May 2022 Issue

The award-winning newspaper of Anne Arundel Community College TheCampusCurrent.com

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@Campus_Current

May 2022

Campus Life

Campus Life

Sports

Punk-grunge style is back in action on campus.

Students comment on library study room policy.

Riverhawks softball player pitches perfect game.

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College to hold more fall classes in person Lilly Roser Reporter

AACC will hold 41.5% of its classes on campus in the fall, according to college vice presidents.

“The push has been to bring back more face-toface offerings so we get that

community feel again,” AACC Vice President for Learning Tanya Millner said.

Still, Millner explained that if more students than expected register for online-only courses instead of face-to-face classes, the college is flexible to open up more online sections.

Millner explained it is easier for the administration to move face-to-face sections online than it is to do the opposite.

This semester, 28.9% of classes are face-to-face, as opposed to the 50% that the First-year nursing student Chassidy Agraii says she is excited to return in the fall.

Continued on page 3 Photo by Graig Bracey

SYNC class meetings to mirror face-to-face Zack Buster Associate Editor Dan Elson Editor-in-Chief

Second-year psychology student Hamza Iqbal attends a Zoom meeting for his online SYNC class.

Photo by Shomari James

Students who take online SYNC courses this summer and fall could be meeting more often over Zoom or Microsoft Teams with their professors and classmates.

Online SYNC courses that have included a single virtual meeting per week now will meet at least twice a week so students who take

a SYNC version of the class will meet with professors and classmates for exactly the same amount of time as those in the face-to-face sections of the same course.

The change comes as the college moves toward making the student experience in an online SYNC class equal to the face-to-face experience.

Online SYNC classes, which the college began offering in March 2020 when campuses closed because of the pandemic, have typical-

tion … based off of his qualifications and his passion for representing the student body,” Cheatham said.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan will swear in Curran on July 1. Curran will replace third-year culinary student Jordan Foley, a lieutenant in

First-year secondary Spanish student Conor Curran will begin his tenure as a BOT member on July 1.

Photo courtesy of Conor Curran

Bd. of Trustees to get new student member Zack Buster Associate Editor

A first-year secondary Spanish education student will be the next student member of AACC’s Board of Trustees.

Director of Student Engagement Amberdawn Cheatham, who leads the

committee that accepts the nominations for student trustee candidates, said the panel chose Conor Curran, a Student Government Association senator, because he has experience in student leadership. “[The committee] decided that Conor was the best representative for the posi-

Continued on page 3

ly involved online content in Canvas plus at least one Zoom or Microsoft Teams meeting a week.

“We have decided that we need to be consistent [so] … all of the online [SYNC] sections will meet the [same] number of minutes as they would in a regular lecture class,” Alicia Morse, dean of the School of Liberal Arts, said. “We're doing this collegewide.”Classes that are Continued on page 3

2 | Campus Current | 2022 | May

Editorial

Meet the Staff Editor-in-Chief Dan Elson Associate Editor Zack Buster Graphic Designer Mary Kane Newsroom Manager Kaylah Rashid Photo Editor Frank Fitzgeralde Libom Photographers Graig Bracey Shomari James Reporters Maggie Brown Kyle Cleary Jenna Lagoey Luke Lanham Lilly Roser Vance Wild D'Angelo Williams Faculty Adviser Sharon O'Malley

Congrats to our 2022 grads Editoral Board

Dear Riverhawks Class of 2022: Campus Current congratulates you for completing two years of community college under the worst possible circumstances.

We congratulate you for sticking to your studies even when you were surrounded by illness, grief and fear brought on by the pandemic.

We congratulate you for mastering online learning, for suffering social distancing and for not letting the isolation slow you down or stop you all together.

On May 26, we will be there to congratulate you on graduation day.

If you graduated from high school two years ago, you probably didn’t get to have a graduation ceremony.

Now that you’re graduating from community college, you deserve an in-person graduation ceremony. You deserve the pomp and circumstance. You deserve to have all eyes on you as you

walk across the stage to accept your diploma.

You had to go through quarantining, wearing masks, social distancing, taking online classes, making fewer friends and staying inside all the time. That’s not the usual college experience.

You deserve the best ceremony possible and best sendoff possible.

Your graduation on May 26 at the Live! Casino & Hotel is AACC’s first in-person graduation ceremony in two years. You deserve it.

Attend your graduation ceremony if you can. Treat this graduation like you won a prize. Treat it like the crown jewel of your life so far because no other graduate has ever had to earn it the way you earned it.

To everyone who isn’t graduating, please come to the ceremony and support these remarkable graduates. Come and show them how proud you are of them for pushing through the pandemic to achieve this outstanding goal.

Think about wheth-

Letter from an editor Photographers on Page 1, top Frank Fitzgeralde Libom Dan Elson Kelly Hurd

Twitter @campus_current Facebook Facebook.com/ CampusCurrentPaper Instagram @campuscurrentaacc

Contact 410-777-2296 CampusCurrent @gmail.com

Advertising 410-777-2803 CampusCurrentAdverts @gmail.com 101 College Parkway Arnold, MD 21012

Second-year entrepreneurship student Kaylah Rashid and second-year information systems student Kevin Lemus try on their graduation regalia.

Photo by Graig Bracey er you could have handled the extreme restrictions that these graduates went through starting in 2020.

To not even know your teachers these two years isn’t normal. To not even meet your classmates in person isn’t normal. To not be able to hang out with friends on the Quad simply isn’t the normal college experience—or the one you

probably had hoped for.

Thank goodness graduation is normal this year.

