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October 2022
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An adjunct professor is running for a seat in the General Assembly.
Students plant a butterfly garden on the Arnold campus.
AACC's athletic director played baseball here.
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Dawn Lindsay marks 10-year anniversary Dan Elson Sports Editor
AACC President Dawn Lindsay marked her 10th anniversary at the college in August. The second woman to serve as AACC’s president, Lindsay said her favorite moments have been at each year’s graduation ceremony. “I have the unique opportunity when we’re not in COVID-19 mode to actually be with our students, shaking hands and giving them their diplomas, and the joy
Club adviser Samuel Cordero-Puchales runs the Hispanic Heritage kickoff. Photo by Graig Bracey
in their eyes, the tears, the smiles,” Lindsay said. “It just really touches my heart. And I enjoy this work because I know what we’re doing is empowering people to move forward.” In fact, Lindsay, the college’s sixth president, said one of the challenges she overcame was leading the college through COVID-19. “It changed the whole world as far as community colleges in two and a half years,” Lindsay said. “I’ll never forget March 13, 2020. We went on spring break. I did a
video saying, ‘OK, see everybody back on April 6. We’re going to be gone for about two weeks.’” The college was all but closed for three semesters after that. In her first 10 years, Lindsay noted she is proud of the school’s “national reputation,” as ranking organization Academic Influence named AACC the top community college in the country in 2021. Lindsay said she applied to become president in 2012 because “it was a winner of a college and I knew the repu-
Ellianna Shields Reporter
tation of Anne Arundel and I really wanted to be part of a winning team. And so there was nothing broken about
this college when I arrived.” She counts the hiring of
ture a poetry slam for the first time. A poetry slam is an open mic event for students and others who would like to read poetry to an audience. “Everybody not relying on technologies [and] being just face to face is a different perspective,” Cordero-Puchales, who advises the Latinx Club, said. “You know,
you get to see people share expressions. … Our conversation here has a sense of feeling of, you know, we’re together here to share a similar experience.” The college celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. “We’re looking at the perspective of our nation;
we share things in common,” Cordero-Puchales said, “but this is the foundation of our nation. The freedom of speech, the freedom that you can be with somebody even though having different points of view, you know, we come together. We all cele-
new friends and it’s like a bunch of different people,” Riley said. First-year transfer studies student Bailey Healy agreed. “I think the teachers are way nicer than high school teachers were,” Healy said. “All the teachers seem like
AACC students who came to campus for the first time this semester said they are finding their classmates and professors friendly. First-year environmental science student Tyler Saveleski said it’s easy to start a conversation with
First-year students say they like the campus and the people at AACC. Shown, left to right, first-year students Kaylee Glass, Cristian De Los Santos and Leah Stalker. Photo by Dan Elson
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AACC hosts Heritage Month For the first time in three years, AACC’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration includes in-person events. Student success and retention adviser Samuel Cordero-Puchales said this year’s celebration will fea-
Newest students say college is welcoming Cole Popov Reporter
Dawn Lindsay marked 10 years as the president of AACC in August. Photo by Frank Fitzgeralde Libom
other students on campus. “You can start a conversation with anyone and they’ll keep it back and they won’t be mad at you or disrespectful,” Saveleski said. “Everyone’s nice around here.” First-year transfer studies student Rose Riley called people on campus “nice.” “I’ve made a bunch of
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