he phrase “the new normal” has been thrown around since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and as America struggles to define—and design—what that is exactly, colleges are paving the way for what it might look like.

After the chaos and uncertainty of 2020, colleges and universities throughout the Baltimore region began to find their groove as they moved into the 2021-2022 school year. Coronavirus safety committees had been erected, new mandates put in place, safety protocols implemented—everything from vaccine requirements to temperature checks to quarantine procedures and wastewater testing that can pinpoint a COVID infection before anyone is symptomatic.

By some counts, colleges may very well be the safest places to live and work.

“Just following simple rules of wearing face masks and social distancing, using wastewater management and testing when we need to, we have, in many ways, been able to return to normal life,” says Goucher College President Kent Devereaux. “Full athletics, student clubs, dining in the dining hall, use of the library—everything that you’d normally have, we’ve been able to return to.”

Despite the challenges and anxieties faced by students, staff, and faculty alike, some unexpected silver linings have emerged.

“It’s just incredible to watch how it’s grown into the vision that we, as a group of students, had.”

The widespread adoption of technology across college campuses has proven to provide more flexibility, efficiency, and innovation—and even accessibility, in some cases. Counseling sessions, for example, began to be conducted remotely during the pandemic and many students found that they preferred it to in-person sessions. Students who cannot, for whatever reason, make it to an in-person class can now study from anywhere.

Challenging times, combined with advances in technology and the general acceptance of it, have also brought more cooperation and collaboration among schools. It’s becoming more common, for example, for schools that offer complementary programs to partner with one another to offer students an educational pathway to continue studies in their chosen areas. That may mean a discounted tuition rate, a transfer of class credits, or an internship through a partner school.

Maybe most importantly though, schools, at their best, foster an environment where students are supported, expand who they are, and connect with like-minded people. At a time when gathering together is not always safe, being in a community has become even more precious, and students have found new ways to connect.

OCA Mocha, a coffeehouse in Arbutus founded by University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) students, is one example of how effective a gathering place can be at a time when people are craving human connection. What started as a class assignment—to design a community center of some sort—has become a gathering place not just for UMBC students and alumni, but the Arbutus community at large.

“We’ve heard a lot of stories from people who are extremely grateful to have this space,” says Michael Berardi, UMBC class of 2019 and co-founder and general manager of OCA Mocha, which stands for Opportunities for Community Alliances. The coffee shop includes a stage, a community room, and an art gallery, employs UMBC students and alumni, and provides internship opportunities for current UMBC students.

“We have local groups and organizations that meet regularly in our community space and are grateful to not have to meet in someone’s living room or church basement,” says Berardi. “We see a lot of connections being made. It’s just incredible to watch how it’s grown into the vision that we, as a group of students, had.”

We checked in with colleges and universities throughout the region to find out what’s new and what campus life and classes look like, two years into the pandemic.

COPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY
A historically Black institution founded in 1900, Coppin State University is situated in the heart of Baltimore City in the Mondawmin neighborhood. Part of the University System of Maryland in Baltimore, the school offers 32 undergraduate and 11 graduate degrees, along with nine certificate programs and one doctorate degree. It’s been rated No. 4 Best HBCU in the Nation (College Consensus), the Top 5 Best Value Online Program (Online School Center), and No. 17 Best Value in the Nation (College Consensus).

In the summer of 2021, CSU announced its Student Debt Relief Initiative, which clears roughly $1 million in student balances and provided a $1,200 credit to every student enrolled in the fall 2021 semester. CSU also created the Freddie Gray Student Success Scholarship, which is available to graduates of Carver Vocational-Technical High School, where Gray was a student.

Coppin also takes esports (competitive video gaming) seriously. In the fall of 2021, Coppin became the first HBCU to open a building on campus exclusively devoted to esports. The Premier Esports Lab opened in September with a guest appearance from Grammy-nominated artist Cordae.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 2,383 undergraduates, 341 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 13:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $6,809 in-state, $13,334 out-of-state
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 40%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Nursing, Business, Biology, Education, and Criminal Justice, Rehabilitation Counseling

DICKINSON COLLEGE
Founded in 1783, Dickinson College is a liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with a suburban campus that spans 144 acres. The school offers 41 undergraduate degrees within 17 fields of study.