Campus Current salutes this graduating class. The staff of the student newspaper wishes you everything good in your future.

Never forget how special your accomplishments are. Class of 2022: You're the crown jewel of college graduates.

Workers: Keep options open Zack Buster Associate Editor

This time last year, I was a high schooler working at Chick-fil-A. Getting threatened by customers over cold fries may not have seemed like a valuable life experience, but making sure they walked away smiling taught me customer service and hospitality.

Whether it was learning conversational Spanish from my coworkers or cleaning the dirty bathrooms, these experiences taught me valuable life lessons.

Even if I didn’t realize it while I was working there, I learned skills that I use in my current job all the time.

Fast forward a year, and I’m the associate editor of the Campus Current newspaper here at AACC. I have a job in my field that gets me out of bed in the morning and makes me feel like I’m having a good college experience, even in this weird time.

While working for the paper, I began to have these little flashbacks to moments at Chick-fil-A. I began to realize just how much I learned.

I’m a full-time communi-

One year ago, Zack Buster was a high school student working at Chick-fil-A. Now he's the associate editor of Campus Current.

Photo by Frank Fitzgeralde Libom cations student and I’m discovering just how many different social and professional skills I learned at Chick-fil-A: customer service, counting money, crisis communication, good listening skills.

I use every one of those skills at the paper—except for the counting money part.

And I’m learning new skills, especially leadership skills.

I’m learning how to run staff meetings, how to manage people, how to prioritize tasks and how to budget my time. I’m also learning how to be a leader.

I use the skills I learned at Chick-fil-A all the time. I use customer service skills when mediating differences between staff members and hospitality skills when convincing a source to agree to an interview.

These are things that help me now and will continue to help me throughout the rest of my life, whether I end up being a journalist, a sociologist or even a Chickfil-A manager.

I can see how those experiences served as stepping stones that brought me

to the place I am now, and how they will help me in the next steps in my life.

Even if you don’t realize it, you can learn lessons from your minimum-wage job, too.

While the job you have now might not seem relevant to your future or be as enjoyable as you’d like, there’s always something to learn from it.

You never know, what you learned might be exactly the skill you need when you get to your next job or to the one after that.

Campus Current | 2022 | May | 3

News

College to offer extra fall classes in-person Continued from page 1

college planned for. This semester, fewer students registered for face-to-face classes than college administrators expected.

For the fall, the college will offer 30.5% of classes fully online.

Another 18.5% of sections will be in the online SYNC format, which means students will take part of their coursework online plus they will meet with their professors and classmates

on Zoom or Microsoft Teams, usually twice a week.

Finally, 5.8% of fall courses will take the hybrid format, which means students will take the class mostly online with occasional on-campus classroom meetings.

Millner said the college must “do the research and look at what has happened over the past five years.”

At some points during the past five years, almost all classes were in person, Millner said. But when COVID-19 hit, classes shift-

SYNC courses to meet more Continued from page 1

fully online will continue to operate without any required meetings.

Depending on the class and the professor, the number of online SYNC meetings has varied since the college introduced that method of taking classes.

Morse explained that the college created online SYNC sections in response to the pandemic, which closed campuses and moved all classes online for several semesters.

“A crisis occurred two years ago,” Morse said. “We needed to, as an institution, quickly pivot to online lectures. … There had been some flexibility provided for faculty around the number of minutes, so we have decided that we need to be consistent … starting in the summer,” for all liberal arts classes.

ed heavily to online for four semesters.

Millner explained in-person courses have value but administrators must take into account that “people's lives have changed. … People are working from home and doing in-home child care and [some people] cannot get to campus.”

The pandemic has an effect on what the fall will look like on campus, Vice President for Learning Resources Management Melissa Beardmore said.

Other schools within the college are doing the same.

In fact, Vice President for Learning Tanya Millner in April created a committee to come up with a uniform definition of “online SYNC” and standardize the requirements for class meetings.

In the meantime, the amount of time students spend in meetings for online SYNC classes will match the face-to-face requirement.

"You shouldn't have … higher standards and expectations than if you are in a [fully] online class, a hybrid class or an online SYNC class,” Millner said. “The modality should not matter.

You should still have the exact same exemplary learning experience regardless of the modality.”

Elizabeth Appel, dean of the School of Health Sciences, agreed that online SYNC classes and in-person class-

es should meet for the same amount of time.

Karen Cook, dean of the School of Business and Law, said “the vast majority” of online SYNC business courses already mirror the face-toface versions. Starting in the fall, she said, all of them will.

The change will “ensure that the online SYNC experience is standardized … so student expectations are standardized,” Cook said.

Lance Bowen, dean of the School of Science, Technology and Education, agreed.

“Regardless of the [class type] it’s critical that the stu-

the seven other members.

Curran said his tenure as the president of the Chesapeake Regional Association of Student Councils prepared him to become the student member of the Board of Trustees.

“I … feel very passionate about educational leadership … and having [the] student voice be heard at every level

of leadership,” Curran said.

“Because if we're not working for our students, then who are we working for?”

The nomination process, which started in February, included interviews by a committee of student leaders and faculty. Then college administrators approved the nomination before sending it to Hogan for the appointment.

the Navy, whose one-year term will end on June 30.

The lone student member of AACC’s Board of Trustees has the same voting power as all the other trustees.

“They're completely equal to the adults on the board,” Curran said. “Their functions are the same” as

If nothing changes with the risk of the pandemic, Beardmore explained, the college “does not anticipate [requiring] vaccines and COVID testing into the fall.”

