January 2024

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The fourth floor of the Florestano Building opens for students.

The college celebrates Black History Month in February.

Two former Riverhawks keep playing together beyond AACC.

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Campus stores stop offering plastic bags Mischa Green Co-Editor

The campus bookstore and the Hawk’s Nest Grill & Deli no longer offer plastic bags to customers at checkout as of Jan. 1.

Anne Arundel County enacted the Bring Your Own Bag Plastic Reduction Act in January, barring most retailers from using plastic bags.

Starting Feb. 1, stores must

charge at least 10 cents for paper bags if they choose to offer them.

But pharmacies and restaurants, like Subway and Chick-fil-A, may continue using plastic bags and packing orders in paper bags for free.

The Hawk’s Nest, a restaurant, is not required to stop using plastic bags, but managers there have chosen to stop using all bags, according to employee Chanel Ellis.

“I think everyone understands what the county’s trying to do with trying to eliminate plastic waste,” Christopher Walsh, manager of the AACC bookstore, said. “We’re a little concerned about the environment for the younger generation, you know, that we have just done some crazy things with it.”

Continued on Page 3

SGA fills Senate for 1st time since COVID Izzy Chase Co-Editor Julissa Mendoza Robles Contributor

For the first time since 2019, the Student Government Association has a full 15-member Senate.

Photo courtesy of Zack Buster

The Student Government Association has appointed a full 15-student Senate for the first time since 2019.

The Senate helps host events and supports the officers who make up the SGA’s

executive board, according to SGA President Zack Buster.

“I’m excited because more senators means more hands and more hands means that SGA gets to do more,” Buster said. “That also means that SGA has more voices directly involved with it.”

In the fall, the SGA filled

breakfast at Live! Casino, Peterson added.

“I’m disappointed, but you have to face the realities of the situation,” Peterson said. “Maybe not having the breakfast will be a wake-up call to those in the community who just assume these

The Anne Arundel County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Committee canceled its annual breakfast.

Shown, committee Chair Eugene Peterson.

Photo courtesy of Eugene Peterson

Committee cancels event honoring MLK Divine Mesumbe Co-Editor

The Anne Arundel County committee that hosts an annual breakfast in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. canceled the event for 2024.

AACC has participated in the event since the nonprofit Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Breakfast Committee started it 42 years ago, according to committee Chair Eugene Peterson.

The event, headed by volunteers and funded by attendees, was canceled after the committee was unable to sell enough $50 tickets in time to make the $4,000plus down payment for the

On-campus vendors like the Hawk’s Nest Grill & Deli and the bookstore discontinued the use of plastic bags on Jan. 1.

Photo by Zoe Brunton

Continued on Page 3

the vacancies for its vice presidents to make up the first full executive board since 2019. The student body elects SGA officers every spring, but too few candidates ran to fill the six open slots for vice presidents.

Vanessa Cardozo, the former vice president of Continued on Page 3

2 | Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb

Opinion R

Meet the Staff Co-Editors Tomi Brunton Izzy Chase Mischa Green Divine Mesumbe Jack Sarnese

Contributors Tope Ayokunle Zoe Brunton Mason Hood Everett Luoma Julissa Mendoza Robles Dulcie Metro Payton Thompson Graphic Designer Jennifer Chisari Faculty Adviser Sharon O’Malley

Read additional stories online at TheCampusCurrent.com

Photographers on Page 1, top Strategic Communications Stephanie Smith-Baker Mike Duffy

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Renew your New Year’s goals Editorial Board Are you still sticking to your New Year’s resolutions?

It’s OK to be honest if you’re not.

If you’ve made it a few weeks into the new year and have already fallen off the wagon, you’re not alone.

Many people are in the same boat as you. It’s easy to come up with a goal. The hard part is sticking to it.

Here’s the problem: You need to make a plan. A specific plan. Here are some tips.

1. The first thing to consider is how important your goal is to you. Are you willing to prioritize it? As much as we may want to throw ourselves into what we’re passionate about in the moment, you still have responsibilities that take precedence over everything else.

2. Set reasonable expectations. Sometimes we set high expectations for ourselves that we know we can’t reach, yet we still get disappointed when we fall short.

Know what you’re capable of and acknowledge your limits.

3. How patient are you?

We’ve gotten so used to fast results and instant gratification that we forget to be patient with ourselves. It’s OK if you don’t instantly reap the benefits. A goal that requires work and dedication also requires you to put time into it.

4. Most importantly, you have to be realistic. How many days a week do you work? How many classes do you take? How much time can you put aside to work on keeping your resolution? If you are absolutely sure that you not only want to but can accomplish your goal over the course of a year, then that means making space for it.

Many college students have jobs outside of school and don’t take into account how little time they actually have. Working out four times a week is admirable but ultimately might not be realistic when it comes to juggling a full course load and life outside of school.

This doesn’t have to mean completely clearing your schedule and neglect-

Letter from a leader

Sticking to your New Year’s resolutions, like running every day, can be difficult, so it’s important to set reasonable expectations.

Photo by Zoe Brunton ing school, work and whatever life throws your way.

But it may mean something like cutting back on watching TV or (gasp!) spending less time on social media.

Knowing your schedule and your conflicts allows you to be able to evaluate how much room you have for working toward your goal

and what you can rearrange to make that happen.

The good thing is that it’s not too late to get back on track to attaining your goal.

The key is all in the details.

Once you have a plan that is tailored to your day-to-day life, you can begin to work toward your goal and eventually reach to accomplish it.

What I learned from a eulogy Izzy Chase Co-Editor

My grandfather passed away from cancer a month before his funeral. That gave me a whole month to write a eulogy. And still, even with all that time, all I had on the morning of his funeral was an outline of what I wanted to say.