It’s been rated as one of the best schools in the country for its sustainability efforts, which include an 80-acre, USDA-certified organic farm. Princeton Review rated it No. 2 in the Top 50 Green Colleges, and it was rated No. 2 in Overall Top Performers among baccalaureate institutions in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s “Sustainable Campus Index” in 2019 and 2020.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 2,345
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 9:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $58,708
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 52%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: International Business, Economics, Political Science & Government, International Relations & National Security, General Psychology

GETTYSBURG COLLEGE
Gettysburg College, a private, liberal arts school, sits on 225 acres adjacent to the historical Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania. Many of the buildings on campus are historically significant, so it’s no wonder that it draws students interested in studying history.

The school offers 65 academic programs, more than 120 campus clubs and organizations, and 800 events on campus each year, plus more than 100 study-abroad opportunities open to students.

Its Majestic Theater serves as a venue for the greater Gettysburg community, hosting national acts as well as performances by the school’s Sunderman Conservatory of Music students.

It’s ranked No. 12 for “students who study the most” by the Princeton Review, which also ranked Gettysburg College’s dining hall No. 9 in the country for best campus food.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 2,600
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 10:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $59,960
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 56%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Political Science, Economics, Health Sciences, Organization and Management Studies, History, Psychology

GOUCHER COLLEGE
A private, liberal arts college in Towson, Goucher College prides itself on its close-knit community.

Goucher was extremely proactive when it came to COVID-19 precautions, being the first in the state to implement wastewater testing, which is able to isolate COVID infections by dorm.

Also of note: The college recently opened two new residence halls as part of the school’s First-Year Village. One hundred percent of Goucher students study abroad, and the school is committed to sustainability.

Most recently, Goucher has begun exciting partnerships with other schools, such as Johns Hopkins University, Loyola University, and more to come, to provide a pathway for students to continue their education beyond Goucher. For instance, their 4+1 MBA Program allows students to earn an advanced business degree through Loyola via a “Fast Track” admission process, and at a 15% discount on tuition.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,100
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 9:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $48,000
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 79%
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Psychology, International Relations, Economics, Political Science, Business Administration

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) offers nine academic divisions and hundreds of courses of study, with campuses spread throughout Baltimore, including the Peabody Institute, a music and dance conservatory in Mount Vernon. Its main Homewood campus is located on North Charles Street.

The prestigious, world-renowned university has a strong reputation for its public health and medical studies and has been compared to Ivy League schools.

One of its points of pride is its financial aid program, which covers 100% of calculated need for every admitted student, without loans. This means JHU works with families to calculate what they can afford to contribute toward the total cost of attendance—including meals, books, travel, and other expenses—and JHU covers the rest with grants that don’t need to be repaid.

This school year, JHU added two new minors: Latin American Studies and Writing Seminars.

It also announced new efforts this year to move toward a broader, more flexible undergraduate educational experience that will include a required first-year seminar and the streamlining of major requirements to allow for greater intellectual exploration.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 6,333 undergraduates, 22,559 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 6:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $56,313 for Peabody Institute, $58,720 for the School of Engineering and the School of Arts and Sciences
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 9%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Computer Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Neuroscience, Economics, Public Health Studies, International Studies

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY
This private, Jesuit institution offers undergraduate and graduate programs on a beautiful urban campus in northern Baltimore City. Education at Loyola is based in the Jesuit tradition of scholarship cura personalis, or care for the whole person. Loyola is known for its academic rigor while helping students lead purposeful lives. Seventy percent of students study abroad. It currently ranks fourth in best universities in the North region according to U.S. News & World Report.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 3,787 undergraduates, 1,353 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 12:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $53,430
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 80%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business, Management, Marketing, Journalism, Social Sciences, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Psychology, English Language and Literature, Engineering and Education.