The college this semes-

ter removed the requirement for on-campus students and staff to prove they are vaccinated or have tested negative for COVID-19 each week. On May 19, AACC’s mask mandate will expire.

SYNC classes will meet for the same amount of time a week as in-person classes.

Photo by Shomari James

Student BOT member to take office in July Continued from page 1

AACC released its fall catalog in April, featuring more in-person classes than the spring 2022 catalog.

Photo by Dan Elson

dent learning outcomes and objectives of the course are being met,” Bowen said.

“It should be the same content, and meeting the same objectives,” Colleen Eisenbeiser, dean of Learning Advancement and the Virtual Campus, noted. "But it's all online.”

First-year transfer studies student Jamie Gant, who took a SYNC class last semester that only met once a week, said she would have “definitely … benefited [from having] two meetings.”

Second-year graphic and web design student Mason

Butler agreed. He said the extra meeting time would make “online classes feel a lot more interactive if you're meeting more.”

But first-year computer engineering student Sam Fredrick objected.

“I feel like it’d be wasting my time because previously, I [felt] one time a week was at a great pace for what I was doing for my schedule and my life,” Frederick said.

“So maybe it would inconvenience people to have to go to a class.”

Reporter Lilly Roser contributed to this article.

First-year secondary Spanish education student Conor Currant poses in front of the U.S. Capitol.

Photo courtesy of Conor Curran

4 | Campus Current | 2022 | May

News

364 test positive for COVID since July ’21 Zack Buster Associate Editor

More than 360 AACC students, faculty and staff have reported that they tested positive for COVID-19 since July 2021.

Vice President for Learning Resources Management Melissa Beardmore said the number is “relatively small” because until March, the college required students and staff to prove they were vaccinated or had tested negative for COVID-19 each week.

A mandate to wear masks inside of campus buildings

will end on May 19.

Beardmore noted that students accounted for “the bulk” of the positive reports.

“Safety has been our North Star," Beardmore said.

"We’ve been more conservative than others, especially in regards to keeping the masks on.”

Since the college began keeping track of campus COVID-19 cases, the numbers fluctuated, peaking at 39 cases the week of Jan. 24.

Positive cases on campus have been in the single digits since February.

The college requires students with positive test re-

sults who take on-campus classes to quarantine at home until an AACC nurse clears them to return to class.

Beardmore, the administrator in charge of COVID-19 policies on campus, said it’s possible not everyone who contracted COVID-19 reported it to AACC. Second-year English and entrepreneurship student Kasia Olszewski is one who did not.

“I hadn’t gone to the campus, but I had COVID last October and it was never asked of me to … tell people,” Olszewski said. “So I think … that number is only

For the first time since the pandemic started, COVID-19 is not a top concern of Anne Arundel County residents, according to an AACC survey that came out in April.

In the 514-person survey, county residents named crime, drugs and education as their top concerns. Economy, growth, taxes, housing costs and transportation all ranked higher than the virus.

Crime is a top concern for 26% of residents, up from 13% in the fall and 10% last spring, the survey revealed.

AACC grads happy for 1st normal ceremony D'Angelo Williams Reporter

Students who are graduating in May said they expect their AACC commencement ceremony to far surpass what they experienced when they finished high school.

For some, the AACC graduation on May 26 at Live! Casino & Hotel will be their first commencement ceremony.

Second-year business administration student Brandon Timmins graduated from high school in 2020 and didn’t get to celebrate

the way he wanted.

“I didn't have a prom nor graduation,” Timmins said.

“I had prom in my ex's backyard and I had my graduation in my ex's backyard. So that's pretty much what I did.”

AACC’s event will be the college’s first in-person commencement since 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the college hosted a “carmencement.”

During carmencement, graduating students drove around Ring Road while faculty and parents cheered them on from the sidewalks.

“I’m not one for relish-

coming from people that did tell [the college].”

Olszewski said this may be the case because some people would feel “embarrassed” or “awkward.”

First-year film student Shawn Thompson said some might not report their test results because they might “be scared of telling people that they have COVID.”

Also, 20% of respondents ranked drugs as their top issue, up from 9% last fall and 11% last spring.

Residents are “looking at other problems that they just weren't able to focus on in the past,” AACC political science professor Dan Nataf said.

“And drugs are one of them.”

COVID-19 ranked seventh on the list of resident concerns, with 14% of those who participated in the survey selecting it as their top issue. That compares with 53% who named the virus as the county's greatest problem in spring 2021 and 35% who chose it in fall 2021.

Nataf noted COVID-19 is not as big of a deal as it was over the past two years to residents who took part in the survey.

“So at the same time when it's declining in importance ... people are just willfully deciding to ignore it,” Nataf said. “And just saying, ‘I don't care anymore.'"

The survey also included responses from 105 AACC students. Their top concerns are economy, COVID-19 and drugs, according to the poll.

Students who spoke to Campus Current named COVID-19, inflation and racism as their biggest issues.

Crime beats out virus in poll, survey shows Dan Elson Editor-in-Chief

In a 514-person survey, county residents say crime and drugs are their most important issues. Shown, political science professor Dan Nataf, who supervised the poll.

Photo courtesy of Dan Nataf

First-year mechanical engineering student Cosmo Schafer self-administers a COVID-19 test.

Photo by Shomari James

ing in my accomplishments, but I will say it’s nice to get recognition,” Katheryne Lochart, a second-year transfer studies student who plans to attend the ceremony, said.

“So it’ll be really nice to have a graduation.”

Lochart added: “It’s almost like the whole phase of my life through the pandemic was at AACC. So it’s kind of nice to have that sort of come to a close in the graduation and to celebrate my accomplishments when I wasn't able to before.”

