Howard Community College

Kwadwo Asafo-Adjei came to Howard Community College hoping to be a doctor someday. But for now, he spends 14 hours a week repeating high school classes because he came unprepared for college-level work."

The historic Belmont Conference Center in Elkridge could have new owners this fall and a future as a moneymaker and teaching space for Howard Community College. The Howard Community College Educational Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that raises funds for the college, is considering purchasing the 18th-century estate. Owned by the American Chemical Society, Belmont offers accommodations for conferences, weddings and retreats. The property is listed for $4.3 million. The foundation "is trying to figure out whether or not we can make the numbers work," said Mary Ellen Duncan, president of HCC. The foundation plans to study the purchase proposal until Aug. 2, when it will report its findings to the college's board of trustees.

Nine years ago, Joseph Lambrecht's supervisor recommended that he take a course or two at Howard Community College to brush up on business management strategies. He took that advice and ran with it. Yesterday, Lambrecht, 71 and retired, accepted an associate's degree in business management alongside about 300 of his fellow graduates at the school's commencement ceremony at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Lambrecht, of Columbia, enrolled at the two-year college after being promoted to assistant shop foreman at Academy Ford Sales in Laurel.

Grant Shmelzer knew something had to be done when America Online experienced problems with frustrated customers who had trouble logging on because of the glut of new subscribers this year.Seeing the need for more people trained in cutting-edge computer-based technologies, Shmelzer -- who is executive director of the Odenton-based Independent Electrical Contractors Association-Chesapeake Chapter -- backed an effort by Howard Community College to establish a regional center devoted to information technology training.

A building project and an enrollment boom have created a bit of a parking crunch at Howard Community College this year. The Columbia school lost 180 parking spaces when it broke ground in June on its $20 million Instructional Laboratory Building. Then, as the fall semester began late last month, a record 5,768 students showed up on the first day of classes, 7 percent more than last year. HCC had projected a 5 percent increase. Enrollment last year was 4 percent higher than the previous year.

Howard Community College officials will meet with the public tonight to give what amounts to a state-of-the-campus address -- and they think people will be impressed. One year after community leaders recommended 148 ways to improve the Columbia campus, employees have implemented -- or are working on -- about 75 percent of the proposals. They range from marketing the college more aggressively and planning for enrollment growth to starting a study-abroad program. "It's not that everything was done exactly as they were suggested -- but many were," said President Mary Ellen Duncan.

On a recent Monday night, Howard County Police Chief Wayne Livesay stood before a classroom of Howard Community College students and posed a provocative question: Are criminals born or made?They are born, answered one student. No, countered others, they are made.From there, with quiet promptings from Livesay, the conversation turned to genetics, poverty, drugs and alcohol, conflicting interest groups, mental illness, the insanity defense, personal responsibility, Miranda rights and suppressed memories.

Hannah Myers learned Spanish very quickly last semester as a Howard Community College student. When you are living in the home of a family in Cuernavaca, Mexico, as part of a semester-long exchange program, she said, "You don't have another option." This is the second year for HCC's exchange program, and participants are enthusiastic. Few community colleges offer opportunities to live and study language intensively in other countries. Myers, 19, and Bryan Steel, 22, recently returned to HCC after three months at the Universidad Internacional in Mexico.

On a day marked by threatening skies and high spirits, Kimberly Frey, riding Samoens, won the trophy and top prize of $9,000 in the 13th annual Columbia Classic Grand Prix, an Olympic-caliber horse-jumping competition and fund-raiser for Howard Community College. The competition, which took place yesterday at the community college, featured a daunting course of obstacles, high-jumps, twists and turns. World-class equestrians vied for prizes ranging from $600 to the $9,000 grand prize. A total of $30,000 was awarded to Grand Prix riders.

Robert Marietta's set for Anthony Shaffer's "Sleuth" at Rep Stage uses the entire height and width of Howard Community College's Smith Theatre, and it's full of clues. The biggest clue in this huge room, with its dimly lighted corners and central staircase leading to a high gallery, is the abundance of games. The set is dressed by props designer Susan Senita Bradshaw with a dart board, a heavy chess set, Chinese checkers and similar items. It suggests that this grand English manor belongs to someone with a competitive bent, and that the play -- a well-known thriller made into a 1972 movie with Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine -- is going to be dark sport.