02-04-2024 EDU - Flipbook - Page 1
EDUCATION
A SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF BALTIMORE SUN MEDIA • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2024
Community College of Baltimore County visited New Orleans and interviewed survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
2 Student's health
Addressing mental
and physical needs
3 Support for
students
A path to success
4 Technology
programs
Making graduate
school convenient
5 A future in science
Careers in research
6 Teaching and
nursing
Addressing shortages
8 Educators for
the future
Salisbury University
Education publishes four times a year
Shaping tomorrow's leaders
advertise@baltsun.com
© 2024 Baltimore Sun Media
Experiential learning fosters skills, empathy and professionalism
By Katie Turner, Contributing Writer
Ask Margit
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
I
n 2012, the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County (UMBC) launched the
BreakingGround initiative, a visionary
program aimed at integrating experiential learning into the academic curriculum. David Hoffman, director of the center for
democracy and civic life at UMBC, explains that
the program helped amplify diverse and innovative approaches already happening in UMBC
classrooms.
"People were engaging students in creative problem-solving and exposing them to
real-world issues, but it wasn't always recognized as civic engagement," says Hoffman.
"BreakingGround was born out of a desire to
make these efforts more visible, connect educators and support impactful experiences."
BreakingGround, funded by the Provost's
Office, provides small grants to enable faculty
to develop more interactive experiences for students. In one project, mechanical engineering
students collaborated with the City of Baltimore
to develop a predictive model for infrastructure
failures, such as pipe bursts. This not only deepened students' engineering skills but also allowed
them to see how their work could contribute to
the public good.
Musa Jafri is a senior majoring in political
science with a double minor in creative writing and music. "Last semester, we worked with
a state storyteller through the BreakingGround
fund, creating music around classic stories from
African American culture. It helped us explore
themes of resilience, cultural diversity, and promote these values within our community," he
shares.
Jafri also highlights the integration of civic
engagement into his music classes. "In my Wind
Ensemble class, the professor brings in community partners every semester to work with us
to compose routines around social issues. We
created a concert addressing topics like climate
change and social justice, demonstrating how
musicians can contribute to community discussions through their art."
The BreakingGround program at UMBC
is not just shaping students academically but
instilling in them a belief that their skills can be a
force for positive change in society. As Jafri con-
INSIDE:
mbweisgal@gmail.com
Your college experience:
in and out of the classroom
The Mill Agency is a student-led creative marketing and design agency at Stevenson University.
cludes, "We're proving that education isn't just
about acquiring knowledge but about making
a meaningful impact on the world around us."
Transformative Learning Through
Immersive Experiences
During a recent trip to New Orleans, students from the Community College of Baltimore
County (CCBC) had the unique opportunity to
interview survivors of Hurricane Katrina. They
explored multiple facets of the disaster, from
social problems to media portrayals of the residents of New Orleans during and after the storm.
At the culmination of the trip, students joined
community activists, artists and local residents
to paint a mural overlooking a newly constructed playground in the Lower Ninth Ward.
“We could talk about murals in class. I could
show them pictures, but to be able to say I contributed to this effort … it’s a game changer,” says
Adrianne Washington, dean of special academic
programs at CCBC. "We're creating a space
where students can thrive intellectually and
personally, breaking barriers to education and
opening doors to new perspectives."
However, it is not always easy for students to
participate in these experiences, which is something Washington is working hard to change.
"The average age of students in the honors
program is around 37, closely mirroring the
overall CCBC demographics. Catering to a nontraditional student population requires us to
be as innovative as possible," says Washington.
Adult students are often working and balancing family or children while managing their
education. Washington adds that many of these
students may also face challenges such as food
insecurity or hourly employment that limits
their ability to take time away from work.
"We wanted to ensure that every student,
regardless of their circumstances, could participate in these enriching experiences," Washington
explains. The college now provides stipends
attached to the programs, with the aim of alleviating the financial burden on students, ensuring
they don't have to choose between work and
learning opportunities.
Experiential learning,
continued on page 7
What follows is a cautionary tale about
a couple of college students whose expectations of their college experience were
unmet. Tiyana wanted to be an artist and
thought she knew what she would achieve
by attending college. She didn’t. Darren
thought he had a sense of direction when
choosing a major; he was wrong.
There is a disconnect between what
you think college provides versus what
you actually get from it. It’s something
to take into consideration. If college is in
your future, it helps to have some idea of
what you want to gain from your education. But we are woefully unprepared to
actually make that decision. Sadly, too
many colleges don’t offer a means to help
you figure it out.
Unless you take the time to do an
internship or get an after-school job, your
view of the working world may be pretty
limited. The only jobs we know about
– sort of – are ones we’ve read about or
those our parents or the parents of friends
may have. Sure, we know there are doctors and lawyers and maybe business jobs
like sales or marketing or accounting.
Odds are, though, you’ve never heard of
about 95% of available professions.
So back to Tiyana. She thought she
knew what she wanted to do: illustration for children’s books or character
design, maybe editorial work. But there
was no job title that she was aware of that
described the vision she had for a future
profession. She started college without the
tools she needed – a computer or tablet
capable of doing digital art and a way
Ask Margit, continued on page 7
Embracing community service
Students go “all in” to combine academics
to helping those in need
By Alex Keown, Contributing Writer
C
ommunity service plays an important
role in education. Three of Maryland’s
colleges and universities place a significant emphasis on service opportunities and the roles students can play
in making the world a better place.
At Stevenson University, the service scholars
program provides opportunities for students
to engage with the greater Baltimore community, experience personal growth and reflect
on social change. The course provides students
with multiple skills that allow them to excel
in the classroom, as well as in future fields of
employment.
The service scholars program requires students to go through an interview process that
will allow them to be eligible for a renewable
scholarship each year they are in school, Holly
Lentz-Schiller, director of the service scholars
program, says. The students in the program
have been performing various types of community service prior to coming to Stevenson
University.
In the 2023 fall semester, there were 257 service scholar students. Each student is charged
with conducting 100 hours of service work in
the community. Types of community service
“runs the gamut” from working at an oncampus food pantry, supporting the humane
society and working with the Red Cross and
other international organizations. Arman Khan,
an international student, runs a non-profit in
his home country of Bangladesh.
A junior studying computer information
systems, Khan and his older brother founded
Born to Smile in 2009. It is a nonprofit educational organization that provides educational
resources to underprivileged kids in the capital
Community service,
continued on page 7
Adobe stock