I felt guilty about that.

He always encouraged my love of writing, and every time I visited he would ask what I was working on. At the time, I was shy about my work. At 15 years old, I didn’t think I was good at writing or that I could do anything with it.

Talking to him made me realize my insecurities meant nothing as long as I loved what I was writing.

I loved my grandfather.

I love writing. I wanted to honor him at his funeral with my writing.

When he died, I knew that I wanted to speak at his funeral. I wanted to honor him and his life, not just his death. I had no idea how to do that, though. Every time I tried to write, I got stuck.

I told myself the reason I

couldn’t write was because I didn’t love him enough.

That wasn’t true, though.

His death left me devastated even though he had been diagnosed with cancer twice before. But one part of his death stood out to me. He wrote his own obituary to be published in the newspaper.

That impressed me. He knew what his fate was and he accepted it.

Before I walked to the microphone on the morning of his funeral, I looked at the program for the service, which said I was remembering my grandfather with my euology. All of a sudden, it hit me. Even if I didn’t have all the right words, I had my memories of him.

When I got up to speak, I saw my family members and his close friends, and all of a sudden I knew exactly what to say. They were all connected to him somehow, and I wasn’t scared anymore because it was like he was still with me.

After my speech, many friends and relatives came up to me. We cried and laughed together. When they shared their stories of him with me, I saw the effect

Campus Current Co-Editor Izzy Chase discovered her love of public speaking by giving a eulogy at her grandfather’s funeral. Shown, Chase speaks at the Civility Matters event on the Quad in October.

Photo by Everett Luoma my speaking had.

That experience turned me into someone who loves public speaking. I will always be grateful I was able to remember my grandfather

with my words. It showed me that my words matter and that I’m able to make a difference.

Like my grandfather did, with me.

Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb | 3

News

County changes rules for disposable bags Continued from Page 1

Annapolis, because it is a city with its own government, has not adopted the county’s bag ban.

Julie Hummer, a county councilmember and one of the act’s sponsors, said several nearby counties have their own bag bans.

“It’s a way to reduce the amount of plastic that we have out there,” Hummer said. “The neighboring counties around us have the same

thing ... so we’re not alone.

And we’re kind of just catching up with other areas ... on this.”

Workers at the bookstore agreed the Plastic Reduction Act will be good for the environment.

“I think it’s for the better,” Sarah Preis, the bookstore’s assistant manager, said. “It’s certainly needed to be able to keep our environment, you know, try not to lose the environment too quickly. So I don’t mind it.

I’m a person that always has the little tote bags in my car to go to the grocery store anyway.”

Haille Treadaway, a firstyear American Sign Language student, said getting rid of plastic bags is better for the environment.

“Frankly, I think it’s been a long time coming,” Treadaway said. “I’m very happy that the county decided to get rid of them, especially for taking care of the environment.”

Student Government appoints 15 officers Continued from Page 1

Student Government Association Sen. Anne-Keren Kantè, a biology student, left, works with SGA President Zack Buster, a third-year communications student.

Photo by Tope Ayokunle

campus activities, resigned from the position on Nov. 20, leaving SGA with one vacancy on its executive board.

One new SGA senator, first-year undecided student Marvin Ortega, will organize activities and events.

Another new senator, second-year creative writing student Lui Rogers, joined the SGA because it has “grown to a size where it … can actually do something to

Breakfast canceled because of low funds Continued from Page 1

things are going to happen.”

AACC has used the breakfast to announce the winners of the college’s Zeitgeist award, which is dedicated to faculty and staff who support students of diverse backgrounds.

The winners of the annual Zeitgeist award for 2024 are communications professor April Copes and computer information systems professor Cedric Harris.

According to Peterson, the committee determined it was not possible to find an alternative venue in time for the event.

“I didn’t want to have a last-minute scramble,” Peterson said.

Until several years ago, AACC hosted the event on

campus, Peterson said.

Peterson said the committee will meet with community groups to discuss the future of the breakfast.

“We’ll make a community decision about whether or not we want to continue to support the [annual] tradition,” Peterson said. “I think that this is going to take the community coming together and figuring out how best to keep the tradition going.”

First-year paralegal studies student Malina Johnston said the event should include students as organizers if it goes forward.

“It’s something that’s been going on for a long time and there’s students actively participating,” Johnston said.

“Something else should be in place.”

According to Johnston,

In compliance with the county’s Bring Your Own Bag Plastic Reduction Act, AACC’s bookstore no longer offers plastic bags.

Photo by Zoe Brunton

her experience as an American wouldn’t be the same without Martin Luther King Jr. “I’m mixed, Black and white,” Johnston said. “So my experience in America would be very different now if not for, you know, his movement and his words and his actions.”

Johnston added: “Anything that promotes diversity, that promotes change and the way-makers that made it possible, we need to remember that.”

Second-year culinary arts student Nickala Daley said there is “always a way” to make events happen.

“As an event planner myself, you can always put something together,” Daley said. “They could have done better.”

make students’ lives better.”

“One of my goals is to … go to an event that we put together and help set up [and watch] interesting people just having fun,” Rogers said.

“Because campus life can be stressful in the semester.”

Third-year pre-med student Denaija Parker, another new senator, joined so “people’s voices can be heard.”

“In order to have a community college that feels like a community, it’s important to have … welcom-

ing leadership,” Parker said.

“In order to make sure that the campus is, like, in a great place.”

Parker was already “friends with a few of the senators” before joining.

SGA confirmed the last of the senators in late November and held the first official Senate meeting on Nov. 28.

