March2024

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March 2024

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Students create pop-up shops on the Quad.

Students lobby state senators to support the college.

Riverhawks start preparing for the spring semester.

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AACC to raise tuition, fees by $2 next fall Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

The college’s budget for the next fiscal year raises tuition and athletic fees by $2 per credit hour.

Photo by Mason Hood

AACC’s Board of Trustees approved a budget on Feb. 27 that will raise tuition and fees by $2 per credit hour next fall.

The budget will hike tuition by $1 and the athlet-

ics fee by $1, which would each raise about $210,000 for the college in fiscal year 2025, according to Vice President for Learning Resources Management Melissa Beardmore. This total operating budget for fiscal year 2025 is $139,835,900, an increase of about $7 million from 2024.

Support Services Felicia Patterson said. “We tried to remove barriers to enrollment and persistence as well as really just kind of working to meet the enrollment needs of our students.”

Patterson said free tuition for public high school

Enrollment in liberal arts classes, like this Drawing 1 class, has increased this semester.

Photo by Carmen Scannell

Enrollment rises 5% in spring 2024 term Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

Spring-to-spring enrollment at AACC rose by almost 5% this semester, following an upward trend since the pandemic ended.

Enrollment in the schools of Liberal Arts and Health Sciences grew the most, with

increases of about 300 and 200 students respectively, according to preliminary data from the Office of Planning, Research and Institutional Assessment.

“We’ve been intentional in our work to adjust areas where we have an opportunity to increase enrollment,” Vice President for Learner

Continued on Page 3

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More students seek counseling services Izzy Chase Associate Editor Éva Parry Reporter

This semester, 10% more students are seeking oneon-one therapy with AACC personal counselors like Diane Hallila, shown.

Campus Current archive

“One of our budget guiding principles that our board has adopted is small, incremental increases each year versus going several years without an increase and then having to do a larger increase,” Beardmore said.

The number of AACC students who see on-campus counselors rose by 10% over the last year after a 71% bump the year before, according to one of the college’s counselors.

Melissa Boling, one of AACC’s three personal counselors, said the rise in students who use on-campus

counseling has steadily increased since the beginning of the pandemic.

“I mean, I think that [the pandemic] certainly contributes, but I also think that it’s just kind of a general trend,” Boling said. “I think just with all of the different stressors and stuff and pressures on college students. I think, like, at AACC, I know a lot of students are balancing many different things.”

Between 2021 and 2022 at the height of the pan-

demic, demand for campus counseling rose by 22%, according to Diane Hallila, one of AACC’s personal counselors. From 2022 to 2023, the counselors saw 71% more students. And since March 2023, counseling services has grown by another 10%.

Nationally, the number of students who sought counseling grew from 30% to 37% between 2020 and 2023, according to the Continued on Page 3

2 | Campus Current | 2024 | March

Opinion

Meet the Staff Editor-in-Chief Tomi Brunton Associate Editor Izzy Chase Daily Editor Divine Mesumbe Club Editor Mischa Green Graphic Designer Jennifer Chisari Sports Editor Jose Gonzalez Multimedia Editor Mason Hood Photo Editor Carmen Scannell Senior Reporter Payton Thompson Reporters Zack Buckingham Jason Kalshoven Éva Parry Photographer Tope Ayokunle Web Master Ivan Sabio Contributor Sierra Luers Faculty Adviser Sharon O’Malley Photographers on Page 1, top Divine Mesumbe Maryland Association of Community Colleges Tope Ayokunle X/Twitter @campus_current Facebook Facebook.com/ CampusCurrentPaper Instagram @campuscurrentaacc

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Embrace dual-enrolled peers Editorial Board

AACC may be a community college, but its campus is home to more than just college students. Approximately 1,000 of our students are still in high school and also take classes here.

Even though these dual-enrolled students are still in high school, they’re still college students, just like the rest of us. But sometimes they are either excluded from participating in campus activities or simply aren’t aware of them—perhaps because we’re not making enough of an effort to include them.

Perhaps the college community could do more to make them feel welcome.

It’s intimidating enough being the youngest person in the room and feeling like an outlier. We’ve all felt that before, right?

But it takes a certain amount of maturity to be able to handle college courses while also attending high school.

So let’s not pile on by

Approximately 1,000 high school students take classes at AACC. Shown, left toright, first-year communications students Waleska Cruz and Ross Birckhead-Morton, and first-year dual-enrolled student Jenna Young.

Photo by Mason Hood making them feel like their age and high school status make any of them less of a college student than any of us.

As long as the state and the college are allowing dual-enrolled students on campus, we should all do our part to include them more. Once they set foot on our campus, they’re Riverhawks, too.

Letter from a leader

One idea might be to create a club for dual-enrolled students so they can meet each other and make friends with peers who are in the same situation. Another would be for existing student clubs to make an effort to reach out specifically to dual-enrolled students as part of their recruitment efforts.

These simple gestures would be more than enough to improve the morale of dual-enrolled students and make them feel included.

AACC markets itself as a place to “redefine yourself.”

Let’s all pitch in to support our dual-enrolled classmates as they redefine themselves as college students, and in particular, as Riverhawks.

Leadership is like parenting Sierra Luers Contributor Nothing has taught me more about my role as a student leader than being the mother of my 7-year-old son.

It turns out that leadership and parenting go hand-inhand.

As the editor-in-chief of Amaranth, AACC’s student literary journal, I see the same light and excitement in the students around me as I do in my own son.

Being a club leader means helping others spread their wings.

