Student Activities

THE MOTTO at Anne Arundel Community College, "Students first," might soon have to be changed to "Students last."Today, the college's Board of Trustees will decide whether to raid $100,000 from the student activities and athletics budgets next year to offset rising operating costs.The idea comes from college administrators, who want to avoid a tuition increase and the bad publicity that goes with it. Under the proposed budget shift, however, students would lose some interscholastic sports teams; the campus literary magazine; the student handbook, which provides valuable information about AACC rules and policies, and orientation for new pupils.

"Wicked" strikes many a chord, and not just during its catchy songs. It also speaks to issues of prejudice and intolerance. "Outsiders tend to get bullied," said the musical's producer, Marc Platt. "And Elphaba" - aka the Wicked Witch of the West - "is the quintessential outsider. She's bullied onstage. When bullying became part of the national conversation a few years ago, we allowed the show and its characters to be involved. " Cast members have made videos for the "It Gets Better" campaign.

STUDENTS AT Anne Arundel Community College apparently can keep their handbook, literary magazine, sports teams and other extracurricular activities, in spite of the fact that administrators last month approved a plan to eliminate about $100,000 from the Student Association and intercollegiate athletics budgets.There's just one catch.In order to do so, the students will have to find ways to help fund such extracurricular activities.Debbie Shaughney, the community college's public relations coordinator, says that the student association and athletic department are just being asked to do what other campus groups have done for years: figure out ways to come up with revenue-generating ideas.

An hour before Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama squared off on national television on Oct. 3, the pre-presidential-debate debate got under way at Carroll Community College, with one student speculating out loud, "I wonder when the shoe-throwing is going to start?" Not to worry — no shoes, rotten tomatoes, spitballs, mean-spirited invectives or anything else went airborne. In fact, the hour-long debate, which featured a seven-member panel representing the county Republican and Democratic central committees, the Carroll County League of Women Voters, the Libertarian Party and We, The People — a local offshoot of the Tea Party movement — was cordial.

Harford Community College's Black Student Union and Student Activities Office will co-sponsor the college's third annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. in the college's Chesapeake Theater. The guest speaker will be Dr. Samuel D. Proctor, professor emeritus at Rutgers University. The event is free and open to the public. Information: Barbara Laster, director of student activities and minority affairs, 836-4140 or 879-8920, Ext. 140.

The Board of Education's student council adviser, Stephen G. Barry, has been named the Warren E. Shull Adviser of the Year for Maryland by the National Association of Student Councils."

Howard Community College officials held a series of meetings last week to discuss management of the school's athletic program following the departure of Athletic Director Tom Carbotti.Carbotti's $40,900-a-year job was one of five eliminated last month to tighten the school's budget."We are trying to make sure the basic services are maintained," said acting vice president and Dean of Students Maureen Kelly."Butare we going to feel the loss of the position? Yes. Everybody is hoping this is the worst and that it's going to get better."

Art students have a way with a wardrobe -- Day-Glo hair, clunky combat boots and some hardware store chains and they have pulled together a daytime look. But they really show their style when it comes to dressing for the Halloween season. The marble halls of the Maryland Institute College of Art echoed with screams and giggles for the school's annual costume ball Saturday night. Creative costumes were encouraged and sponsored by the school's Office of Student Activities and the student Performing Arts Committee, and they were a howl.

Bill Bleich calls the teachers' signing stipend a "bribe" ("Reject the contract," Oct. 13) He teaches English and drama, but he does not know that a bribe is something given to induce a person to do wrong or commit a crime. He says merit pay will pressure teachers to be less supportive of each other and act in a more self-centered way and then immediately and inconsistently goes on to say teachers are more highly motivated than administrators and selflessly devote large amounts of time to student activities.

An article in yesterday's Anne Arundel edition of The Sun reported incorrectly the number of interscholastic sports teams Anne Arundel Community College would lose if the school transferred $50,000 from its athletic budget to the operating budget. The number of teams that would be lost has not been determined.The Sun regrets the error.A proposal by Anne Arundel Community College administrators to use $100,000 from the student activities and athletics budgets to help cover next year's operating costs has infuriated students who say it will strip away an important part of their school's identity.