Senators will continue to hold biweekly meetings this semester, but the dates have yet to be determined.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Committee cancels its annual event after not selling enough tickets.

Photo illustration by Jennifer Chisari

4 | Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb

News

Minimum class size rises to 12 students Jack Sarnese Co-Editor College administrators made more last-minute class cancellations than usual before the first day of the semester.

The college raised the minimum number of students required for a class to run from 10 to 12. Last semester, classes ran with a minimum of 10 students, and in years past, classes ran with just eight.

Vice President for Learning Tanya Millner said small class sizes do not use faculty time efficiently, calling the decision to increase the cutoff a “resource allocation issue.”

“It’s very difficult to spread a finite amount of human resources over, you

know, 5,000 sections of two people in each of them,” Millner said. “That’s an exaggerated example.”

Millner added: “Is it better for you to be teaching five sections of two students in each of those? Is it better for the students? Is it better for the faculty? Is it better for the college? Is it better for the budget?”

Millner said the percentage of classes that are cut compared with the number offered will remain about the same.

“We’re making sure we’re meeting student … demand,” Millner said.

Some small classes, however, might be exceptions to the 12-student minimum.

For example, a course with only one section or a class that runs only once a

year and is a requirement for graduation might not be canceled for low enrollment, Millner said.

“Who’s in the class?”

Millner asked. “Who’s teaching the class? How many times is this class offered?

Who needs it for graduation?

Who needs it to move on to the next highest level of their program?”

Courtney Buiniskis, who teaches communications part-time, said course cancellations are “stressful” for adjunct professors who lose classes after working up to 30 hours on syllabi and assignments.

“You’re not getting compensated for all of the work that you did to prepare for the class,” Buiniskis said.

Plus, when full-time professors’ classes are canceled,

The bridge that connects the east and west sides of campus, which closed for renovations last summer, reopened in January, according to a college official.

While the bridge was closed, AACC ran shuttle buses between East and

College names HLSB room after employee Izzy Chase Co-Editor

Room 172 in the Health and Life Sciences Building has a new name to honor a former nurse who worked as a student success coach at AACC for 10-plus years.

Lorraine Girandola, who died in May at age 87, served as a student success coach for the nursing program. Girandola, a registered nurse with 50 years of experience, won the Florence Nightingale Award for outstanding work in the nursing community.

Girandola was “an out-

standing individual who performed a life of service to help others [for] five decades as a nurse,” Vollie Melson, executive director of the AACC Foundation, said.

Multiple rooms and buildings on campus are named after prominent community members or longtime campus officials.

Sometimes donors pay to have a specific name put on a building. For example, the Clauson Center was named after Janet and James Clauson when they donated $1 million. An anonymous donor paid to have Room 172 named after Girandola.

they are sometimes assigned to take over adjuncts’ classes.

Callie Harvilicz, a fall cybersecurity graduate, said she had hoped to take an American Sign Language class before the college canceled her class because of low enrollment. Harvilicz said she never took the course.

Harvilicz added that compared to universities, small class sizes are “one of the charms of AACC.” Buiniskis agreed.

“Financially, it may not be effective,” Buiniskis said.

“But I’ve taught a class with five students and let me tell you something, every student’s life was changed after that.”

West Campus for students.

Dean of Student Development Deneen Dangerfield said the college ended its contract with the shuttle bus company when the bridge reopened.

Shirly Castro, an elementary education student, said getting to class last semester was hard.

“I remember I was in one

of my English classes, and then I had to go right away to the other side of the campus, and I just had, like, 15 minutes,” Castro said.

Ali Hassan, a first-year transfer studies student, said the bridge’s reopening will help students get across campus “much easier and will help with students being on time to their classes.”

Bridge reopens after construction finishes Izzy Chase Co-Editor

The campus footbridge, which closed for the fall, reopened at the start of the spring semester.

Photo by Izzy Chase

The college has started canceling most classes with fewer than 12 students.

Photo by Zoe Brunton

Melson said sometimes a donor “approaches us and wants to do something special and has had a history of doing something special at the college. What’s really great about that is often you have a close relationship with the donor, and then they’re inviting you in to do something special and they care very much about the institution and the person they want to honor.”

Wendy Thomas, director of development for the AACC Foundation, said donors sometimes ask to have their own names on a building while others request an-

Room 172 in the Health and Life Sciences Building is getting a new name to honor the late Lorraine Girandola, shown, a former AACC employee and nurse.

Photo courtesy of Strategic Communications other individual’s name.

“We have instances where donors want to name a space for someone other than themselves,” Thomas said.

“That happens pretty regularly. There are a lot of donors who think of someone who might have … had a positive influence in their lives.”

Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb | 5

News

Florestano 4th floor finishes construction Tomi Brunton Co-Editor

The fourth floor of Florestano opens this semester after three years of renovations.

Photo courtesy of Strategic Communications

The fourth floor of the Florestano building opened for students at the start of the semester after nearly three years of renovations.

The renovations included the addition of media production studios; a computer lab for students taking online synchronous classes; modular “innovation classrooms”; and the new Innovation, Design, Engagement and Accessibility Lab, a space for faculty to meet and develop new teaching techniques, according to team leader of instructional technology Spencer Setters.

“When I learned that we were going to have this IDEA Lab and, basically, the whole floor, I was elated,” Setters said. “This is a really special

Clubs must buy rights for movies on campus Mischa Green Co-Editor

Student clubs could have to pay hundreds of dollars for a license if they opt to show a movie on campus.

The Office of Student Engagement announced a new rule in December that requires clubs to pay for movies before showing them to comply with copyright law.

All clubs must apply for a license through OSE at least four weeks before the showing time. Otherwise, the col-

lege could be at risk of a hefty fine from the motion picture company that owns it.