I want to be someone who helps them—both my co-editors and my child— shine. I want to encourage them to take chances and follow their instincts.

So here’s my advice, as a student-leader and a student-parent: Take every day as a new opportunity to follow your dreams and pursue your goals.

My son, Levi, recently brought home a New Year’s resolution list he had written at school. His first goal was learning how to walk on his hands.

Like, how awesome is that? Who would think of that? I loved it!

I think we need those risk-takers with crazy ideas and goals because the world is a mess, and we are a mess.

It’s time to wake up, say, “I’m gonna learn how to walk on my hands,” and then do it.

So, as I talk to students on campus and tell them about Amaranth, especially when they are doubtful of their own abilities, I like to give them the same love and encouragement as I do my own son.

I want them to succeed as much as I want Levi to.

They deserve the best and I know they have it in them.

In fact, we all have it in us. It’s just about encouraging each other to take those big leaps, even if it’s just submitting a poem to Amaranth or reading something you wrote at an open mic night.

That is huge to make yourself vulnerable like that.

To take the opportunity in stride can be hard. But so is trying to walk on your hands.

Realize that you are your only limitation. If you want it bad enough, it doesn’t mat-

Sierra Luers, right, the editor-in-chief of AACC’s student literary journal, Amaranth, poses with her 7-year-old son, Levi.

Photo courtesy of Sierra Luers ter how crazy or out of the box it is.

There are too many ways we hurt ourselves and hurt each other when we

put ourselves in boxes.

You have to look at the world like it’s new every day.

There is whimsy, there is potential and there is light.

Campus Current | 2024 | March | 3

News

Trustees vote on ’25 budget

Prof asks students to lobby Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

Continued from Page 3

A professor of human services emailed more than 200 students in February and asked them to lobby the Anne Arundel County Council and the state Legislature for more community college funding.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s budget for fiscal year 2025 proposes reducing funding to community colleges, including a cut of almost $2 million for AACC. Meinsler said in order to make up for these cuts, the county, another source of AACC’s funding, needs to “step up.”

“The more voices the better,” Meinsler said. “Faculty, staff, students, administration, we all have a stake in it. We all should have our voices heard.”

Meinsler said the best

Tuition and athletic fees will rise by $2 per credit hour next fall.

Adobe Stock photo way to advocate for more funding is for students to email or call their county and state representatives.

“Don’t just sit back and think somebody else is going to do it,” Meinsler said.

“The more voices that are heard, the [more] potential for change.”

Meinsler said even a

Rise in Enrollment

4000 3000

small increase in funding from the county “could really make an impact.”

“I’m not giving up hope,” Meinsler said. “I’m just hopeful that people will just feel like they do have a voice.”

Meinsler testified at a county budget town hall in February.

1000 100

Spring 2022

Business & Law

Spring 2023

Continuing Ed. Health & Workforce Sciences Development

Liberal Arts

Spring 2024

Non-Degree

Science, Technology, & Education

AACC’s School of Liberal Arts and School of Health Sciences both grew by hundreds of students this semester.

Graphic by Jennifer Chisari

students, more online classes and changes in financial aid requirements helped raise enrollment.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, national community college enrollment across the country rose this fall by 2.6%, while AACC’s

Campus sees rising demand for therapy Continued from Page 3

Healthy Minds Study, an annual survey of college students.

Boling said with students back on campus, they are able to access resources easier. Boling added that AACC students face stressors that contribute to the rise of students in therapy.

“So whether [they’re] trying to take all their classes, some students might be working,” Boling said.

“There’s just a lot going on.

But then I think too … it’s becoming less and less stigmatized, I think, to reach out for support.”

Mason Hood, a media production student who uses AACC’s counseling services, said more students are becoming aware of the resources on campus.

“I found out about it ... through a professor of mine a year or two ago when I was taking classes, and then only decided to utilize it last spring,” Hood said. “I think people are maybe becoming

fall-to-fall enrollment increased by about 9.5%.

Four-year university enrollment lagged behind community colleges with a 0.6% increase, according to the Clearinghouse.

“We’re beginning to be seen just as strong, if not stronger, than many fouryears out there,” Patterson said.

Enrollment here dropped by about 10% from fall 2023 to spring 2024, which Patterson said happens every year “across the board in higher education.”

“Fall is kind of seen as a starting place for many people when they’re coming to college,” Patterson said. “You see more students come in the fall than … in the spring.”

Enrollment grows in lib. arts, life sciences Continued from Page 3

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The college gets funding from three main sources: the state, the county and tuition.

According to Beardmore, if one of those sources goes down, the others have to increase to make up for it.

According to Beardmore, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s budget for fiscal year 2025 would cut funding to AACC by almost $2 million.

“This year, we actually have a state funding cut that does require us to raise tuition,” Beardmore said.

The college will also request an increase of about $5.7 million from the county, an 11% increase from last year.

Last year, the college raised tuition by $2 per credit and the athletics fee and student activity fee by $1 per credit hour each. Beardmore said this year, it didn’t raise

tuition by as much to keep it affordable for students.

“Given inflation and given some other things, we try to balance affordability,” Beardmore said. “That’s … one of our mandates for our budget.”

As well as accounting for inflation, the tuition and fee increase will help fund “additional investments in tutoring, some equipment for the Health and Life Sciences Building, investments in athletics and investments in our language translation services,” Beardmore said.