Three Harford County high school seniors were presented scholarships from the William J. Sacco Critical Thinking Foundation on March 11. Receiving the ninth annual Dr. William J. Sacco Awards for Excellence in Mathematics were Bel Air High School's Michael Boom and C. Milton Wright High School's Tom Fowler. The Foundation also presented the first William J. Sacco Mathematics Community Award to Hope Kerr, who also attends C. Milton Wright. The scholarship accompanying the Award for Excellence in Mathematics presented to Michael and Tom is for $1,000.

When Arundel Middle School launched its Fit Club last year, nearly three dozen students signed up to take part in a gym activity that included cardio exercises, weight training and workouts with the P90X fitness program. But many of them didn't think their teachers would show up, too. "It's kind of funny sometimes," said Arundel seventh-grader Jose Ramirez. "It's a different experience seeing them, like, work. They usually see us work a lot. " That is what Arundel Middle physical education teacher Jason Lively envisioned when he launched the Fit Club last year.

In his years as a chef, Chris Shoul had never thought much about the feelings of a lifelong vegetarian, unable to enjoy the cheesesteaks his buddy scarfed down. But last year, after Towson University began offering a vegan version of the sandwich made with substitute beef, the campus' top chef got a note from just such a student. "Because of you, I got to have my first cheesesteak!" the student raved to Shoul. Such moments are the reasons why Towson and the University of Maryland, College Park rank among the most vegan-friendly campuses in the U.S. and Canada, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Bill Bleich calls the teachers' signing stipend a "bribe" ("Reject the contract," Oct. 13) He teaches English and drama, but he does not know that a bribe is something given to induce a person to do wrong or commit a crime. He says merit pay will pressure teachers to be less supportive of each other and act in a more self-centered way and then immediately and inconsistently goes on to say teachers are more highly motivated than administrators and selflessly devote large amounts of time to student activities.

Marian H. Barclift, a retired Baltimore public school educator and a longtime active member of Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church, died Nov. 27 of complications from an epileptic seizure at her Randallstown home. She was 79. Marian Eileen Holsey, whose father was a letter carrier and mother a teacher, was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Upton neighborhood. After graduating from Douglass High School in 1948, she enrolled at what is now Morgan State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1952 in English and history.

After a two-year hiatus, former Chairman Sandra H. French has decided to seek another term on the Howard County Board of Education. French, who served on the board from 1992 to 2004, said she has been wrestling with the idea for the past six months. "I felt as if I made a difference and wanted to continue to make a difference," French said yesterday. "I love education; I love our students. It all just seems to point toward serving on the board again." French, 62, said she has spent some of the past two years substitute teaching at county secondary schools, which she said has given her more insight about students.

An article in yesterday's Anne Arundel edition of The Sun reported incorrectly the number of interscholastic sports teams Anne Arundel Community College would lose if the school transferred $50,000 from its athletic budget to the operating budget. The number of teams that would be lost has not been determined.The Sun regrets the error.A proposal by Anne Arundel Community College administrators to use $100,000 from the student activities and athletics budgets to help cover next year's operating costs has infuriated students who say it will strip away an important part of their school's identity.

"Wicked" strikes many a chord, and not just during its catchy songs. It also speaks to issues of prejudice and intolerance. "Outsiders tend to get bullied," said the musical's producer, Marc Platt. "And Elphaba" - aka the Wicked Witch of the West - "is the quintessential outsider. She's bullied onstage. When bullying became part of the national conversation a few years ago, we allowed the show and its characters to be involved. " Cast members have made videos for the "It Gets Better" campaign.

The flier, one among a clutter of paper advertising everything from med-school prep classes to Greek Week 2005, goes largely unnoticed by the backpack-toting students who breeze by a notice board on the Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus. "National March on Washington," it reads. "End the War on Iraq!" By yesterday afternoon, the Hopkins Anti-War Coalition had signed up about 45 people for Saturday's demonstration, including graduate students and professors, the driving force behind the coalition.