To teach in a particularly challenging school, it might just help to have gone through a few challenges of your own. At least, that is the case for Jody Grandier ’17, American studies. The 39-year-old single mom went from living on the streets in downtown Baltimore to teaching first grade at the city’s North Bend Elementary School.

Last spring, she was recognized by Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises, as one of three “Amazing Teachers,” an award given after the completion of the first year teaching.

“My number one goal in my classroom is to build relationships and bonds, not just with children but with their family and the communities,” says Grandier. She does that by helping the kids get what they need, from school supplies to socks, and making sure to not be judgmental about their circumstances. After all, her understanding of some of their hardships comes from first-hand knowledge.

Turning Point

Grandier says that when she was 18 she moved to Baltimore with a boyfriend and “once I moved down there I ended up getting into drugs and getting into a lot of trouble and living on the street and being in a lot of abusive relationships.” After moving home and spending time in rehab she began to recover–only to discover that she was pregnant. To provide for herself and her child, she decided to turn back to a childhood dream of being a teacher.

After a few years at Howard Community College, she says, “I went to visit UMBC and I loved it. I thought the campus was really beautiful. Everybody there was so nice and I just couldn’t have asked for a better experience.” She was eventually accepted into the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program. Integral to her journey at UMBC was Nicole King, associate professor and chair of the Department of American Studies, and her classes on gentrification in Baltimore. “I really enjoyed her classes. I absolutely loved it. She’s one of the best human beings I’ve ever met in my whole life, actually,” says Grandier.

Soon after graduation, she got the job at North Bend in southwest Baltimore City. Now she spends her days helping kids from the city learn and grow as she did. Field trips, lunches with the kids, and other fun moments make it rewarding, she says. That said, her job presents unique challenges. 

“I definitely am in situations that would prefer not to be in. But I think that it’s part of the job and that if we all said, we don’t want to be in danger, then who would be there teaching? It has to get done. Every child deserves an education,” she says.

Educational Advocate

The education that children get is not always equal, however. Grandier has a unique perspective since her own daughter, now 10, attends a better-funded Howard County school. 

“They have brand new computers, [and] when you walk in the building it’s gorgeous. They have a lot of extra activities. We don’t have a lot of that in the city,” she says, where “the buildings are pretty dilapidated, they’re not very nice and they have bugs and they’re hot or they’re cold and we can’t drink the water. I can’t imagine many parents in the county being ok with that.”

On top of that, Grandier says that her students face other obstacles, like homelessness and hunger. “I don’t really know how you can come into a classroom and learn when you’ve been up all night because your parents are fighting or you’re homeless or you’re hungry. That, to a child, has to be completely devastating.”

Grandier advocates for more mental health opportunities for city kids as well as for better funding. Given the resources and a steady stream of dedicated teachers–as well as her unflinching faith in the nature of people–she says that she has hope for the city.

“I think it’s going to be a long road and a lot more people are going to have to be informed and get involved but I definitely believe that one day Baltimore City schools will be at the top,” she says.

– Karen Stysley

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Header Image: Grandier (left) with Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises.

The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.

Two more candidates joined the caravan of Democrats eager to prove to the world that they belong in the White House over President Trump. Or, at least, on the debate stage with Trump. According to the Boston Globe, democratic elites are worried about the current crop of candidates. These elites are generally economically conservative and socially progressive. How lucky are we? Sure, they hold massive amounts of wealth and power, but I sure am glad they believe in climate change.

Biden is the main candidate pushing a centrist message. However, he hasn’t looked too strong lately, both in polling and on the debate stage. The runner-up in the race to the center, Pete Buttigieg, is far too young and inexperienced for the establishment’s liking. Every other centrist politician, like Senator Amy Klobuchar, isn’t likely to receive the nomination.

Meanwhile, democratic elites cower in fear of the progressive wing of the party. They fear that Warren and Sanders are too progressive to win the Midwest. Even worse, they demonize the wealthy and promise massive tax increases on the top one percent.