According to Beardmore, the increased athletics fees this year and last year are part of “a multi-year plan to appropriately fund athletics” and will also help account for the “additional investments” required when the Riverhawks transitioned from Division III to Division II last year.

more aware of them. … Our culture has become a lot more mental health sensitive.”

Christopher Robinson, a second-year transfer studies student, said he has friends who have used the counseling services on campus.

“I’ve heard more of my friends be using the resources on campus,” Robinson said. “And I think it’s a great way of, like, giving students who don’t traditionally get therapy on their own … at least some type of, like, therapy or counseling.”

Student demand for on-campus counseling services has risen this semester, both at AACC and nationally at other colleges.

Photo by Carmen Scannell

4 | Campus Current | 2024 | March

News

Library open on weekends

Grads to walk on May 23 Mischa Green Club Editor AACC will hold its annual graduation ceremony at the Hall at LIVE! Casino and Hotel on May 23.

The graduation will be split between two ceremonies: the schools of Health Sciences and Science, Technology and Education will be at 11 a.m. The second ceremony will be for the schools of Business and Law, Liberal Arts, and Continuing Education and Workforce Development at 4 p.m.

Graduates may choose to attend either ceremony, although the college encourages them to go to the ceremony for their departments because space is limited.

Applications for graduation closed March 1.

Students who finished their programs in summer or fall 2023, or in spring 2024, may participate in the ceremonies.

Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

The Truxal Library began opening for students on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., starting Feb. 4.

The library study rooms and work spaces, as well as reference and circulation desks, will be available during these extended hours.

The library is extending its hours to meet student demand, according to library Director Cindy Steinhoff.

“We need to be able to serve those students who are here on [weekends],” Steinhoff said.

Steinhoff said the entrance to the library has technology that counts the number of students who enter and exit. The library uses the data to help decide the hours, Steinhoff said.

According to Steinhoff, the library is moving closer to its pre-pandemic hours

now that students are coming back to campus.

Last semester, the library was open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Fridays.

Before the pandemic, the library was open on the weekends on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.

When COVID hit, the library closed over the weekends and Fridays and shortened its weekday hours.

According to Steinhoff, the library has hired additional part-time staff to work the new weekend hours.

The Technology Learning Center on the first floor of the library will now open on the weekends following the library’s hours.

Other non-library services in the building, such as the Writing Center, the Math Lab and the Academic Literacies lab, will not open on the weekends.

S R E T S I S X O S S R B R B E P E P T T A O X SIS X SIS SOA S S O R O R B OAPB ISTE ISTE S S S OX BOX B P P A SOA S R The Truxal Library will stay open on the weekends from noon to 4 p.m. on top of regular weekday hours.

Photo by Carmen Scannell

TUESDAY MARCH 26

HUMANITIES BUILDING AUDITORIUM

CONNECT WITH COMMUNICATIONS AND JOURNALISM nest.aacc.edu

AACC Communications Degree @aacccomdegree

QUESTIONS? Email aacccomdegree@aacc.edu

Join AACC’s Communication and Journalism Department for the annual Women’s History Month event, Soapbox Sisters, a celebration of Her-Story. Students, faculty and staff will deliver powerful speeches from women around the world! Let the triumphs and pitfalls of women from all time periods inspire and motivate you to make a difference in the lives of women and girls.

This is a community event. All are welcome to attend!

Interested in sharing your own story or delivering a prepared speech?

Email the Communications Department at aacccomdegree@aacc.edu for information.

Campus Current | 2024 | March | 5

News

Student Government elects new vice pres.

Mischa Green Club Editor A first-year physics student became the Student Government Association’s new vice president of finance in February, replacing an executive board member who resigned in January.

Matt Bacho replaced Kojo Thompson, who was the second vice president to step down since the SGA’s executive board formed last semester. Former Vice President of Campus Activities Vanessa Cardozo, a thirdyear student, cited mental

health reasons for dropping out of school in November.

Thompson did not respond to Campus Current’s request for an interview.

Bacho said the vice president role is “an opportunity that I’ve never had before.”

Serving as an SGA officer “has given me lots of opportunities I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t in the SGA,” Bacho said. “Opportunities to meet new people, seeing from the back end of a lot of events.

Being part of the planning process for the stuff around campus. It’s not something I’m used to doing very often,

but it’s an interesting experience.”

SGA President Zack Buster said he is happy Bacho volunteered for the job.

“When someone resigns from SGA, of course, the first thought is, ‘Oh, no, what am I going to do without this person?’” Buster, a thirdyear communications student, said. “The more [we talked with Matt] about it, the more we’re like, ‘This is the guy,’ you know? And so it was just really awesome to have Matt … really step right up.”

The new vice president

More than a quarter of Gen Z Americans—which includes traditional college-age students—identify as queer, according to a January study by the Public Religion Research Institute.

The report said 28% of adults between ages 18 and 25 say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

“I think it’s the youth who are … critically thinking about their identities more than people my age,” said professor Forrest Caskey. “Now we have the communities … so people are feeling safer.”

In fact, the report said fewer older adults, including millennials, identify as part of the LGBTQ community.

The survey said 16%

AACC entrepreneurs create pop-up shops Divine Mesumbe Daily Editor

About once a month, a student or a group sets up a table on the Quad and fills it with jewelry, crafts, candy or another handmade item with the hope of selling that handiwork to others.

The makeshift, or popup, shops give aspiring entrepreneurs a chance to

show off and sell the products they have made as they study to become small business owners. “[It’s] very innovative on the students’ part,” Steve Berry, an instructional specialist in business, said. “I’d like to see more students doing stuff like that, taking initiative.”