McDANIEL COLLEGE
McDaniel College sits in a bucolic setting near Westminster in Carroll County. The private, four-year liberal arts college offers more than 70 undergraduate programs of study and more than 20 graduate programs. McDaniel’s most recent addition to its curriculum is a National Security Fellows Program that provides students with knowledge, skills, and experience in national security as well as the ability to specialize in an area of interest, such as interstate conflict, intrastate political violence, cybersecurity, ethics, and human rights.

Also new this year, McDaniel appointed an inaugural associate provost for equity and belonging who provides vision and leadership to the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and works in collaboration with the provost to co-lead the college’s diversity, equity, and inclusion administrative committee, and guides the Bias Education Response Support Team.

The school also launched a new STEM Center to serve as a physical hub to support students studying the sciences. It hosts workshops and other events while also supplying online and hybrid support.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,757 undergraduates, 1,324 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 13:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $46,336
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 81%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Kinesiology, Business Administration, Psychology, Biology, Political Science, International Studies

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
The largest of Maryland’s HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Morgan is a public institution founded in 1867. It is situated in northeast Baltimore. As a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution, Morgan provides instruction to a multiethnic, multiracial, multinational student body and offers more than 140 academic programs at undergraduate and graduate levels. As Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan fulfills its mission to address the needs and challenges of the modern urban environment through intense community level study and pioneering solutions.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 6,270 undergraduates, 1,364 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 15:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $8,008 for in-state and $18,480 for out-of-state
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 73%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Civil Engineering, Communications Engineering, Business Administration and Management, Social Work, Biology/Biological Sciences, Architecture, Finance, Psychology, Sociology

NOTRE DAME OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY
A private, Catholic liberal arts university in northern Baltimore, Notre Dame of Maryland University offers programs from undergraduate through PhD, as well as Maryland’s only women’s college. It recently launched the first master’s of art degree in Art Therapy program in the state.
The beautiful, wooded campus is just steps from the bustling downtown Baltimore culture. With values rooted in Catholicism, the school focuses on service to others and social responsibility.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 783
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 7:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $39,675
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 88%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Nursing, Education, Biology, Art Therapy, Pharmacy

TOWSON UNIVERSITY
One of the largest public universities in the state, Towson University offers more than 60 undergraduate majors and continues to draw students from other states, though it remains part of the University System of Maryland.

Its campus continues to expand, with a huge new dining hall, a 23,000-foot recreation and fitness facility with an indoor swimming pool, and its 5,200-seat arena for sporting events and concerts. In 2021, it opened its new Science Complex, the largest academic building on campus at 320,000 square feet.

In September, Towson opened its StarTUp at the Armory, a space for startups and new businesses to engage with the broader community and larger businesses. It serves as a home to Towson’s entrepreneurship programs, as well as student competitions and events.

While Towson remains the largest supplier of medical professionals and educators in the state, the university has also built a strong reputation for its College of Fine Arts and Communication, as well as its Asian Arts & Culture Center, both of which bring students into the wider community and the Baltimore community to Towson for enriching performing arts, music, and visual art programs.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 17,907 undergraduates, 2,949 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 16:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $7,100 in-state, $22,152 out-of-state
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business Administration, Education, Nursing, Exercise Science, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, Biology, Computer Science, Information Technology

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE
University of Maryland, Baltimore is Maryland’s only public health, law, and human services university. Located in downtown Baltimore, it offers 86 degree and certificate programs through its six nationally ranked professional schools—dentistry, law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work—and an interdisciplinary graduate school.

The school’s 14-acre BioPark is Baltimore’s biggest biotechnology cluster, employing 1,000 people, and remains on the cutting edge of new drugs, treatments, and medical devices.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 7,244
• ANNUAL TUITION: Varies by school
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Medicine, Law, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Social Work

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY
University of Maryland, Baltimore County educates a campus of more than 10,000 students in programs spanning the arts, engineering, information technology, humanities, sciences, preprofessional studies, and social sciences. Located on the edge of Baltimore County, it allows easy access into the city and all the conveniences of suburban life and housing. It also offers plenty of opportunities for study abroad.

