AACC Awarded $598,000 Engineering Grant

Anne Arundel Community College was recently awarded a $598,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to help increase minority interest in science and mathematical fields, specifically engineering.

The program will give minority students up to $4,000 a year in scholarships so that they can graduate from AACC’s engineering program and transfer to a four year school where they can pursue their bachelor’s degree in that area of study.

Are Minorities Really Under Represented In The Engineering Field?

• According to the National Action Council For Minorities In Engineering only about 19% of the people who work in the engineering field are minorities. 
• African-Americans are the least represented of the major minority groups. Only about 2% of all engineers are African-Americans.

 What Do Students Think About The Grant?

• “This is very exciting, I feel like this gives black people [in the Md. area] a chance to be equal with everyone else.”- Current AACC student Robbie McFarland"
• " I feel like this could be a really helpful program [to people like me]. I think [the program is] really cool.” -African-American AACC student Chris Washington, who said he is considering majoring in some type of engineering.

Will Jobs Be Available For The New Graduates?

• With the announcement of the Federal Base Realignment and Closure, the Baltimore-Washington, D.C.- area is expected to gain around 45,000 more federal and private sector jobs. With the new grant, AACC is positioned to help minorities get some of those jobs.

Who Is In Charge Of The Grant And What Do They Think It Will Do For The College?

• AACC Professor Alycia Marshall is overseeing the program
• “We are all very excited. I hope it’s going to help people. AACC will be know as an institution that produces highly qualified engineers,” she says.
• Professor Marshall hopes that this program will help increase AACC’s national and local presence.

Final Draft

       
             Anne Arundel Community College was recently awarded a $598,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to help increase minority interest in science and mathematical fields, specifically engineering.

            The program will give minority students up to $4,000 a year in scholarships so that they can graduate from AACC’s engineering program and transfer to a four year school where they can pursue their bachelor’s degree in that area of study.

            “We are all very excited,” said professor Alycia Marshall who is overseeing the program, I hope it’s going to help people.”

            Currently only about 19% of the people who work in the engineering field are minorities. African-Americans are the least represented of the major minority groups. Only about 2% of all engineers are African-Americans.

            Professor Marshall hopes that this program will help increase AACC’s national and local presence.

“AAC will be know as an institution that produces highly qualified engineers,” she said.

 

Informal AACC Poll Shows Students Favor Gay Marriage

According to an informal poll that was taken yesterday at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Md., more students and faculty members appear to be in favor of Maryland legalizing gay marriage than are against it.

Currently, the Maryland House of Delegates is preparing to debate the bill that would make gay marriage legal in the state. The Senate has already passed the bill and Gov. Martin O’Malley has promised to sign the bill if it is passed.

Many AACC students are in favor of the state legalizing gay marriage. “It’s a personal choice,” said student Amanda Jenkins, who also noted that she is bi-sexual. “You should be allowed to marry who you want.”

Another AACC student, Mitch Avedon, also supported the bill. “I feel that everyone should have the same rights. We are all created equal.”

While the majority of people polled felt that gay marriage should be legalized, some people were unsure of their opinion.

“I’m not sure where I sit on the issue. I haven’t really thought about it,” said student Phillip Barnet.

Other people polled were against the passage of the bill. Student Richard Costa said that he felt that it wasn’t right that gay marriage be legalized. When asked why he felt that way he simply replied, “The time is not right yet.”

With many delegates said to have not made up their minds on how they will vote on this issue, it is important that students pay attention to the vote and voice their opinion.

The Opry Has Sinned

If anyone actually reads this blog and cares about country music you need to check these sites out:
http://www.reinstatehank.org/index.html
http://www.hank3.com/

Sign the petition and get the King of Country back in the Grand Ole Opry.

Tim German report

 Nixon

Tim German
February 2, 2011

           

            Tim German doesn't appear to be your average college student and, well, he isn't.

He was once a student at the University of Maryland College Park and he is hoping to be once again. Currently, though, he is a student at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) in Arnold, Md. Why, you might ask is he at AACC? If he was accepted at Maryland, attended, like it, and wants to return why would he suddenly choose to go to a community college? The answer to this question is an answer that many people can relate to these days. “I didn’t have enough money,” German explains. However, he is not upset that he is at AACC because the cheaper prices are helping him to return to Maryland one day, possibly as soon as next semester. “I just need to save some money,” he says. German is making the most of his time at AACC though.

The Pasadena resident has taken his interest (and major) in acting and has been acting in plays at the Community College and is planning on auditioning for the school’s spring play, “Big Love.” He makes sure that everyone knows, though, that “It’s not based on the HBO show”. German is also very excited about the fact that he will be turning 21 on January 30. “I can’t wait. It’s going to be exciting,” he says. So, German’s life appears to be heading in a good direction and he is confident that he will be successful no matter what his college career throws at him. “I can’t wait to graduate, but I also want to enjoy my time in college,” he says.

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I saw on the internet the other day that Keith Olbermann had left MSNBC. I found this to be interesting as he seemed to me to be like MSNBC's version of BIll O'Reilly. He was sometimes annoying, he was very biased, and he got pretty good ratings. I can't imagine O'Reilly leaving Fox News and I certainly couldn't imagine Olbermann leaving MSNBC. But, leave he did. At this point, it doesn't appear that anyone truly knows why Olbermann left MSNBC but I am sure we will find out as time goes on.

The State of the Union

So...... Rumor has it that the President gave his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Did I watch it? No, I was too busy selling windows to people. Would I have liked to watch it? Yes, because it would be way more interesting than selling windows. I did, however, read the State of the Union transcript that was put out by the White House. The speech itself seemed to talk a lot about the shooting of Rep. Giffords in Arizona. The speech also talked about how the President believes that Social Security needs to be made stronger and how the economy is slowly recovering. I also read in an article on Yahoo! that all of the members of Congress sat together (instead of separated) for the first time at a State of the Union address in a while. This was done to show that politicians needed to be less angry with each other and that they needed to compromise a little bit more. The Washington Post was fairly balanced in their coverage of the speech. They appeared to pick on all different politicians in their articles on the State of the Union. They noticed that Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann was playing with her Blackberrry throughout much of the address and they noticed that Democratic Senator Harry Reid was yawning at one point. They also did not appear to take sides on what parts of the speech were really good and what parts weren't, aside form the opinion articles that had ben written. The New York Times, however, appeared ti be biased towards Obama's speech. They stated that Republican plans to cut spending were just "smoke and mirrors" and that Obama confronted the Republicans in his speech and gave them some real solutions to help fix the economy. However, regardless of what was said and done at the State of the Union address I still think that politicians are not to be trusted and I don't think that any of them (or at least the large majority of them) are looking out for our best interests.