Cameron Hanley, a second-year entrepreneurial studies student, set up the

has been encouraging other students to get involved with campus organizations.

“There’s so much more to do around here than people think,” Bacho said. “There’s

all sorts of stuff to do here.

Even if you just landed here out of high school, you know, you could become VP. You never know what could happen.”

of millennials identify as LGBTQ, as do 7% of Gen X and 4% of Baby Boomers.

In addition, the report found 72% of Gen Z adults consider themselves straight, while 15% said they are bisexual; 5% are gay or lesbian; and 8% identify as something else.

A similar Gallup survey from 2023 revealed that 7.2% of adults identify as LGBTQ. Caskey said members of Gen Z feel safer coming out because others have become more accepting of LGBTQ individuals.

“The youth is much more tolerant,” Caskey, the former faculty adviser for the Genders and Sexuality Alliance, said.

Caskey, the coordinator of the Academic Literacies lab, said older adults are “pretty

much set in their ways.”

Liz Cavanaugh, a firstyear psychology student, said LGBTQ adults have become more accepted with the help of the media.

“There’s so much more media around being gay,” Cavanaugh said. “Like movies, and then obviously celebrities who are gay, there’s just so much more normalization around it.”

Gabe Aquino, a first-year biology student, agreed being queer has become more socially acceptable.

“As time has gone by … it’s just more socially acceptable for people to come out,” Aquino said. “There’s not as much negative stigma.”

Aquino added: “Social media helps, too, because everything’s so much more widespread.”

Study shows increase in LGBTQ population Jose Gonzalez Sports Editor

A recent survey shows an increase of LGBTQ people in the college-age population.

Photo by Carmen Scannell

Matt Bacho, a first-year physics student, became the Student Government Association’s vice president of finance in February.

Photo by Mason Hood

first pop-up shop last semester to sell jewelry after taking part in HawkTrade, a trade show that the campus Entrepreneurial Studies Institute hosts once every semester.

Since then, 12 students have sold jewelry, plushies and stickers on the Quad.

“It’s great to connect with other students,” Hanley said.

Hanley said student business owners “have a great

First-year radiology student Olivia Keir runs a pop-up shop on the Quad.

Photo by Divine Mesumbe time” working with other aspiring entrepreneurs.

Third-year sociology student Nikita Plaisance, who ran a pop-up shop on Feb. 12 selling jewelry, agreed.

“I try not to think about it as like, you know, competition,” Plaisance said. “Even if we’re all selling similar things … we offer to help each other out.”

6 | Campus Current | 2024 | March

Campus Life

Interns work for state gov.

Students advocate for AACC Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief A dozen AACC students gathered in Annapolis in February to lobby their state senators and delegates to support community colleges.

Students from all of Maryland’s 16 community colleges gathered on Student Advocacy Day to oppose Gov. Wes Moore’s Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act, or BRFA, which would cut community college funding by $22 million, according to the Maryland Association of Community Colleges Communications Director Brooke Henderson.

The state gives community colleges 29% of the funding four-year colleges get.

BRFA would decrease that to 26.5%, Henderson said.

“Two-and-a-half percent may not sound a lot, but it’s a lot,” Henderson said. “Some colleges’ … budgets [would

Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

A dozen AACC students lobbied their state senators and delegates to support community colleges.

Photo courtesy of Maryland Association of Community Colleges be] cut almost 20%.”

Henderson added, “It’s too early to say how this will be managed and we’re still hopeful that we can turn things around.”

Three state senators spoke to the assembled students on the importance of advocacy and opposing BRFA. The students then went to lobby the senators or delegates for their district.

Shaikh Ali, an AACC student who advocated at the event, said “promoting education is better for the survival of America in the next century. I love to do this advocacy because I think community colleges provide a foundation and a stepping

stone. I am doing this advocacy for promotion of education.”

Latinx Club President Ashley Flores-Gonzales, who advocated at the event, said she is “really proud” of “all the AACC students” who lobbied their senators and delegates.

Flores-Gonzales, a second-year paralegal student, told her delegate her “personal story.”

“I feel like he was really connected with my story,” Flores-Gonzales said. “He [said] that he was going to [oppose BRFA], to be honest, and [that] it’s amazing how I’m the first gen in my family to graduate.”

Fun and Games

Did you know?

Dr. Martha Smith was the first woman to become president of the college in 1994.

Photo courtesy of AACC

Four AACC students are interning for state government officials as part of a political science class this semester.

The student interns take meeting notes, answer constituent phone calls, write memos, testify for bills in committee and go to meetings for their senators and delegates for a minimum of 16 hours a week during the state’s 90-day legislative session, which began on Jan. 10.

“There’s a lot to be gained from it,” political science professor Dan Nataf, who teaches the Political Science 276 internship class, said. “There’s a lot of really good experience, reasonable pay; you get three social science elective credits for it.”

The internship started in 1979, according to Maryland Legislature internship coordinator Carolyn Pelli.

Students must pay tuition for the class, but earn a stipend of $3,100 or more, depending on how many hours they work. This stipend, according to Nataf, “has risen astronomically” over the past couple of years.

“It used to be if you were working the minimum 15, 16 hours, you’d get like $900, but now it’s risen,” Nataf, who directs the Center for the Study of Local Issues, said. “That’s for the entire 90-day session, so it’s not like you’re getting this every two weeks or anything, but still, that’s a lot of money.”

Jacob Lupo, a second-year political science student who works for Republican Sen. Mary Beth Carozza, said it is “great” and “fast-paced.”