In the fall of 2021, UMBC opened the Center for Well-Being, a new two-story complex that houses Retriever Integrated Health, Student Conduct and Community Standards, and i3b’s Gathering Space for Spiritual Well-Being. UMBC’s already significant NASA partnerships have continued to grow. In October, NASA announced a major award of $72 million over three years for the new Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research II center. UMBC is leading the national consortium and will receive over $38 million. The GESTAR II consortium will support over 120 researchers, creating extensive opportunities for breakthroughs in Earth and atmospheric science research, and providing major opportunities for students to conduct research and be mentored by NASA scientists and engineers.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 13,638
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 17:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $12,280 in-state, $28,470 out-of-state
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 81%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Social Sciences, Psychology, Visual and Performing Arts

Cited tuition costs exclude room and board and books.

How much do you value an hour of your time? Two hours? Electric scooter companies like Lime and Bird offer an expedited way to get from Point A to B, where a walk that might take 20 minutes gets cut in half. Taking an Uber or Lyft can improve commute times. These apps offer steps for eliminating the minutiae of everyday life. Out of sight, out of mind isn’t just an expression—it’s the goal.

Maryland natives Freddie Ephraim and Mike Laroque have taken this idea and applied it to what usually occupies the top line of a weekend chores list: the car wash. With SpotWash, by simply downloading an app, you can schedule a car wash while you’re sleeping or while you’re at work. “We designed it where you basically have to do nothing,” Ephraim says. “That’s the whole goal.”

Ephraim and Laroque are quick to credit Accelerate Baltimore and the Emerging Technology Centers, which, according to its website, is committed to providing a “nurturing, innovative, and transformative experience for technology-focused entrepreneurs who are passionate about their businesses, motivated to succeed and committed to making a difference.” Accelerate is an incubator within ETC that allows entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas in exchange for consulting and counseling, and the chance to win $100,000 in funding. SpotWash received that funding, and its founders say that the program and its people are “everything you need them to be.”

Two friends who’ve known each other since they were 14, the duo got the idea for SpotWash when Ephraim returned from a trip in Dubai and noticed a similar concept. Neither has a background in the car wash business, but both have business experience of one kind or another. “It was nothing more than spending a lot of time together and formulating a process,” says Ephraim, who helped start Charm City Helicopters with his wife, who owns the business. The two recognized the annoyances of braving the lines and the assembly-line backdrop of a brick and mortar car wash and sought to eradicate it.

SpotWash is not dissimilar to ride-sharing or electric scooter apps. Ephraim and Laroque don’t shy away from the gig economy label either. Each of their employees are like an Uber driver, showing up to wash your car at a designated chosen time. With an apartment building, users simply leave their keys in a bin and let the process happen. The two prioritize background checks and don’t hire anyone with a criminal record, acknowledging the inherent value a car holds and the need to ensure safety.

The company has partnered with dozens of buildings in the Baltimore area and have received more than 1,000 downloads in 10 months. They have a proof of concept, but the issue, as it always is with services of this nature, is gaining an entry point and marketing the idea. “We’re selling you time,” Ephraim says. “We’re not just selling you a wash.” It’s a succinct summary that gets to the heart of why the two feel their service is worth the $39 dollars it will cost you for a full interior and exterior wash—$45 if you own an SUV.

Being eco-friendly is also a priority for the company: each wash uses about a pint of water per car. SpotWash instead uses an American-made product they buy that gets the job done. Ephraim and Laroque insist that this doesn’t affect the quality of the wash and estimate that they are saving over 100 gallons of water with each wash.

As for the future, there are plans to extend into Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.—word of mouth among developers and real estate companies travels fast. If all goes well, SpotWash hopes it can become the next great timesaver.

“[Baltimore] is a relatively smaller city, and not many people think to come to Baltimore to start a startup or a company in general,” Laroque says. “In the past, Baltimore has kind of gotten a bad rap. But I think it’s a great place to start and grind your teeth and figure out what you’re doing wrong and adjust. We’re new to the scene. I know [the community] is a pretty tight knit group of people that are always together and they help one another.”