Library Director Cindy Steinhoff said filmmakers want to recover the money they spent making movies.

The new rule appears in Section 3.3 of the Student Handbook.

In the past, some student clubs have shown movies without buying licenses, which can cost upward of $200.

The African Student Association in December

showed the movie, “Four Christmases,” starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. ASA co-founder Rabiyatou Bah said the price was unexpected.

“It was a good chunk,” Bah said. “It was, I think, $400 something, and we only budgeted, I believe, $1,500 for the whole … year.

But we probably will end up going back and asking [the Student Government Association] for more money … But it wasn’t expected in our initial budget.”

when I was first going to school here,” Setters said, “I wanted to major in audio engineering, [but] there was no audio engineering degree. … We’re now able to offer [classes] like that.”

Setters noted the media studios are an “impact multiplier” that will even affect students who don’t use them, as professors can “record high-quality audio, video content … and improve all of the courses where instructors are willing to create their media from inside those spaces.”

The fourth floor’s computer lab contains 10 “pods” outfitted with computers, microphones and cameras for students taking online synchronous classes.

“Each individual computer pod is kind of like its own office in a way,” Setters said.

Clubs must pay for the license to a movie before they can show it on campus, or the college can get fined.

Photo by Zoe Brunton OSE leadership and involvement specialist Lea Brisbane said at the SGA General Forum in December that clubs can request additional funds when paying for movie licenses.

Steinhoff said many factors go into renting a movie.

The more recent or popular it is, the more it could cost. The prices could also fluctuate, depending on how many people are going to be viewing.

tal assisting program AACC already offers.

The noncredit dental assisting program consists of a lab, lecture and a workforce success skills course.

“I can tell you that the dental assistants that I know in the area are very excited for this program to open so that they can come and get their degree in dental hygiene,” School of Health Sciences Dean Elizabeth Appel

told Campus Current in April 2022.

Tonya Jeffries, AACC’s director of dental education, said in an email the program’s start depends on the accreditation process by the Commission on Dental Accreditation.

But without the proper accreditation, college officials are unsure of when the program will be approved and classes will begin to run.

New dental program needs accreditation Izzy Chase Co-Editor

The college’s new dental hygiene program will begin once the Commission on Dental Accreditation approves its accreditation.

Adobe Stock photo

space. I never imagined that we’d actually get to create it.”

The fourth floor opened for faculty and staff last semester. This school year is a “soft launch,” according to Setters.

The media production studios include two selfserve recording booths, as well as a full recording studio with a control room.

Setters said the goal of the recording studios is for students and professors to be able to create content matching the “quality of a high-end YouTube content creator.”

The Performing Arts Department’s new music technology classes next semester, Recording Industry Techniques 1 and 2, will practice in Florestano’s media production studios.

“On a personal note,

AACC’s dental hygiene program, set to begin last September, has not started because of a delay in the accreditation process.

The program, which eventually will offer an associate of applied science degree, will include a five-semester curriculum and differs from the noncredit den-

6 | Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb

Campus Life

Club designs ceramic tiles Dulcie Metro Contributor

Members of the student Ceramics-Keramos Society are making colorful, 6-by-6 inch tiles featuring images of Maryland culture and nature to display on campus.

The students, including some who take ceramics classes, are designing artwork for their tiles, showing Maryland icons like the State House, an anchor, a crab, or their favorite flower or animal.

When all of the tiles are finished at the end of the spring semester, the group will combine them into a single piece of art.

The tile project “will give everyone their own creative expression while also having something that can make it a little more cohesive,” club adviser Sara Prigodich said.

Prigodich, a ceramics professor, said the club introduced the group project

this year for members and students who are not enrolled in ceramics classes.

Approximately eight students, who purchased their own materials, are contributing tiles to the project.

“Not all of us have taken ceramics and some of us just haven’t taken ceramics for a little while or don’t have time for that in our schedule right now,” club Vice President Will Mumford, a thirdyear transfer studies student, said. “We just thought it would be really nice to be able to, like, do ceramics at ceramics club instead of just talking about things or … having artists to visit and do demonstrations.”

Prigodich said the project is “exciting.”

“I’m just excited that … the students are excited and they’re willing to put the time and the research in,” Prigodich said. “I think that it’s really nice to see them taking some ownership over

Ceramics-Keramos Society President Holly Mitchell’s tile depicts a turkey vulture, native to Maryland. It will become part of a collective artwork at the end of the semester.

Photo courtesy of Holly Mitchell the project and wanting to … work together and see where it goes.”

Club President Holly Mitchell was the first to complete a tile. It features an image of a turkey vulture with vines and berries. The turkey

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vulture is native to Maryland and is the state’s largest bird of prey.

“I just love turkey vultures for some reason and I just respect them so much,” Mitchell said. “I also added the vine, which is a na-

tive vine that grows in my backyard. … I remember being younger and mashing up the berries and turning them into goop or weird, probably-not-safe makeup. … That’s just kind of like a homey thing.”

Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb | 7

Campus Life

Actors paid to play patients Divine Mesumbe Co-Editor

Students in some physical therapy, paramedic, nursing, EMS and EMT classes get hands-on medical experience with actors who are paid to pretend to be patients.

Called “standardized patients” by college employees, the actors mimic the behavior of real patients and offer feedback to students about their bedside manner.

“It’s an invaluable piece of training [for students],” Tina Clark, director of AACC’s Emergency Medical Services Department, said. “A mannequin can only go so far.”

Students in those programs are required to take classes that use the paid actors.

“Everything is not black and white,” Clark said. “If all [the students] ever do is do a check sheet, they miss that human interaction.”

