA level should work on tactical knowledge to play at the [NCAA] getting better the next level,” Lloyd said.

“It’s a big level,” Walsh on the field Guy said coaches look for said. “It’s a while working a positive attitude in athletes. jump from the lot harder to their hardest “[Recruiters] want to see [community manage time in the class- ... if you get down on yourself college] level between acroom. or shake it off, stay positive to the [NCAA] ademics and Still, aca- and keep your confidence,” sports.” demic success Guy said. level.”

Former alone won’t Roy Dunshee, Wash—Justin Walsh AACC lacrosse impress re- ington College men’s soccer player Camden Stramanak cruiters from four-year col- coach, recommended that said four-year colleges are leges. community college athletes looking for athletes who Salisbury University show initiative and contact know how to handle col- women’s soccer coach Kwame the coaches at four-year college-level academics and are Lloyd said the four main leges they are interested in.

“Our end goal is to be successful in the playoffs,” Rebstock said. “I mean baseball season is a marathon.

It’s a lot of games, so we just take it one game at a time to help us work towards that end goal.”

Softball captain and second-year nursing student Katie Rosati leads her all-freshman team this year.

Despite being the only returning player, Rosati said she has faith in her talented young team.

“My roles are to communicate the [things] that the coaches need done, and I would say just giving experience and helping the girls figure out what our routine is,” Rosati said. “If they need any help figuring something out, they ask me questions, whether it’s grades or about something on the field.”

AACC’s Men’s Lacrosse captains this spring are Joey Niles, Jordan Kopf and James Dipietro.

Kopf, a second-year transfer studies student, played lacrosse at Annapolis high school before coming to AACC. He said he uses his

leadership role as an offense captain to keep the team organized and focused at practice.

“I guess I’ve always felt I was a leader,” Kopf said. “I try to lead by example and I am one of the most vocal guys on the field.”

Niles, a second-year transfer studies student, played lacrosse at Northeast High School before coming to AACC. Niles said as a captain he makes sure his teammates are keeping up with the pace of practice and keep a high energy on the field.

Golf captain and second-year business student Michael Weller played at South River High School before he came to AACC. Weller said he plans to encourage his teammates to keep trying to get better because having a positive mindset is important in golf.

“I think [I became captain] mainly because I have the experience,” Weller said.

“I’m the only returning golf player for this upcoming season. I feel that [golf] is more of a mindset kind of sport, having the mindset to keep

Riverhawk captains to prep teams for season Arianna Beers Sports Editor The captains of the Riverhawks’ spring sports teams said they plan to use communication on the field and keep their players focused in practice to make this season successful.

Baseball captains Blake Rebstock and Darius Brook said they show their leadership through keeping practices organized.

“I lead by doing my job, really,” Brook, a first-year business administration student, said. “I just try to keep everybody in check so we can be great every day.”

Before attending AACC, Brook played baseball for 11 years and won the baseball state championships with his Digital Harbor High School varsity team.

Rebstock, a second-year criminal justice student, played on Chesapeake High School’s varsity baseball team before coming to AACC. Rebstock said communicating with his teammates on the field is important for the team to be successful.

Blake Rebstock (left), a second-year criminal justice student, and Darius Brook, a first-year business student, are captains of AACC Baseball.

Photo by Christina Browning trying and to hit good shots.”

Baseball kicked off the spring season with a win and two losses in a tournament against Suffolk Community College. Men’s Lacrosse began its season on Feb. 23 with a loss to Onondaga Community College. Softball, Golf and Women’s Lacrosse will begin their seasons in March.

“Being a good captain is about just being in everyone’s ear and trying to make sure teammates are on the same page,” former AACC lacrosse player Charlie Ellis, who now plays at Guilford College, said. “Also just to keep the motivation and morale up on the field and in the locker room.”

20 | Campus Current | 2019 | March