Luke Lanham, a graduat-

Second-year business administration student Brandon Timmins says he's happy to have a college graduation because he didn't have one for high school.

Photo courtesy of Brandon Timmins ing transfer studies student, said he is looking forward to graduating.

“It definitely feels like a victory not only because of COVID, but just because I've

been in college courses for like four years now, on and off, and I still don’t have anything to show for it,” Lanham said. “So, me getting an associate’s degree is a big step."

Campus Current | 2022 | May | 5

News

AACC uses pandemic aid on college needs Vance Wild Reporter

Since the start of COVID-19, AACC received upward of $31 million in federal aid to help the college and its students through the pandemic.

Associate Vice President for Learning Resources Management Andrew Little said AACC got money to spend on the college and funds to give to the students.

“We were eligible for both institutional support and student support,” Little said. “So in general, we had about $13 million in aid that

we received … that went out directly as student aid to students. And then we had eligibility for about $19 million in institutional support.”

Little said the college put the money into tools that students need for succeeding at AACC. “[For example] we purchased laptops for loaner programs for students,” Little said. “We had hotspots available to make sure that they had access to [the] internet. We did COVID testing through that process … [and improved] our ability to deliver distance education, providing support structures for

Hackers send spam emails Lilly Roser Reporter

A hacker sent more than 10,000 spam emails to AACC email accounts in March, the college reported.

The emails went to a random mixture of students, faculty, and staff and contained a link to a fraudulent website designed to look like the MyAACC login page.

Director of Information Security John Williams noted that he discovered the breach when he received

the email himself. Plus, he said he “had many, many people send him the email [to] say it [was] bad.”

Hackers “are targeting the college, but they are not targeting anybody specifically,” Williams said. “When we talk to other community colleges here in Maryland, we are all fighting the same battle of people trying to capture .edu accounts.”

The spam email told users that the college had locked their email accounts and that to regain access,

students in that remote environment, things like that.”

AACC received the pandemic-related funding from the U.S. Department of Education; the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security or CARES Act; the American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA; and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. Some of the funds went to helping students with “expenses related to the disruption of college operations due to coronavirus," according to an AACC press release. These expenses could include food, housing, health care or child

The 47th edition of AACC’s annual student literary magazine will come out on May 4.

Amaranth publishes poems, short stories and photographs of student and alumni artwork.

“It’s an excellent thing for a resume,” faculty adviser Simon Ward said. “There are many writers and artists who have had their first things published in Amaranth and have gone on to be subsequently published elsewhere.”

Garrett Brown, who was

Amaranth’s faculty adviser for almost 10 years, said getting published in the journal is a big career step for any writer at AACC. “The thing I like to emphasize with the journal is that it is the best way for creative writing students to see that they have skills that are applicable in the workplace,” Brown said.

Brown added that the journal can help artists and writers use their skills in ways that can get them jobs.

“Amaranth is the place where … the rubber meets the road for making a link between what is learned in the classroom and … [what

care, for example.

Part of the money assisted students with “exceptional needs” and emergency costs.

Some students at AACC said they agreed with how the college used the funds.

Still, first-year biology student Joy Heath said she

wished the college gave more money directly to students.

“A little more wouldn't hurt just because most of the people coming here are … not as flexible with their money as people who are going to a traditional four-year university,” Heath said.

AACC changed the photo on the sign-in portal screen to a shot of the college's mascot so the page does not look like the one hackers used for a scam email.

Photo by Lilly Roser they needed to click on a link in the spam email to verify their accounts. Students who clicked on the link saw what looked like the MyAACC sign-in portal.

Students who logged

Student arts journal puts out 47th edition Zack Buster Associate Editor

Circulation technician Corey Allender unboxes loaner laptops.

Photo by Zack Buster

you] carry with you into the job market,” Brown said.

Writers and artists can submit their work to the editors at Amaranth, who vote on which pieces to include in the journal.

Second-year creative writing student Eric Levy, the journal’s managing editor, said working on Amaranth has been a great experience for him.

“I feel lucky to be involved with something so special,” Levy said. “We had a wide variety of submissions which allowed us, as a team, to create what we felt was the most cohesive voice to represent AACC.”

into this fraudulent page unwittingly gave the hacker access to their AACC portal user names and passwords.

The college responded by changing the photo on the MyAACC portal web-

page so it would no longer look like the page that the hackers copied.

“The faster [the college] can take action, the less impact it is to everybody,” Williams said.

Sarah Evans, the graphic designer for Amaranth, created the cover art for the 47th edition of the annual student literary magazine.

Photo courtesy of Eric Levy

6 | Campus Current | 2022 | May

Campus Life

Muslim club to talk about Islamic topics Dan Elson Editor-in-Chief The newly created Muslim Student Association started meeting on campus in March.

Hamza Iqbal, the club’s president, and Ahmed Abbas, the vice president, said they created the club to expand diversity on campus and represent Islam.

“We need more people actually going on campus and being engaged with these types of [clubs],” Iqbal, a second-year psychology student, said. “So, I feel like there’s going to be more people actually coming on campus, discussing our religion and just giving back to the community in general.”

Iqbal said seven to 10 members joined the club, which meets on Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on the third floor of the Truxal Library.

“I thought maybe there

would [already] be a Muslim Student Association club, because you can see other colleges like Towson University, University of Maryland, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, they all have it, but we’re the only one that really doesn’t have it,” Iqbal said. “And it’s kind of sad.”

Club members discuss Islamic topics, Islamophobia and diversity. The holy month of Ramadan started in early April and ends in May. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims fast, show generosity and pray.