Instead of investing in candidates who share their ideas and beliefs to pull them up further in the race, the elites sent in two of their own to soften the image of the democratic wealthy. Their entry is patronizing. America is fine with the Democratic field, but the elites are determined to tell the public what they want. Even worse, the democratic elites’ race toward the center is useless.

In politics, the center is an ideological paradise where working together can solve any and every issue. The center is where working across the aisles solves every issue. Bipartisanship reigns supreme. There’s no red or blue. No Republican or Democrat. No conservative or progressive.

The political center is where everything is the same, but it isn’t so mean on Twitter anymore. Where Senators and Representatives can compromise on bills for months on end and make no progress. But after every workday, everyone heads down to the bar for a beer. Where politicians can vehemently disagree on moral and ethical principles but can remain best friends once the debate has ended.

However, the center is nothing but a farce. It is a fever dream, a catch-22 where no matter how close you get nothing happens. It’s a return to adequacy, a call to the status quo. The slogan is, “Don’t rock the boat too much.” The center is a world where nothing changes.

The main issue is that centrists don’t believe in anything. The center has no plans for dealing with climate change. What’s the centrist’s view of rising white nationalism in the country? Or voter suppression? What does a centrist believe about LGBTQ+ rights? Or abortion rights? What’s the rallying cry?

Bipartisanship cannot solve every issue. Compromise works best in situations where both sides want to work together. It works best where both viewpoints aren’t on the fringes. But in our political climate of denial and polarization, compromise, sadly, isn’t a viable answer. The game has changed. The rules of politics have changed immensely. However, Democratic elites refuse to change their game plan.

For Democrats, racing toward the center does nothing but pull the country to the right. While Democrats race toward the center, Republicans run their ideologies further to the right. The Overton window has shifted. What we see as acceptable has totally changed under this administration. Democrats must respond by doing what’s right, even if it makes the elites uncomfortable.

In no way am I advocating for political polarization or division. However, I am advocating for political authenticity. The center is nothing but a return to “normalcy.” But normalcy flew out the window once President Trump rode down the golden escalator to announce his candidacy. We are in uncharted territory. The center isn’t the answer.

Last Thursday, students, faculty and family gathered in the A.O.K. Library Gallery for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Idea Competition. The event, which is going into its tenth year, is hosted by the Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship every fall semester.

The ‘Retriever Tank,’ as it is playfully nicknamed after the NBC’s show “Shark Tank,” is a contest in which undergraduate students from all majors pitch business proposals with the potential of winning a grand prize of $750. Winners are decided by anonymous ballots from the audience, as well as a panel of three judges that all have entrepreneurial experience.

One of the three judges this year was Josh Massey, a UMBC alumnus from the class of 2014. During his time as an interdisciplinary studies major, he pitched his own proposal at the Idea Competition and won. He went on to launch his idea into a business, which became successful enough to sell to a larger company, and Massey then donated some of his profits from the sale back to UMBC. Massey is now earning his master’s degree at UMBC and is the CEO and co-founder of a new business, Ortus Academy, which teaches financial literacy to young adults.

According to Massey, one of the key aspects of being a successful entrepreneur is to “solve a problem that excites you and gets you up in the morning.” Contestants are asked to do that in October when the Idea Competition process begins. Contestants have to submit a one-page form detailing the problem they plan to solve with their business, along with an optional YouTube video. The judges then select the best entries to give presentations at the Idea Competition. This year, the judges selected nine ideas out of roughly 30 entries. Due to scheduling conflicts, eight of the nine went on to present on Nov. 14.

During the competition, each student was given three minutes to present their ideas. They were also asked questions from both the judges and the audience about the limiting factors of their plans, the cost of production and how they will actually turn a profit on their goods and services.

According to Vivian Armor, the director of the Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and the host of the event, the questions from the audience are always the hardest part of presenting, but arguably the most important.

“Some of the ideas are more thought-out than others right now and that is okay. This is [the students’] opportunity to present something they think is a good idea,” Armor said. “The feedback helps them round it out a little bit more or discard it depending on what is said.”