Instructional specialist Trisha Wanamaker agreed.

“Adding the human touch really brings together every aspect of medicine,” Wanamaker said.

Broadcaster and former AACC student Steve Hopp, one of the paid actors, agreed.

“You can’t have any interaction with a mannequin,” Hopp said.

First-year paramedic student Alli Chite said standardized patients make the classes “more realistic.”

“The actors have been really great,” Chite said. “[They] stayed in character the whole time.”

Standardized patients give advice that students otherwise won’t receive, according to Clark.

“Standardized patients can tell students how they’re being treated as patients, so it helps [them] work on affective behavior,” Clark said.

“We are all taking care of

Paramedic students Jermaine Mills, left, and Jordan Hopkins, center, pretend to treat actor Steve Hopp.

Photo by Divine Mesumbe patients [in] which you can’t open a door and say, ‘How did I do?’”

Retired AACC employee Debby Hopp, another paid actor and Steve Hopp’s wife, said it’s “better” to learn in a simulated environment. “[The students] don’t have to go out and deal with real patients yet,” Hopp said.

“They [will] feel more comfortable if they make mistakes.”

AACC used to outsource actors from other colleges, according to Justin Gyurik, the director of laboratory and simulation education.

“Before we had our own pool of standardized patients, sometimes faculty would have to play the part of standardized patients or we would have to outsource to other pools like University of Maryland, and that gets very expensive,” Gyurik said.

“We [had] to pay administrative fees plus their hourly fee.”

Gyurik said using faculty instead of paid actors as standardized patients didn’t work as well because it didn’t give students “the shock of working on a stranger.” “[Faculty] are people

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that the students are already used to,” Gyurik said. “They need practice … dealing with patients that might have some type of mental issue that they might not be expecting.”

AACC funds standardized patients through a federal grant, according to Gyurik.

“In the future, we are trying to get the funding integrated into our yearly budget, not through the grant,” Gyurik said. “Then we will be able to hire students and … work with, like, the theater department.”

8 | Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb

Campus Life

Profs decide on rules for snow-day classes Payton Thompson Contributor

AACC professors will decide on a class-by-class basis how snow days will affect class time this winter.

When inclement weather causes campus to close, professors will let their students know how they will make up class time with alternative assignments or Zoom meetings.

Professors “will determine how they’re going to make up the instructional time,” Vice President for Learning Resources Management Melissa Beardmore

said. “That piece is up to the faculty member, but the decision … whether the in-person classes are canceled or not, that’s a decision that I make with my team.”

During the height of COVID-19, students and faculty spent more time working and teaching remotely.

Because they have experience conducting classes on Teams or Zoom, professors have the option of holding virtual classes instead of losing instruction time when the campus closes for a snow day.

“I think [there’s] sadness over, you know, what’s

perceived as a loss of a snow day,” Beardmore said, but added, “I think this works fairly well.”

Gannon Anderson, a dual-enrolled student, said attending Zoom meetings on snow days should be optional.

“Maybe a teacher will have a Zoom meeting and you can go in for help,” Anderson said. “But there shouldn’t be anything, like, required to do that day.”

Max Burkhardt, a second-year transfer studies student, said professors shouldn’t cancel a class if exams are approaching, “but,

Students who want to conduct undergraduate science research can study horseshoe crabs in two labs in the Health and Life Sciences Building.

Students are able to create their own research projects and write scientific papers on horseshoe crabs in the “aquaculture labs,” which opened in 2022.

“It’s a really good opportunity to understand how science works,” Maggie Nester, an AACC graduate who still participates in research, said.

The labs house nine juvenile horseshoe crabs. Dynasty Marine Associates, in Marathon, Florida, supplied all of

Cookbook focuses on food pantry supplies Izzy Chase Co-Editor

A World Culture and Cuisine class in the fall created a cookbook of recipes using ingredients found in AACC’s food pantry.

Professors Forrest Caskey and Amy Carattini, who co-taught the class, assigned the service learning project.

Class members submitted

recipes that held personal significance and rewrote them with ingredients that are easy for students with limited access to food to find.

They consulted Caitlin Silver Negrón, director of the food pantry, who said the project served as an educational opportunity for students.

“There’s a thoughtfulness element to it,” Silver

like, before exams and stuff, they should just cancel class.”

Communications professor April Copes said she does not plan to hold Zoom meetings on snow days but will post alternative online assignments.

“I just have various versions of assignments so that

if … we do have a snow day, then we can just do a version of what was planned for that day in an online assignment,” Copes said.

The college sends text alerts to students, faculty and staff when the college closes or delays the opening time.

the specimens, even though they are native to Maryland, according to biology professor Tammy Domanski.

Domanski said the college does not have a permit to collect horseshoe crabs but can care for them and use them for research.

Students who use the aquaculture labs assess how horseshoe crabs respond to disruptions in their habitats, how toxins affect their health and how they respond to different food sources in a controlled setting.

According to Domanski, previous AACC research on horseshoe crabs focused on surveying them “in their natural habitat.”

“The aquaculture [lab] is a way for us to have horseshoe crabs in-house,”

Domanski said. “Having the aquaculture facility allows us to study them in real-time. … We have them 24/7.”

Nester said she studied the effect that microplastics—tiny particles of trash that pollute bays and oceans—have on horseshoe crabs.

“They’re bottom feeders,” Nester said. “It was hard to find plastic that would work for the experiment [because] a lot of plastic floats.”

Nester said she would recommend the program to other students.

“It’s very hard to find undergraduate research opportunities,” Nester, who published her research in the Journal of Emerging Scholarship, said. “If you have the opportunity, grab at it.”