Owen Silverman Andrews, an instructional specialist of English language learning, said he became the club’s faculty adviser to address diversity on campus.

“It’s a really pivotal moment for the college in which we’re beginning to deepen and solidify our anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclu-

sion work,” Silverman Andrews said. “And you know, this club’s formation is impressive because it came from the students.”

Abbas, a second-year information technology student, said he wants to “promote and talk about Islam . . . [and] give a message to people that Islam is a respectful religion with peace.”

“There are Muslim people on campus,” Iqbal noted. “But we don’t have anywhere to go [and] collaborate and understand each other’s religion and stuff like that. So, I want it to give people an opportunity to learn [Islam] basically.”

First-year nutrition science student Merna Shaalan said she could eventually see the club growing.

“A lot of people that are in this group that I’ve spoken to see potential [in the club],” Shaalan, the club’s treasurer, noted.

Shaalan also said the

Fun and Games

Did you know?

You can use your AACC username and password instead of a library card at the Truxal Library, except for borrowing hard copies.

Photo by Mary Kane

The Muslim Student Association gathers on the third floor of the Truxal Library to discuss Islam.

Photo by Graig Bracey club is important.

“This is a good opportunity to show our community as being welcoming and just a fun place to be and feel comfortable and be yourself,” Shaalan said.

First-year computer science student Jamil Guthrie Jr. said he joined the club to learn about different cultures and religions.

“So far, I think it’s pretty

good and it’s honestly been very enlightening,” Guthrie, a member, said.

First-year business administration student Fatima Jamal said she joined the club because she wanted to connect with AACC’s Muslim students.

“It’s nice to bond with people who understand that way of life,” Jamal, the club’s secretary, said.

Campus Current | 2022 | May | 7

Campus Life

Punk-grunge makes comeback at college Zack Buster Associate Editor

The punk-grunge clothing style is making a comeback on the Arnold campus, proving punk is not dead.

Punk-grunge mixes the dark colors and torn clothes of ’80s punk rock bands and the old, repurposed flannels of ’90s grunge musicians.

The style features layers, metal spikes and studs, old military jackets and customized thrift store clothing.

“A big part of grunge fashion is customization,” Jenna Lagoey, a first-year fine arts student, said. “These pants are old. So I cut them again, I made them fit and I added all these details on them. And I like them a lot more now.”

Lagoey said punk style clothes are “a lot of that kind of second-hand stuff, you know. It’s really getting the most out of things, [and] things are kind of beaten up a little bit.”

With the revival of ’80s and ’90s punk and grunge music, the fringe styles that those bands inspired also returned.

“You definitely see a lot of the bigger trends are kind of influenced by Nirvana, kind of Kurt Cobain style,” Lagoey said.

Second-year electrical engineering student Ash Abell agreed.

“People who like certain styles of music also might tend to like certain styles of visual aesthetic,” Abell said.

Second-year graphic design student Sean Fallowfield said the style isn’t just about music or even fashion.

“I don’t even necessarily think that has to do with fashion as much I would say as people are … just fed up with pop culture in general,” Fallowfield said.

First-year astronomy and physics student Zoe Brunton agreed.

“I mean, [it’s] kind of

like wanting to stand out a little bit,” Brunton said. “I don’t think anybody really … dresses, like, a little punk without wanting to stand out [and] not just kind of like going with like [the] standard.”

Fallowfield agreed.

“I would say it’s just a lot more unique,” Fallowfield said. “And it’s a lot more organic than with a lot of other types of styles because with a lot of other styles it’s usually so cut and dry. Like, everything’s just sort of different versions of the same thing.”

Fallowfield said the revolt against the norm is not pointless.

“I don’t really view it as … rebelling against stuff just for the sake of rebelling against it,” Fallowfield said. “Like, it has to be purposeful.”

First-year transfer studies student Jamie Gant said the style fits her.

“People are able to express themselves better,”

Students who wear punk and grunge styles take inspiration from ’90s bands like Nirvana. Shown, firstyear fine arts student Jenna Lagoey.

Photo by Frank Fitzgeralde Libom Gant said. “Personally, for me, I just like this because I think it’s just comfortable.

It’s easy for me. I have a lot of pieces that could just go on.”

Abell agreed.

“I would have to say part

check out TheCampusCurrent.com

Fun and Games

Looking for answers?

of it is definitely the ease of it, where there’s not a whole lot of thought that has to go into actually achieving the aesthetic,” Abell said.

Reporter Kyle Cleary contributed to this article.

8 | Campus Current | 2022 | May

Campus Life

Focus groups reveal tips for engagement Jenna Lagoey Reporter

Students have been participating in focus groups and answering surveys to help AACC administrators figure out how to keep them from dropping out of college.

Approximately 14 students have participated in three focus groups—small meetings at which students can voice their opinions about ways the college can retain its students—this semester. “[The] experience was good; it was a diverse group

of students,” KyAnna Arrington, a transfer studies student who started taking classes here in 2018, said.

“It was … you know, a safe space where you can talk about whatever you need to talk about. Some things, you know, can get a little bit personal, a little bit sensitive.”

Two AACC vice presidents formed an Enrollment, Retention and Completion Council in November to explore ways the college can help students stay in school.

“There’s been a decline in retention,” Vice President for Learning Tanya Millner,

the college’s provost, said at the time. “We’re trying to find ways to meet students where they are and get them back to campus.”

Amberdawn Cheatham, who co-chairs a subcommittee on student engagement, said student engagement is vital to creating a quality college experience.