The ideas themselves were fairly varied, ranging from an online seed catalog to technology that targets and traps active school shooters. The third place project, which received $250, was a program for meal vouchers from Baltimore-based restaurants for local low-income residents. The second place project, which received $500, was a handheld machine designed to braid hair. There was also an honorary award for the best presentation that totaled $250, which was given for an app to help musicians connect with their fans before live performances.

The project that was deemed the Best Idea and received the grand prize money was Octotalk, created by Emma Neubert, a biochemistry junior. The business plans to help children who struggle to communicate through the help of a hand-knit stuffed octopus. The design of the octopus has buttons in each of the eight legs that, when squeezed, will verbalize different sayings like “Yes,” “No” and “I’m hungry.” Neubert plans to use her prize money to make further advancements in the prototype of Octotalk so she can get closer to putting it on the market.

This event precedes the Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition, which the Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship hosts each spring. The spring competition is much more extensive and has a grand prize of $3,000, providing students with more resources to bring life to their ideas.

The night of the show

It’s 36°F and a line of people extends from the RAC down to Chick-fil-A on academic row. Concert guests began lining up as early as 6:30 p.m., Thursday evening. It is the first performance of Fall Fest, the first event of its kind held during the fall semester at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Ironically, it feels more like winter outside. Still, the crowd is buzzing excitedly as they anticipate the headlining act, Charlotte-native rapper DaBaby.

Inside, the energy of the crowd is palpable. Openers WillThaRapper and Toosi are first to take the stage. But after an hour gap between the opening acts and DaBaby, the audience is tense. 

He comes on stage nearly two and a half hours after students were first let into the concert venue. DaBaby, whose rap career has blown up over the past two years, wears red Adidas track pants, a white Gucci tee and his signature “Kirk” chain. Before he rushes the stage, a girl in the audience exclaims, “I want to touch his chain so bad. It’s so big!”

Once on stage, the rapper does not disappoint. He starts with his hit, “Suge,” before launching into a set filled with crowd pleasers for fans, new and old. “What I like about this school, is y’all stick together,” DaBaby notes between songs when he picks five girls to participate in an on-stage twerk contest. 

Around 11 p.m. he leaves the campus on a high note, and during his final song, the RAC explodes with black and gold confetti. Still, some fans were upset by the shortness of his set, the stampeding within the crowd and the time spent waiting for DaBaby to come on stage. 

How does SEB set up for Fall Fest?

The Student Events Board managed to secure DaBaby and Megan Thee Stallion without any major hiccups, according to SEB president Mayra Perez Oliver. Her aim is for UMBC students to appreciate the hard work that SEB has contributed to student life: “Our hope is that the shows would go smoothly and everyone could walk out of them and say they had a great time!” 

The Student Events Board considered artist costs, expected ticket sales and ticket prices before coming to contractual agreements with the artists and their teams.“We wanted to make the show affordable and accessible to a large part of our UMBC community, so that is another factor that plays into the negotiations,” says Perez Oliver.

How long does it take to set up for an event this size? After all, there were 3,750 tickets made available for UMBC students, faculty, staff and alumni. Production — building the stage, rolling out the tarps, moving equipment, and setting up a green room in the RAC — took the SEB executive board and event staff two days.

Perez Oliver is grateful for the teamwork and hours of commitment she’s seen from SEB while preparing for DaBaby’s show. “It’s crazy to think about the amount of time and effort that goes into setting up a concert,” she says. “I can’t express how great of a group we have to be able to work hard and power through long days.” 

A time lapse of the set-up posted on the group’s Instagram page reveals the tedious process of turning the ground floor of the RAC into a concert venue fit to hold thousands of people. However, SEB will do it all again next week. The second act of Fall Fest, Megan Thee Stallion, is set to make her debut in the UC Ballroom on Thursday, November 21. All 700 of her tickets sold out in record time when they went on sale in October.

Perez Oliver is optimistic about how the new Fall Fest is affecting student life on campus.“I know I speak on behalf of all of SEB in that we know that a lot of the UMBC community will enjoy these shows. We have worked hard these past few months to bring excitement to students on our campus, and it is definitely paying off.”