Students study crabs to conduct research Divine Mesumbe Co-Editor

Students are studying horseshoe crabs in the Health and Life Sciences Building.

Photo by Izzy Chase

Professors are determining which snow-day policy works best for their classes.

Photo courtesy of the AACC Drone Center

Negrón said. “If you’ve never been to a pantry or if you’ve never had to utilize one to get your food, you might not understand where the limits are. … I think it was a great educational opportunity for the students to better understand what a pantry looks like in general.”

Sarah Orvis, the graphic designer and publicity assistant for the Office of Student

Students submitted recipes to a cookbook using ingredients from AACC’s food pantry.

Photo courtesy of Caitlin Silver Negrón Engagement, worked on the visual elements of the project. This included compiling the recipes students submitted and laying them out on the pages.

“I wanted to make sure that I was keeping the core of what the students were writing,” Orvis said. “So a lot of the stories were, like, pretty personally relevant.”

Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb | 9

Campus Life

College plans events for Black History Mo. Mischa Green Co-Editor

AACC will host an art exhibit, a sit-down lunch and more to celebrate Black History Month in February with the theme “Blackness in Full Bloom.”

The theme signifies embracing and celebrating the resilience of African Americans through adversity, according to Black History Month coordinator Stephanie Smith-Baker.

“We bring different events and activities for Black History Month,” Smith-Baker, a medical assisting professor, said. “It’s always helpful to increase awareness for the overall community, the students and “Creating Your Own Black Wall Street” Feb. 13, 2024, 12-1 p.m.

Cade 219

just the college community. Also, to reflect and then figure out, maybe, from the different activities and what you experienced … what else can you do?”

Local artists will display work all month in the Pascal Gallery, and AACC will host a reception on Feb. 15 where students can talk to the artists and ask questions.

“We looked at several artists and their pieces and we just put together a nice, I think, display that … the college community will appreciate, kind of, supporting that ‘Blackness in Full Bloom,’” Smith-Baker said.

The college will also host a sit-down lunch and presentation about “Creating Your Own Black Wall Street” for

young entrepreneurs on Feb. 13 in Cade 219 with guest speaker James Peterson Jr., the small business ambassador of M&T Bank.

Smith-Baker said Peterson will discuss “how to turn your ideas and your hobbies into a business that could probably be lucrative.”

Smith-Baker said AACC has tried to bring in a diverse array of events.

Smith-Baker said: “A lot of people, you hear Black History Month and sometimes you see, like, a standard set of things ... in the media and so that’s why we really tried to ... bring such a diverse set of events and activities and definitely have our students be involved because, you know, they’re very creative.”

AACC plans to host multiple events on campus for Black History Month in February.

Adobe Stock image Second-year psychology student Deon Bellinger said the campus should host more events for students of color.

“It should be more fre-

Blackness in Full Bloom

Sit-down lunch and presentation with guest speaker James Peterson Jr.

“Spirit Day and Poetry Slam”

Feb. 14, 2024, 12-3 p.m.

HLSB 145B

Celebrate 50 years of hip-hop, show cultural fashions and experience Backpack Jeff do a spoken word poem.

“Local Artist Exhibition”

Feb. 15, 2024, 2-4 p.m.

Pascal Gallery

quent than just Black History Month [to] allow more opportunities for them, instead of just that small period of time,” Bellinger said.

Works by local artists will be on display in the gallery and students can speak with artists during the reception.

INFORMATION MEETINGS Wednesday, February 7th 5:00-6:00 P.M. | via Zoom https://conta.cc/3vy4kPD

Thursday, February 8th 3:30-4:30 P.M. | Careers 255 Learn how you can compete for up to $25,000 for your business.

AACC credit and noncredit students who have successfully completed an AACC course in the last year are eligible to compete. Learn more at one of our information meetings.

www.aacc.edu/esi

10 | Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb

Campus Life

Students find many critters Mischa Green Co-Editor

The Arnold campus is home to reptiles, amphibians, mammals, insects, slugs and “everything else,” according to an AACC biology professor.

“In the spring we go around and just, even in an hour, we’ve recorded more than 50 species of birds on campus,” professor Benjamin Weibell said. “In the night, the foxes come through and there’s a couple of them that love to go through the parking lots and do that stuff.”

He added, “We get wild turkeys showing up on campus sometimes.”

Students around campus said they have seen butterflies, squirrels, crickets, bees, ducks, deer and multiple other critters.

Biology student Emily Price said she has seen ducks, deer and squirrels in

the woods on campus.

“But I see squirrels, like, on campus, like, crossing the road all the time,” Price said.

“And ... skinks [or] lizards. I think someone in [biology] class said that … she saw a fox … but I haven’t seen any myself but that was cool.”

Weibell said more students reported animal sightings as they walked on the trail underneath the footbridge that connects the east and west sides of campus while the bridge was closed.

“If you just kind of stand there and watch and listen, you’ll see things,” Weibell said.

Nobody knows how many kinds of animals live on campus, but Weibell said he would like to count them.

“I think it would be fun for us to actually do an official catalog and monitoring of what species are on campus,” Weibell said. “It would be fun to have this campus species list and keep track

Students are spotting foxes, squirrels, deer, turkeys, skinks and other animals on campus.

Adobe Stock photo of it and students who are interested in adding to the data set. So we may do that sometime.”

Still, Weibell said students should not interact with wild animals on campus.

“It’s not really good for wildlife, for most of them, to feed them or do other

things,” Weibell said. “You know, birds are maybe an exception.”

Instead, “most of [it] would be observing, watching, listening … because it’s better for the wildlife if we’re not, like, handling them,” Weibell said.