“Better student engagement increases a sense of belonging for the student,” Cheatham, AACC’s director of student engagement, said. “And if a student feels a sense of belonging, they feel a sense of ownership in the

transfer studies student, said. “Like people in here just want to talk to each other more.”

The 175,000-squarefoot Health and Life Sciences building is the largest on the Arnold campus. It opened in August 2021.

Some students said the building is a useful learning environment.

“We've been into the greenhouse a couple of times for the different plants,” Janelle Kellison, a second-year environmental policy and science student, said. “And I've also been into the Biology Department, where I got to

see the different types of cells and also they have, like, huge aquariums that you're able to analyze the water.”

First-year elementary education student Miriam Zorc agreed.

“I don't know, [I] just like the more modern environment,” Zorc said. “I feel like it's been better learning. ...

The greenhouse is beautiful.

It's really a cool experience to have that on campus to like, really see it and have our stuff growing right next door.”

The building has 18 labs for biology and 20 for health and sciences.

“I love how open it is and

Students praise new building’s open space Jenna Lagoey Reporter

Students who take courses in the Health and Life Sciences building said they enjoy the sundrenched structure’s modern feel, open layout and large spaces.

Students told Campus Current in April they like the way they feel in the building.

“The bright colors, the windows … the vibe of the building, the fact that whenever I'm in here, people seem to come up to me more and just talk to me,” Cheynne Winters, a second-year

community, right? So they’re going to do whatever they need to do to continue to be a part of the Riverhawk family.”

Fewer students have enrolled at community colleges, both nationally and at AACC recently, in part because of the COVID-19 pan-

demic. In addition, more students are dropping out.

Cheatham’s committee seeks “to see how engagement in the classroom and out of the classroom actually impacts people’s decision to continue to enroll,” she said.

First-year elementary education student Miriam Zorc looks through a microscope in the new Health and Life Sciences building. Students say they are enjoying the new building.

Photo by Jenna Lagoey how there's so many different resources like the tutoring center you're able to go to for any class, whether it's environmental, chemistry or anatomy,” Kellison

said. “And there's a bunch of resources throughout the building where you're able to access any teachers that you like, and they've been very helpful.”

York Times, Anne Arundel County averaged 173 new cases on April 19 compared with 731 on Jan 15. The county lifted its indoor mask mandate on Feb 1.

AACC still requires masks inside campus buildings until May 19. Wearing masks outside on campus is optional.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said masks are not necessary in counties like this one with low COVID-19 numbers.

Most students in the informal poll said they feel safe enough to skip the mask.

“We are seeing a steady decrease in our positivity rate and our vaccination rate is higher than it has been,” first-year nursing student Jamie Macaraeg said.

Still, some students said they are still not feeling as safe as others.

First-year creative writing student Patrick Caswell said he usually wears a mask whenever he goes inside a building on or off campus.

“Me and my family still try to wear masks around most places, unless we're super far away from people,” Caswell said.

Fears ease as COVID cases drop in county Dan Elson Editor-in-Chief

Second-year business student Michael Davis and first-year zoology student Chloe Yates study without masks outdoors on campus.

Photo by Graig Bracey

AACC's Office of Student Engagement helps conduct surveys and focus groups to assess students’ opinions on how the college can engage them better.

Photo by Zack Buster

AACC students said they feel safer on campus and in public as COVID-19 restrictions are easing up.

In an informal poll of 20 students, 14 said they feel safer now that COVID-19 cases are falling in the county.

“I just feel like I can go outside more compared to when I was pretty much in my house 24/7,” first-year professional game development student Cole Scanlon said.

According to The New

Campus Current | 2022 | May | 9

Campus Life

Groups take priority in library study rooms Dan Elson Editor-in-Chief Second-year communications student Maggie Brown said she waited on the second floor of Truxal Library for an hour the week before spring break because she needed a quiet place to prepare for a midterm and hoped to get into one of the 20 study rooms, which are quiet and private.

Less than 10 minutes after she got into a room and unpacked her backpack, however, three other students knocked on the door and asked her to leave. They told her groups are allowed to kick singles out of the rooms.

Not wanting a confrontation, Brown packed up and left. But she said the experience left her rattled.

“The experience to me was so upsetting that literally,” she said, “I'm … a 33-year-old student crying

tears because I feel like I was wronged in some type of way,” Brown said.

Brown said she wouldn’t step back in the library again.

Library officials confirmed that their policy for study rooms is to allow a group of two or more students to kick out a single person.

Some students said the policy is fair and others disagreed.

“If there's someone in the single room, most likely they're going to be asked to leave,” first-year transfer studies student Jacob Voorhees said. “I think that policy should be enforced. So I'm all for it."

The library is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on Fridays. The policy started in fall 2012. The policy is displayed right outside of every study room on the library’s second and third floors.

“Note that groups of stu-

dents (two or more) always have priority to use these rooms," the policy reads. “Individuals working alone may wish to visit the silent study room on the third floor.”

Brown said when the group asked her to leave her room, another student was napping with the lights out in the room next door on one side and two students were socializing in the room on the other side.

She said she asked a librarian to remove the sleeping student so she could do her work in a study room but was told the staff doesn’t “really police the policy.”

Second-year English student Mikayla Borneman, who often uses the rooms to relax and listen to music in a quiet space, said she sees students sleeping in the rooms “all the time.”

First-year architecture student Matthew Barravini said he sometimes eats his lunch in a study room.

“Sometimes I prefer to be alone by myself, especially when I don't want to eat in front of others or bother somebody else,” Barravini said.

Voorhees said the library should be for school use only.