Student Government Association President Zack Buster, who interns for Democratic Sen. Alonzo Washington, said it’s “amazing” to work “directly with [a] senator.”

Campus Current | 2024 | March | 7

Campus Life

College hosts WHM events Mischa Green Club Editor

AACC will host a spoken word event, a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon and more to celebrate Women’s History Month in March.

The national Women’s History Month theme, “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion,” recognizes women who speak up on behalf of those who are traditionally underrepresented or silenced, according to Women’s History Month co-coordinator Shelley DeBlasis.

“The 12 [AACC] events that will be happening will really, I guess, kind of support the national theme,” DeBlasis, an English professor, said. “There’s a lot of diversity there. So we wanted to be inclusive.”

The college will continue its annual tradition of hosting Soapbox Sisters, an event where students of any

gender can perform a poem, speech or passage by an influential woman on March 26 in Humanities 112. Female speakers may recite their original works.

“I love to see the kinds of poems or literary pieces or the original pieces that people write,” DeBlasis said.

“I love to encourage my students to get involved, and it’s just a wonderful event that showcases often-overlooked works by women but also the words of women.”

Sophie Reverdy, a Women’s History Month co-coordinator, said she wants to represent a wide array of experiences.

“So we want to acknowledge that, you know, when we talk about women, we’re not talking about a monolith,” Reverdy, a distance learning librarian, said.

“We’re talking about a spectrum of experiences, representing, you know, different social identities as well as

At Soapbox Sisters, one of the events for this year’s Women’s History Month, students will perform speeches and poems by women.

Image courtesy of the Communications and Journalism Department the experience of being older.”

Students said they are looking forward to Women’s History Month.

“I think it’s a good thing that women have a history month,” Charlie Smith, a

second-year transfer studies student, said. “We don’t really learn too much about women’s history as a part of, like, standard curriculums.”

Julissa Mendoza Robles, a first-year creative writing student, agreed.

Check out TheCampusCurrent.com

Fun and Games

Looking for answers?

“It’s an important month that can celebrate the accomplishments of women,” Mendoza Robles said. “It’s also good that it’s diverse because we can recognize all kinds of women, like women of color.”

8 | Campus Current | 2024 | March

Campus Life

Student opinion split on snowy-day Zooms Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief Jason Kalshoven Reporter

With the rise of online learning, some students are mourning the loss of a day off when the campus closes for snowy weather.

Some professors have said they will hold class over Zoom if snow closes the campus this semester.

But student opinions were split this snowy January over whether they should.

In an informal poll of 54 students, 22 said all classes should be canceled on snow

days, while 21 said they should continue over Zoom and 11 students said they don’t care.

“When you’re younger, you’re like, ‘Oh, I have a snow day, I have, like, a day off,’” Aidan Gamache, a second-year business administration student, said. “But now, like, you know, with Zoom and stuff like that, it’s like, ‘Oh, well, I can’t even leave my house, and now I still have to go to class.’”

The college allows professors to decide on a classby-class basis how to make up in-person classes, whether by rescheduling, meeting on Zoom while it’s snowing

or requiring extra homework.

Santiago Zapata, a second-year pre-med student, said continuing classes on snow days could be a problem for students who have children at home.

“The fact of the matter is, a lot of people have kids and work and a bunch of other stuff,” Zapata said. “So if there’s a snow day and their kids are now at home, that’s their babysitting. … If you’re required to sit in on a class, virtual[ly] meeting face-to-face, but your kids are running around, [then] it’s not really inclusive” for student-parents.

However, first-year en-

Volunteers will be available on campus until April 3 to do taxes for free for students, faculty and community members who make less than $64,000 a year.

The student and faculty volunteers participate in a federal program called VITA, or Volunteer Income Tax Assistance.

“This is my third year coming here to do my taxes,” Daniel Crocamo, a manager at T.J. Maxx, said. “I love coming here because the atmosphere is great. And they know what they’re doing, and they have never had an error with me.

They’re just amazing here.”

Applications to close for trustees on 3/31 Payton Thompson Senior Reporter

Students can apply to serve as the next student member of AACC’s Board of Trustees until March 31.

The college’s eightmember Board of Trustees includes one student, who represents the student body, votes on all measures and attends monthly board and community meetings.

The outgoing student trustee, Rachel Gwin, will finish her one-year term at the end of the semester.

“I believe what makes a good student trustee is someone that has motivation and drive,” Gwin said.

“It is a big role. You’re representing your fellow students when you’re making some of the decisions you’re making.”

To qualify for the posi-

trepreneurship student Zachary Lawrence said, “I wouldn’t mind it at all” if in-person classes continued over Zoom on snow days.

“It’s still good to get stuff done,” Lawrence said.

“There’s still semester [work that] needs to get done.”

Lawrence suggested the Zoom classes could be optional.

Joseph Lizzi, a business student, said classes shouldn’t continue over

Zoom on snow days.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, like, we had a test that day. Snow day canceled [it]. Alright, didn’t study for it anyway,’” Lizzi said. “You know, act of God. Now I get to study.”

Melissa Beardmore, the vice president for learning resources management, said last semester there’s “sadness over, you know, what’s perceived as a loss of a snow day” when online classes continue over Zoom.

Appointments are available on Wednesdays from 3:30-6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-noon.

Oksana Fisher, AACC’s coordinator of the VITA program, said she encourages students to volunteer.

