Education Guide 10.18.26 - Flipbook - Page 16
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| Sunday, October 18, 2026
Beyond the Classroom,
continued from page 1
just after the tariffs hit,” says Delaney
McComber, a senior finance major
and president of Salisbury’s Financial
Management Association. “Being there
for the closing bell and seeing that chaos
was very surreal.”
The experience gives students a
chance to explore the breadth of possibilities within finance. Meeting professionals
in different roles can help students understand not only what jobs exist, but also
what the day-to-day work and potential
career paths actually look like.
Those connections can be particularly
valuable as students prepare for internships, job interviews and the transition
from college to career.
“The trip has really helped me learn
what I do and don’t want to do,” Delaney
says. “It’s a great experience getting to
talk to alumni about their experiences
and the paths they chose. It’s all really
helpful.”
For Ani Mathers, a finance professor and faculty adviser to the Financial
Management Association, the value of
the experience goes beyond what students see during the trip itself.
“The trip really lights them up,”
Mathers says. “We view it as a foundational experience. It gets them excited
about their future career. It opens their
eyes to what they could be – and if not,
what they don’t want to be. It’s a really
great networking opportunity.”
At Anne Arundel Community College,
improving the student experience begins
with a simple idea: Students shouldn’t
have to understand how a college is
organized to get the help they need.
The college is renovating its Florestano
Building to create a one-stop Student
Services Center, bringing essential services that have been spread across campus into one location. The renovation
began last summer, with offices moving
into the building as the project is completed.
The approach builds on AACC’s
long-standing commitment to creating
a student-centered culture, says Felicia
Patterson, vice president, learner support
services.
“What we’ve done with the Florestano
is bring all the essential student services
together in one location,” Patterson says.
“It helps to shift the experience for the
student to be more student centered and
less department centered.”
The idea is to give students one clear
Salisbury students at the ringing of the bell at the NYSE.
AACC’s Student Services Center will house all student services under one roof.
starting point instead of forcing them to
figure out which office handles which
question.
That distinction matters because students rarely arrive on campus with needs
that fit neatly into one administrative category, Patterson says. A question about
admission, for example, could quickly
lead to another about financial aid, registration, advising or career plans.
“It really reflects how students experience college,” she says. “When students
come in, they don’t know how things are
set up.”
The new center will house an information desk along with admissions, financial
aid, records and registration, cashiers,
academic and transfer advising, the
Sarbanes Center for Career and Civic
Engagement, personal counseling, the
testing center, disability support services
and community standards.
“The intent of this one-stop model is
that if students have a clear starting point,
they get a more coordinated experience,” Patterson says. “They’re not trying
to navigate service to service, office to
office, department to department.”
Bringing employees together also creates opportunities for more cross-training and shared knowledge, she says,
allowing the college to better coordinate
services behind the scenes.
For students, the intended result is
fewer handoffs and less repetition – and
an easier path to the people and resources they need.
“And the new building is going to be
beautiful,” Patterson says.
At Towson University, another part of
the student experience is evolving: what,
where and how students eat.
Campus dining is more than grabbing
a meal. Dining spaces also can create
opportunities for connection and belonging.
Freshens Fresh Food Kitchen, located
in the Cook Library on campus, offers
customizable options including smoothies, rice bowls and flatbreads.
According to Bethany Comegys, marketing manager, its library location was
intentional, giving students another food
option in a place where they already
study, work and spend time during the
academic day.
Comegys says the additions reflect
feedback from students seeking greater
variety, customization, convenience and
options for differing dietary preferences.
But perhaps the most unusual addition is one students might never actually
see.
Towson has introduced a “ghost kitchen” model through Social Bites in Newell
Dining. Instead of operating five separate restaurant storefronts, multiple concepts share a kitchen behind the scenes.
Students choose among the restaurants
using a mobile ordering platform or kiosk
and retrieve completed orders from food
lockers on Newell’s first floor or through
food-service delivery robots.
The five concepts are Flametown
Burgers, The Original Hot Chicken, Inked
Tacos, Duck Duck Dragon and Pinsa
Pizza. The model enabled Towson to
expand the number of offerings operating
from an existing space.
For students, however, the ordering
process is designed to feel familiar.
“They’ll see the available concepts
in the mobile app or kiosk, choose the
restaurant and items they want, place
their order through the app and pick it up
when it’s ready,” Comegys says.
The university already has more than
25 dining locations, but Comegys says
continuing to develop the program isn’t
simply a matter of adding locations – it’s
to respond to students’ changing expectations.
Towson describes Freshens and the
ghost kitchens as part of a broader focus
on variety, convenience and technology
that allows campus dining to continue
evolving with students.
From career connections to student
services to the places students eat, the
initiatives reflect a broader effort to make
the college experience work better for
students both inside and outside the
classroom.