“This library is made for reading, studying [and] using the computers,” Voorhees noted. “If you're using it for entertainment value, then you can just do that at home or on one of these tables here. You don't need a whole private room just to do that.”

“It is a chance for students to get their work out there,” Cade Gallery Director Teddy Johnson, who teaches art classes at AACC, said.

Art professor Chris Mona founded AACC’s student collection in 2001.

Every year the college purchases a few pieces of art from the student exhibition and rotates the work among buildings.

Mona said a professor from a Maryland university juries the show each year and selects the pieces for the exhibition. The student artists can decide if they want to make their pieces available for purchase.

This year’s juror is Eric Briscoe, coordinator for visual arts at Morgan State University.

“They set their price,” Mona said. “And so the juror selects work for the students to show and additionally, he or she selects pieces for the student collection.”

Johnson said the displays are important as they prime students to interact with the art market.

“Then another thing … is your resume building,” Johnson said. “So when you’re in the fine arts, when you’re trying to get to that next stage, you’re not just showing people your work, but you’re telling people what you’ve done with your work and being able to say that your work is in a permanent collection there and being able to put in some lines on that art resume. And it serves a couple purposes.

One, to have their work seen … to receive payment for your work, to let it start to become a profession.”

Mona said the induction of new works paused during COVID-19. This is the first time the exhibition will be in person in two years.

“We did have a gap of two years when we were

virtual,” Mona said. “It didn't make any sense to be collecting then. It would have been pretty impossible to do that.”

The campus recently began displaying artwork in the Health and Life Sciences building.

“I would like to get some pieces on our Glen Burnie campus,” Mona said.

“That's the one location where we don't have Former AACC student Carlos Batts any pieces yet.” created "Hard-Headed," which is disRob Muir, a played in the Health and Life Sciencsculpture stu- es building. dent who has Photo by Jenna Lagoey been taking classes at AACC for eight Barbra Sauce, an artist years, praised the student who has worked with a variart collection. Muir contrib- ety of mediums while taking uted to pieces on display on art classes at AACC for more the Arnold campus and in than 20 years, said the pubthe county. lic displays of work she has Creating work to display been a part of remind her of on campus “was a learning all the effort put into createxperience,” Muir said. “I ing them. could praise it up by saying, “It’s a joy, especially since ‘student-inspired student it reminds me of that collabocreativity.’” rative process,” Sauce said.

According to library policy, groups have priority over individuals for study rooms and may ask single users to leave a room.

Photo by Shomari James

AACC exhibits student art Jenna Lagoey Vance Wild Reporters

An exhibition in the Cade Gallery that runs from May 10 to June 10 will feature around 30 student artworks.

Four or five of these pieces will become part of AACC’s permanent student collection, which started 20 years ago.

Student paintings, drawings, sculpture and photographs will go on display in Cade, the Health and Life Sciences building, the sculpture garden, the library and other buildings on campus.

AACC displays student art in the Health and Life Sciences building, outside of the Humanities building and elsewhere on campus.

Photo by Jenna Lagoey

But first-year business administration student Matthew Lewis said it isn’t fair that groups can kick out one person.

“Not everyone comes in a group to a library,” Lewis said. “So if you’re there studying and you have a place you shouldn’t be afraid of someone kicking you out of it.”

Still, Lewis said the staff shouldn’t monitor the rooms.

“I think we’re all adults,” Lewis noted.

To read the full story, visit TheCampusCurrent.com.

10 | Campus Current | 2022 | May

Sports

Hawks players make All-Region 20 teams Dan Elson Editor-in-Chief The National Junior College Athletic Association named three Riverhawks basketball players to All-Region 20 Division III teams in early April.

Forward Jamar Young and guard Michael Cantrell are two of five players on the All-Region 20 Division III First Team. Guard Brandy Middleton made the All-Region Division III Honorable Mention Team.

“It’s unbelievable,” Middleton, a second-year public health science student, said.

“It just felt really nice to see all my hard work [pay off].”

Men’s head basketball

coach Joe Snowden said the honor is “well deserved. …

Jamar led the team scoring.

Michael [was also good] in scoring, steals, rebounding [and] assists.”

The All-Region 20 teams include the top players from community colleges in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Middleton said the honor feels “amazing.”

Women’s head basketball coach Lionel Makell said Middleton “played consistent all year. That’s not a surprise.

She was one of the best.”

Middleton averaged 10.4 points, 2.1 steals and 3.1 assists per game. Middleton’s 36 steals ranked fifth in the region. She scored a careerhigh 22 points on Dec. 1

against the College of Southern Maryland.

Young also said he made the All-Region 20 team because of hard work and leadership.

“The joy keeps me motivated,” he said. “My hard work has been shown to the media and fans and coaches.”

Young, a second-year transfer studies student, averaged nearly 17 points and 7.6 rebounds a game. Young recorded a season-high 28 points on Nov. 5 against North Carolina’s Sandhills Community College.

Cantrell, a second-year physical therapy student, averaged 13.3 points, 2.8 steals, 1.3 blocks and 4.4 as-

showed the most leadership on the team.

“I think those guys set an example of the way we want things done here,” Hoffner noted. “We want guys who want to work hard and want to win.”

The role of the co-captain is to foster good relationships with the players and coaches and to show encouragement.

Connolly, who plays mul-

tiple positions, said he holds himself to a higher standard as a co-captain.

“If you’re in a good position to win a game or seal a game, I want that on me,” Connolly, a first baseman, pitcher and left fielder, said.

“And I want to succeed. And I want to be someone that the team can rely on and look to when times are tough because it’s always nice to have one of those guys.”