Students who have volunteered to plant trees and

gardens on campus “help wildlife,” Weibell said.

Weibell said his favorite campus critters are the birds.

“I mean, of the animals on campus, I’m … mostly a sucker for the birds that are on campus,” Weibell said.

“Things like that are fun to watch.”

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THE ENTREPRENEURS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM INCLUDES: • Funding for tuition, fees, books and supplies for credit and noncredit* courses • A lifetime maximum of $12,000 per student* • $1,500 Paid internship scholarship • Resources to support entrepreneurial student success *Includes BNS-393. Other noncredit classes need prior approval.

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.

APPLICATION CRITERIA • • • •

Entrepreneurial aspirations to start or grow a business Completed FAFSA for current academic year on file with AACC Current student or completed application for enrollment at AACC Current AACC students must have a 2.0 GPA to be accepted. New AACC students who have not completed a class have no GPA requirement.

DEADLINE THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2024, 12:00PM The application deadline for each term is posted at aacc.edu/esi.

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If you have questions, email esi@aacc.edu.

AACC Entrepreneurial Studies Institute SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND LAW

Anne Arundel Community College prohibits all types of discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, and retaliation on the basis of race, including hair style and hair texture, color, religion or creed, ancestry or national origin, sex, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, citizenship, and genetic information. To file a complaint of discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, or retaliation, please contact the chief compliance and fair practices officer/Title IX coordinator at 410-777-1239 or complianceofficer@aacc.edu. Students and members of the public who need a reasonable accommodation should contact Disability Support Services at DSS@aacc.edu or 410-777-1411. Employees and job applicants should contact Human Resources at humanresources@aacc.edu or 410-777-2425 regarding reasonable accommodations. Requests for most accommodations must be made at least seventy-two (72) hours prior to the event or activity; however, requests for sign language interpreters, live captioning, alternate format books, or assistive technology need to be submitted at least thirty (30) days prior to the event or activity.

Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb | 11

Students to produce, direct original plays Tomi Brunton Co-Editor

Theatre AACC will show four 10- to 15-minute plays in February that are written, acted and directed entirely by students, with the improv club performing during intermissions.

The student directors will hold auditions for actors on Feb. 9 for the four Black Box Series shows, which will run Feb. 23 and 24 in Humanities 112.

“They’re going to see these actors audition, and then they’re going to cast them that night,” theater professor Madeline Austin, one

of the program’s advisers, said. “It’s going to be a really intense process, but exciting.”

The program gets its name from black box theater, which is usually performed in small venues with black-painted walls. Black box shows typically use fewer props and simpler sets.

The Overcast Troupers improv club will play games with the audience during the breaks between each Black Box Series show.

“There’ll be like three or four improv sessions, just to keep the audience engaged,” Austin, who also directs Theatre AACC’s mainstage production, said.

Éva Parry, the Overcast Troupers’ co-president, said it’s “a little bit scary” for improv club members to do their first-ever show, but also “really fun.”

“A lot of [members] haven’t been in improv before joining this club,” Parry, a first-year history student, said. “So for a lot of people, this will be their first-ever improv show. … I really think everyone’s going to do well.

Like, I’ve seen everyone, like, getting better and learning all this stuff and really, like, getting very comfortable on stage.”

Overcast Troupers Co-President Jason

The Performing Arts Department will offer a new associate of arts degree in music, replacing the old one, starting this fall.

The new degree requires students to take more of the music classes that will count toward a four-year music degree when they transfer, according to Performing Arts Department Chair Ian Wardenski.

Wardenski said with the previous music degree, many students who transferred to

Theatre to show 1st musical since COVID Tomi Brunton Co-Editor

Theatre AACC will show the comedic horror musical “Little Shop of Horrors” in April.

The production, which will show April 12 to 14 and April 19 to 21 in the Kauffman Theater, will be the first musical that Theatre AACC has put on since before the pandemic.

“I’m excited to jump into it,” Andrew Agner-Nichols, who will play Orin Scrivello, said. “All the renditions I’ve

seen have been really interesting. I’m excited to, kind of, put my own spin on it.”

“Little Shop of Horrors” follows Seymour Krelborn, an orphan who works at a florist shop, as he raises a sentient, human-eating plant named Audrey II. Madeline Austin, the musical’s director, said she wants to give AACC students the opportunity to try different types of shows.

“Our philosophy is to get as much training for the students as possible,” Austin, a theater professor, said. “The

Improv club members Dax Goetia, left, and Michael Dang prepare for the club’s February performance at the Black Box Series productions.

Photo by Mason Hood Kalshoven agreed, adding: “We’ve got all sorts of games we’ve been practicing in classes. There’s some really funny ones.”

Kalshoven added: “It’s a

bunch of really goofy stuff. ... The idea is to do a bunch of games that don’t use a lot of props, don’t make a lot of mess, that we just, sort of, go on stage, do, get off stage.”

four-year universities needed “to spend an extra semester, or in some cases an extra year” catching up on music classes AACC didn’t require for the A.A. But the new degree “essentially mirrors what you would take at a four-year program.”

“With the current degree, they don’t have four semesters of applied [music], they don’t have four semesters of ensemble, and that can really hold them back as they move on to a four-year program,” Wardenski, a music professor, said. “The students are going to be far better prepared …

both musically and in terms of their academic goals.”

Students can choose whether to focus on composition, performance or music technology for their degree.

The Performing Arts Department created two new music technology classes for the degree. Recording Industry Techniques 1 and 2, which will start in the fall semester with the degree, will focus on audio recording, mixing and production.

Wardenski added, “Students have been asking for music technology courses for years.”