“I would like to encourage students just to try it, you know, and see if it’s for you,” Fisher, a professor of business administration, said.

“It’s just like we have this sense of belonging to even, like, our small group and to their entire college. I think it’s a good program to be a part of.”

Michael Gavin, the program’s former coordinator, encouraged all members of the community to take

advantage of the free tax preparation.

“You don’t have to be a student to get your taxes done here,” Gavin, an accounting and finance professor, said. “We get some people, you know, they’re just in the general vicinity. They hear about it, they come in, they get it done, they like what they have, and they’re back every year. You want to know something? Free is a good price.”

“It’s such a friendly environment,” Crocamo said.

“They’re very professional, they know what they’re doing. And also, like I said, the accuracy is incredible. … It’s free, and it’s a phenomenal experience.”

AACC volunteers do free tax preparation Mischa Green Club Editor

AACC volunteers offer to file taxes free of charge for anyone who earns less than $64,000 a year.

Photo by Carmen Scannell

In-person classes can turn into Zoom calls in the event of a snow day.

Photo by Mason Hood

tion, students must be enrolled in credit classes and already have earned 20 credits toward a degree or certificate by July 1. Candidates must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 after this semester.

Student Government Association President Zack Buster said not all community colleges allow their student trustees to vote.

At AACC, Buster, a third-

Rachel Gwin will finish her one-year term as a student member on the Board of Trustees at the end of the semester.

Photo by Mason Hood year communications student, said, “When they’re voting to create a new policy, there’s a student there who actually votes on that.”

Gwin, a second-year paramedic student, said the

position means other board members hear a student’s perspective about college issues.

To apply for the position, students must fill out an application on the Nest.

Campus Current | 2024 | March | 9

Campus Life

Art professor displays work Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

An AACC art professor displayed 70 oil paintings of buildings in his community at the Cade Gallery in February.

Matt Klos walked through his neighborhood, Sparrows Point, with an easel and canvas every day while he was on sabbatical last spring to create the paintings, collectively titled “A Community Portrait.”

“This is just some random neighborhood in the middle of Nowhere, Maryland, [but] it’s really fascinating,” Klos said. “If you take some time, everything can be pretty inspirational.”

Klos said he spent three to four hours on each painting, completing most of them “plein-air,” meaning he painted them outdoors and on-site.

“Sometimes I’ll work on a little bit when I get back to the studio but for the most

part, I try to just do them outside on-site and in one session,” Klos said. “They’re supposed to be kind of like one-and-done.”

Klos collaborated on the exhibit, called “Street View,” with artist Nora Sturges, who does not work at AACC. Sturges painted landscapes by using Google Street View to follow a route Charles Darwin took through South America.

Klos said his paintings focus on “the areas of our public-facing spaces that … we don’t really consider.”

Klos explained: “We consider our front door, but we don’t necessarily consider our back alley or the garage or things like that, and they’re just so unique ... so I was, you know, just setting out to do all of these paintings of those particular spaces, of those sheds and outbuildings.”

Klos said he “had a conversation with this land-

Art professor Matt Klos presents 70 oil paintings he made during his sabbatical last spring of buildings in his neighborhood, Sparrows Point, at the Cade Gallery.

Photo by Mason Hood scaper one day, who was out there finishing up his job and I was painting this house, and he was like, ‘Isn’t it beautiful out here?’” but also, “you have other people that are like, ‘Why are you painting that?’”

Klos said he worked on the paintings for a year, continuing even after his spring sabbatical ended.

Klos said the motivation to work on a long-term art project “ebbs and flows,” but he always found a way to

“get back out there.”

“There were days where I was like, ‘I hate what I’m doing, you know, hate what I’m making, it’s not working out, maybe the whole idea is bad,’” Klos said. “Sometimes you get it, sometimes you miss.”

Klos added: “For every real s--tty painting experience you have, you remember those … really amazing transcendental experiences you’ve had, and you’re like, ‘Alright, this is just part of

karma. This is a karmic balance.’”

Klos said the experience helped him relate to students and improved his teaching.

“One of the greatest things about educators that are practitioners … be it music, be it science, whatever else, is you have, you know, sort of that sense of beginner’s mind,” Klos said. “Students are coming with those struggles. So when you’re in that place of those struggles, you’re like, ‘I get it.’”

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$12,000 For all majors!

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.

10 | Campus Current | 2024 | March

Club

Fine art printmaking club gains popularity Divine Mesumbe Daily Editor

A student club dedicated to printmaking is getting back up to speed after shutting down during the pandemic.

Approximately 40 students attend weekly Printmaking Club meetings in the Cade Building to plan events and create prints using plates, blocks and other equipment.

“It’s more like an industrial version of painting,” second-year visual arts student Christopher Pipkin said. “I feel like people who aren’t traditional artists can get into this medium.”

Club member Gretchen Amazeen, a continuing education student, said the group aims to “help more people learn about fine art printmaking and the different processes that are possible.”

The club’s coordinator, art professor Chris Mona, agreed the organization is an “expression” of the printmaking community at AACC. “We’re more than just … a student club,” Mona said.

“I feel very privileged to be able to work [here].”

Amazeen, who has taken classes here for 17 years, said printmaking does not require any skill in drawing. Rather, the four primary types of printmaking are

lithography, silkscreen, intaglio and relief printmaking.

“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, I have to draw. I have to be able to draw,’” Amazeen said. “But you don’t necessarily have to be. What you need to bring is a love of making art.”

According to Pipkin, printmaking has “a lot of technical elements.”