Baseball team has 2 captains this season Dan Elson Editor-in-Chief

A third-year student and a first-year player have joined forces as co-captains of the Riverhawks baseball team to help motivate their teammates.

Head coach Nick Hoffner said third-year business administration student Brian Connolly and first-year business student Ethan Grieb

sists a game. Cantrell scored a season‑high 25 points against Virginia’s Christendom College on Jan. 31.

Cantrell also made the All-Region team in 2020.

Forward Michael Duffy, a first-year psychology and health and exercise student, called the winners “leaders.”

“And because of [their leadership], we ended up winning a pretty good amount of games and made it to the championship," Duffy said.

Cantrell said this honor could help him land a spot on a four-year college’s basketball team.

Third-year business student Brian Connolly, who plays multiple positions, is one of the captains.

Photo by Gary Demski Grieb, an infielder and a pitcher, said, “It’s just a cool feeling to have, knowing that the coach trusts you enough to keep everything in check

when [players are] not able to come to him when there’s a problem.”

Grieb said he and Connolly get along well.

And [AACC has 14] teams. So there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

A coordinator of athletics is in charge of scheduling, athletic programs and facilities like playing fields and the gym. Erazo, a former recreational and facilities assistant at Iona College in New York, earned a degree in sports management from St. Thomas Aquinas College.

Erazo replaced Keith Bigelow, who served as coordinator of athletics for more than 20 years. Bigelow, who works as a lead groundskeeper, will continue to coach the cross-country team.

Athletic Director Duane

Herr said Erazo’s experience will fit into the college.

“George just had a really diverse background of college,” Herr said. “Mainly, [he had] a lot of the things that we were looking for in terms of the field preparation and the hands-on experience that we’re looking for.”

Third-year business administration student Brian Connolly, a co-captain of the baseball team, said the coordinator of athletics is someone the players can talk to.

“It’s nice to have another member of the athletic staff that players and coaches can work with and talk to,” Connolly said.

AACC onboards new athletics coordinator Dan Elson Editor-in-Chief

The Athletic Department hired a former women's triathlon coach to become the new coordinator of athletics. George Erazo started April 1.

Photo by Dan Elson

Guard Brandy Middleton, a second-year public health student, made the All-Region 20 Honorable Mention Team.

Photo by Dan Elson

A former women’s triathlon coach became AACC’s new coordinator of athletics on April 1.

George Erazo, who coached at St. Thomas Aquinas College in New York, said some of his goals are to create new Riverhawks sports teams and update the fields. “[I] just [want] to try to improve in any way, shape or form,” Erazo, who called himself “a track and field guy,” said. “It’s a very small program than what I’m used to. I’m used to dealing with at least 22 teams at a time.

Campus Current | 2022 | May | 11

Sports

Softball pitcher wins Hawks perfect game Dan Elson Editor-in-Chief

The pitcher of the Riverhawks softball team threw a perfect game on April 3 in a 17-0 win against Virginia’s Christendom College.

Second-year health science student Jaclyn Nevins said she located her pitches well the entire game.

“As you play the game, you learn which batters are going to swing at which pitch and where locations need to be [and] not leaving a ball down the middle or easy to hit,” Nevins said. “So as you grow and learn, it gets easier to throw as you go.”

Nevins, who also plays shortstop, said the April 3 game was her first perfect outing.

She is the only pitcher to throw a perfect game in six years since head coach Guy Klingensmith has run the team. In the game, Nevins struck out 13 of 15 batters

through five innings.

“It’s a very rare thing that happens,” Courtney Croson, who plays second base, noted. “Especially with having 13 strikeouts. It's a very big accomplishment for her.”

Nevins said she didn’t feel pressure to keep the streak alive as the game continued on because she “knew I had defense behind me. So I wasn't really too worried.”

Klingensmith noted he was surprised Nevins pitched a perfect game.

“It’s just uncommon to [pitch] a perfect game,” Klingensmith said. “Even in Major League Baseball, it’s really not common to pitch a perfect game.”

He said Nevins’s perfect game is “outstanding at any level. It’s a great accomplishment.”

Klingensmith said the fastball and the breaking ball were working for her.

He said he could see

Nevins pitch another perfect game.

“I definitely hope that I could stay on top of it,” Nevins said. “We all play very hard. So the goal always is to progress every game and keep learning. So as we go on, I do hope … we have a pretty good chance to stay successful. So I do hope that I'm able to do my part and stay successful as well.”

She added, “It’s always awesome to make accomplishments like that. So hopefully we could just take that and run with it throughout the season.”

Her teammates said Nevins has the skills to repeat the performance.

“She hit all of her spots,” Croson, a second-year transfer studies student, said. “She did a very good job [and she] worked on different pitches.

And she was just very consistent.”

First-year film studies student Ryann Brooks, a

Second-year health science student Jaclyn Nevins pitched a perfect softball game on April 3.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Hurd right fielder, agreed.

“They weren't really swinging the bat,” Brooks said. “Her pitches were moving pretty quick and [they had] great movement.”

She called Nevins’s perfect game “crazy.”

Brooks added she was proud of Nevins.

“You saw her smile a little bit,” Brooks noted. “And we're like, ‘Whoa.’ We were all pretty stoked about it.’”

Klingensmith said he won’t raise his expectations for Nevins.

“She has enough pressure on herself to perform every time she steps in the circle,” Klingensmith said.

He also said the players rooted her on during the game.

“We just cheered one another up,” Klingensmith noted. “We took it as a team.

“That’s what we do.”

12 | Campus Current | 2022 | May