AACC updates music degree, adds classes Tomi Brunton Co-Editor

The Performing Arts Department will update AACC’s music degree, adding classes that focus on recording technology and sound production.

Photo courtesy of Ian Wardenski

Entertainment

idea is, in a two-year period, that actors can graduate with the possibility of being in a musical, being in a Shakespeare play, being in a comedy and being in a drama.”

Erik Binnix, the lead puppeteer for Audrey II, said the team will use “several different-size puppets as the plant grows throughout the show.”

Agner-Nichols, a firstyear acting student, said musical theater “is a different beast” from straight plays.

“It’s a different kind of really hard work,” Agner-Nich-

Theatre AACC actors prep for their April performance of “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Photo by Jack Sarnese ols said. “You not only have those moments where you’re acting and working with the other individual, or individuals, in the scene, but then you have to really drill down on

these musical numbers and it’s physically taxing.”

A live band will play the songs for the musical.

Co-Editor Jack Sarnese contributed to this story.

12 | Campus Current | 2024 | Jan/Feb

Sports

2 ’Hawks continue basketball together Jack Sarnese Co-Editor

Former Riverhawks Mike Duffy, top, and Marquis James wear their Notre Dame of Maryland University jerseys.

Photo courtesy of Mike Duffy

AACC men’s basketball head coach Joe Snowden said James and Duffy were “really Two AACC alumni made good players and really good the first-ever men’s basket- teammates” as Riverhawks ball team at Notre Dame of and said he is “proud and Maryland University last fall. happy for them.”

Marquis James and “They started playing toMike Duffy, friends and now gether their freshman year roommates at NDMU, both and they formed a great replay forward for the inaugu- lationship that lasts now,” Snowden said. “They became ral men’s basketball team.

“It’s been really fun,” real good friends. They use Duffy, who is 6 feet, 4 inches, that friendship now to insaid. “It’s made it really easy spire each other to continue to settle in because me and to play better.” him already James, came in who is 6 “We don’t care that feet, 4 inchwith chemit’s our first year. istry.

We es, had We’re ready to win talk to each originally now.” other about committed stuff all the —Riverhawks alum to Pennsyltime.

We Mike Duffy vania State help each University other get better.”

Berks, but decided he wantThe Gators finished the ed to stay closer to his homefirst half of the season with a town, Baltimore. James said 1-8 record. he has enjoyed the season so “So far, I’m not going to far. lie, it’s been pretty rough. …

“It’s actually pretty fun But we’re getting better and to start the year off and better,” Duffy said. “It doesn’t lay the foundation of the feel like there’s too much team,” James said. “It’s a lot [pressure] because it’s our of young guys, but we have first year. We kind of ignore to come together to build a that and we always say, ‘We good program.” don’t care that it’s our first James said he is glad to year. We’re ready to win have Duffy on the court. now.’”

“It’s great to have some-

one that knows me,” James said. “It kind of makes it easier for each other on the basketball court and off the basketball court.”

NDMU men’s basketball head coach T.J. Jordan said he is “excited” the university created the team.

“It’s something new,” Jordan said. “I told all the guys it wasn’t going to be easy.

We’re setting a foundation now, and we’ll continue to grow and come together. The biggest challenge is just being new, but I’ve been telling them to embrace it as being the first.”

Jordan said Duffy and James are “two exceptionally great individuals.”

“They’re great teammates and leaders by example,” Jordan said. “They’re playing hard and they’re doing a fantastic job. At the beginning of the season especially, one was basically looking for the other. You can definitely see that there was some chemistry from before.”

Snowden said any new basketball team has to “get broken in.”

“Notre Dame … is going to be the little guy,” Snowden said. “It’s going to take time for any new program to establish themselves."

“You’re not comfortable,” Stroman, a second-year film student, said. “We’re in somebody else’s place and we have to come and win.

I think playing at home is more stagnant. … We played too much at home [last semester] and we just got comfortable.”

Men’s head coach Joe Snowden said he “doesn’t like” the stretch of away games, but said the long bus rides are a good opportunity for players to bond.

“You get to understand your teammates a little bit better when you’re jampacked on a bus,” Snowden said. “You now know your teammate has a heart, he

“I like the pressure of being away,” Garin, a second-year medical student, said. “I like the fans booing. … It drives me more. … But what I hate is as soon as we, like, arrive at a venue we have to play immediately.

We don’t have time to rest at all.”

The trips can range from 15 minutes to four hours.

Region 20 schedules majority away games Jack Sarnese Co-Editor

AACC’s men’s basketball team will play 85% of its games away this spring, and 70% of the women’s competitions will be off campus.

The Region 20 Basketball Committee created a master schedule for both teams, which frontloaded home games in fall 2023 and backloaded away matches in spring 2024. Out of 13 scheduled games this semester, the men’s team will play only two at home, and the women will play four.

“I wish [the schedule] would have been more mixed up and spread out,”

men’s team forward Kris Peet said. “It’s … adversity.

But we’ve been facing adversity the whole year so it’s nothing new. … We love a challenge.”

The Riverhawks ended the first half of the season with a 4-8 record.

Peet, a first-year transfer studies student, added: “I like playing away games. … Our last away game was probably our best one.”

Members of both teams said they play better during away games.

Guard Jeremiah Stroman said the team “plays better away” and playing on the road will be better for the team. e

offe

ec Fre

Women’s basketball forward Ayannah Gorham prepares for a stretch of away games.

Photo by Everett Luoma has emotions, he is understanding. These long trips are tough on ... any athlete.”

Women’s forward Ayannah Gorham agreed the long bus rides are “a big bonding moment” for the team and the better team chemistry results in better performance.

Guard Bianca Garin added the bus rides are “building trust” within the team.

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