“It’s more like a puzzle,” Pipkin said. “So it’s definitely more of a, I guess, accessible medium.”

Club President Louise Wallendorf said some students use letterpress, a form of relief printmaking that involves writing messages.

“That’s something we’ve

Students and faculty are trying to start a Filipino culture club and a communications club on campus.

Second-year kinesiology student Nathan Villanueva started the Filipino Student Association last semester, but, according to club adviser Vita Chalk, most of its officers graduated before it could get fully established.

Villanueva said last semester that Filipino students on campus are “very under-

Public health is goal of new student group Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

A group of students started a club last semester to promote public health and wellness.

Riverhawks for Public Health faculty adviser Deborah Hammond said the club guides student members to “learn about needs in the community and help to address those,” as well as offering information about health sciences degree programs.

“It really is open to stu-

dents of many disciplines,” Hammond, a public health and kinesiology professor, said. “You don’t have to be a public health student. Public health is all around us. It’s in the food we eat. It’s the air we breathe. It’s social justice. … It’s really, like, so many things going on in our communities.”

The club hosted two events last semester: a visit to the University of Maryland School of Public Health and an information session on food insecurity.

Club Vice President

added post-pandemic,” Wallendorf said. “We’ve had people that were not art majors show some interest ... because they [can] write.”

Mark Lindley, a fifth-year continuing education student, said printmaking lets

artists “get your hands dirty.”

After spending years in the computer industry, Lindley said, “I don’t want to use a computer anymore … You manipulate pixels. But here, I get to manipulate real stuff like paper and paint.”

represented,” and a social club for them would help with that.

Chalk said in an email that although the club has stopped for now, “interested students can contact me and we may be able to get it going for the fall term.”

Communications professor Jessica Mattingly said she hopes to start a club for communications students this semester or next school year.

“We’re hoping to get a group of our COM majors to get together in regular

club meetings to learn more about the major [and] connect with each other,” Mattingly, the academic chair of the Communications and Journalism Department, said. “And then, like, have exploration of different career opportunities with them.”

Mattingly said she polled the communications students in her classes on how she could improve the program, and “the biggest thing they responded to was that they didn’t know who the other COM majors were.”

2 student orgs. seek members to sign up Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

The Filipino Student Association may reboot this semester, as a new Communications Club gets off the ground.

Adobe Stock photo

Art professor Chris Mona, right, shows a printmaking piece. Second-year undecided student Sheryl Southwick looks on.

Photo by Divine Mesumbe

Nathan Villanueva, a second-year kinesiology student, said Riverhawks for Public Health is “a bridge to that goal” of making change on campus.

Villanueva said his main goal for the spring semester is to “focus on mental health” in the college community.

“People are not really communicating [about] their mental health,” Villanueva said. “So I want them to know that there is the Health and Wellness Center. There’s advisers, there’s counselors that can help with that.”

Deborah Hammond, a public health and kinesiology professor, is the faculty adviser of the new Riverhawks for Public Health student club.

Photo by Carmen Scannell

Campus Current | 2024 | March | 11

Sports

’Hawks sports teams start spring training Jose Gonzalez Sports Editor

Student athletes and coaches said they believe they have what it takes to make it to the national championships this year.

The men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, along with the baseball and softball squads, began practicing for the spring season in February. Those spring sports began in February, except for women’s lacrosse, whose first game is on March 24.

“Above all, I want to win,” midfielder Sam Barrett, a third-year transfer studies student and returning lacrosse player, said. “Win the national championship, go to the tournament, just … compete at the highest level with the best teams.”

Jeremy Ross, the head coach for men’s lacrosse, agreed.

Ross, a former AACC lacrosse player, said he expects

the best from his players to reach the national championship.

“You just need to be the best team at the end,” Ross said, “playing your best lacrosse when it comes to that time of the year.”

According to Barrett, the main focus is “growth” and “getting good chemistry.”

“We want to compete while having fun and [grow] closer as teammates because we’re a family,” Barrett said.

The men’s lacrosse team played its first regular season game on Feb. 24.

Nick Hoffner, entering his fourth year as the baseball coach, said he wants his athletes to play their best baseball at the end of the season to advance to the Maryland Junior College Athletic Association playoffs.

“We want to continually get better as the season progresses,” Hoffner said.

“That’s what we’re looking to do each and every [day].”

The baseball season kicked off on Feb. 3 with a home defeat to Surry Community College.

“Everyone expects [you] to do good,” Nicco Holland, a first-year criminal justice student and newcomer, said.

“You learn from the mistakes that happen when you build off them.”

The softball season began on Feb. 27 with two home games against Monroe College.

“For some of us, it’s our last year,” catcher Jocelyn Degeyter, a second-year chemistry student and returning softball player, said.

“So you want to end on a high note.”

Infielder Jayden Buchanan, a second-year nursing student and returning player, said “communication is huge for [teamwork].”

Softball head coach Guy Klingensmith said fundamentals are significant in success.

Second-year information systems student Megan Meek prepares for the first lacrosse game of the season, which will be on March 24.

Photo by Tope Ayokunle “If you do things fundamentally wise and you execute … you’re going to do OK,” Klingensmith said.

Women’s lacrosse begins on March 24 against Howard Community College.

“We have 12 newcomers and four returners,” women’s lacrosse head coach Jim Griffiths said. “It’s definitely a [new] beginning.”

Defender Megan Meek, a second-year information systems student and re-

turning lacrosse player, said teamwork is vital for success.

“Our team chemistry is already very good this year,” Meek said. “Team chemistry is one of the most important things [in] hard work.”

Assistant Athletic Director Hillary Fisher said the upcoming season could be “very excit[ing].”

“All our events are free.

Come out and cheer on your friends,” Fisher said.

COMPETE FOR FUNDS TO SUPPORT YOUR BUSINESS VENTURE. APPLICATION DEADLINE: Noon April 1st FINALISTS ANNOUNCED: Noon April 11th www.aacc.edu/esi

AACC Students submit a comprehensive business plan and then finalists pitch their ideas to a panel of judges who evaluate and determine awards.

www.aacc.edu/esi

12 | Campus Current | 2024 | March

Sports

More players tee off as sport gets popular Zack Buckingham Reporter

A record number of college-age players are hitting the greens and taking an interest in golf.

Golf experienced a 12% year-over-year increase in players and fans from 20212022, according to the National Golf Foundation.

Students said seeing golf on social media has made them want to try the sport.

“I saw a bunch of it on social media and I was like, you know, this looks really fun,” new golfer Eli Anastasis, a first-year business student, said. “It could be really cool to just to be good at it.”

Adults age 18-34 years old have become the top demographic in golf, with 6.2 million on-course participants and 5.8 million offcourse-only participants, according to the National Golf Foundation. Off-course participants play golf on simu-

lators or at the driving range couple of years, that it’s albut not on 18-hole or 9-hole lowing people to have more courses. success.”

Being able to socialize “I work at Renditions Golf Course [in Davidson- and spend time with friends ville] so I actually could see is another reason golfers how many people come into said the sport is attracting play,” Ian Fitzgerald, a sec- new players.

“I’ve noticed as you get ond-year information assurance and cybersecurity net- older, probably late high working student who plays school, college, a lot more for the AACC golf team, said. people in that area are start“I noticed, you know, young- ing to golf,” Ethan Baron, a er people around my age, the first-year education student game of golf is appealing to who plays for the AACC golf them.” team, said.

A A C C “Going out with your friends, “It’s defigolf head playing golf. I mean, there’s nitely the nothing better than that.” coach Dave social aspect O’Donnell Riverhawks golfer Ethan Baron of it, that’s said adthe big convances in technology around tributor. Going out with your clubs and balls have made friends, playing golf. I mean, the sport more accessible to there’s nothing better than new golfers. that.”

The experienced golf“I think one of the biggest changes has been, you ers said new players should know, the equipment has learn course etiquette and improved so drastically in keep a proper pace of play. the last decade,” O’Donnell “In terms of being a good said. “Especially in the last steward of the game, number

More AACC students are golfing for fun as the sport’s popularity gains traction on social media.

Adobe Stock photo one, fix your divots, repair your ball marks, take care of the course,” O’Donnell said.

“Rake the bunkers. … It’s important to do that.”

“When someone’s swinging, be quiet, stuff like that,” Baron said. “Most of the time the people will tell you at the course like, ‘Hey, just watch this,’ and there’s really no harm in that.”

The golfers also said they are excited to see the sport grow and welcome new participants to the course.

“I think it’s a great thing that golf is growing,” O’Donnell said. “For so many years

golf was declining as a sport and there was a lot of worry about the future of the game. … This influx of golfers in the post-COVID era has been, you know, really a benefit to the golf industry as a whole.”

“I love it. I mean, it expands the game,” Baron said.

“It brings new people into it that may have never been on the course before. I love playing with people that when they come up to me and we’re on the first tee and they’re like, ‘Just so you know, I’m not that good.’ We’re all just out there to have fun and that’s all that matters.”

part of the growth in popularity of golf in the last couple of years,” golf coach Dave O’Donnell said. “You know, I think we would be remiss if we didn’t address that and offer an opportunity for young women to play for the Riverhawks.”

At most colleges with co-ed golf teams, women practice and compete in the same tournaments as the male players, but their rankings are separate.

O’Donnell said female golfers have contributed to golf’s recent boom in popularity and that AACC wants to offer opportunities towomen golfers.

The National Golf Foundation estimates that women make up 25% of on-course golfers, including competitive and recreational players, a 14% increase since 2019.

Herr said golf is not just a men’s sport and that he would like to see regular

women’s competition.

“It’s typically listed under men’s golf, but it’s certainly a co-ed sport,” Herr said. “We ... certainly welcome that opportunity [to] have female golfers compete and hope that that would happen regularly.”

Herr said the Riverhawks had not had a female golfer on the team since he joined AACC Athletics 13 years ago.

AACC’s male golfers said they would like to see more women join the team.

“I definitely think there should be more put out for the women because it would help not only with the men, but it would also help with just golf in general,” Ethan Baron, a first-year education student who plays for the golf team, said. “I think seeing the competition between both sides together, playing together, doing everything like that, it would be more beneficial for the sport.”

Team invites women to golf as Riverhawks Zack Buckingham Reporter

The Riverhawks golf team has two women players this semester.

Adobe Stock photo

For the first time, the Riverhawks golf team has two female members.

Ela Simpson, a second-year law enforcement and criminal justice student, and first-year transfer studies student Addison Piechowiak joined the team’s roster in February.

“Someone’s got to start it and I have an opportunity,” Simpson said. “Hopefully with people seeing me go out and play, we can get more women in golfing at this school and any other school out there.”

The team, whose roster also will name approximately six male golfers this spring, has not included women in the past, although Athletic Director Duane Herr said they have always been welcome to try out.

“I think women are a big

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