Carolyn Holliday never intended to own her own business. For more than 20 years, the Baltimore County native worked in marketing and e-commerce for large companies, but when a particularly bad boss seemed to hinder her contributions to the company at every turn, she knew it was time for a radical change.

“It was a bad experience, but it highlighted a need that I knew had to be addressed,” Holliday said. “The whole time I was wondering, ‘How do I let someone know that this person is hurting the entire company without hurting myself?’”

The answer, Holliday concluded as she consequently handed in her resignation notice last year, was Warble. Named after a term that Holliday defines as a “ground-swelling of noise,” Warble is a new website to anonymously report a coworker who is exhibiting toxic or problematic behavior in the workplace.

Holliday said that reporting every small fault can make whoever brings the issue to light seem overly emotional or nitpicky, but the small faults add up. Once enough employees report the same person, Warble notifies the offender’s boss. This design protects against personal grievances becoming professional demerits, provides an avenue for collective action, and allows anonymity to act as a safety net.

Anyone with a valid company email in the United States can use Warble for free, but companies can also use Warble’s paid B-to-B product, which offers features customization of the “Warble threshold,” or how many employees need to submit a complaint before the company higher-ups are notified.

After more than 18 months of recruiting investors and web developers from across the country to help bring her idea to fruition, Holliday and her team launched in June 2018 from her home office in Sparks. Now the founder and CEO of her own startup, she said the response Warble has received reinforced her feeling that the potential dangers of reporting a superior often overpower the benefits.

“I have yet to tell someone about Warble and not have a response like, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish I’d had that before,’” Holliday said. “You need a pathway to identify that there is a problem before you can empower the people who can actually do something to solve it, but once you have that, the whole company benefits.”

Warble provides nine categories in which users can list a complaint: discrimination and targeting, poor management skills, bad attitude, fraud, violence, theft, unethical behavior, incompetence, and sexual harassment.

Although Holliday said that Warble was not inspired by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, she thinks this new era of accountability has left a space for Warble to address offenses that fall in the gray area between violent or criminal offenses and small annoyances.

“My story and my idea wasn’t born out of something so egregious,” Holliday said. “Our hope is that by offering a wide range of offenses to report, this also becomes a platform where there’s coaching opportunities for better behavior. Warble reports don’t necessarily equate a fireable offense.”

Warble relies on the expectation that the company higher-ups that Warble notifies of bad workplace behavior will take action to correct it. There is no guarantee that this will happen, but Holliday said that companies as a whole benefit when there is mutual respect among employees across all hierarchal rungs. As the adage goes, the first step to solving a problem is recognizing that there is one.

Of course, before employees can Warble (yes, it’s a clever verb, too, thanks to Holliday’s marketing background) about a harmful boss or colleague, they need to know that the platform exists. Warble is still in its earliest stages of public availability, but Holliday and her staff plan to use social media and partnerships with other local businesses to help its mission gain momentum. They are currently formulating a list of local companies, who they feel will be interested in using the platform.

“I’m proud that we have this community where I’ve had so much support,” Holliday said. “We should be judging and rewarding people based on their contributions, not any other factors, so let’s just cut out the nonsense and get to work.”

Society has always operated on the exchange of goods—whether it’s silver, gold, corn, or rice—as a means of survival. This type of peer-to-peer exchange has evolved to include technology like Apple Pay, Venmo, and PayPal allowing for a more seamless financial experience.

Add to that list Bitcoin, a digital currency that isn’t seen, can’t be touched, or used to replace actual paper currency. Actually, only 3 percent of the world uses it. It’s based on the classic peer-to-peer model that excludes financial institutions and third parties that apps like the ones listed above rely on to transfer funds. 

Sounds about as useful as Monopoly money, right?

But Bitcoin has recently been in the news because its value has increased over the last few months from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. When Bitcoin was created in 2009—by an anonymous source under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto—coins could be purchased for as little as 10 cents each and wouldn’t change much in value from day to day, even month to month. Currently, one Bitcoin is worth more than $17,000 and that value fluctuates by the hour.

“For the first six or seven years, it was dismissed as nerd money,” said Ryan Sears, cryptoeconomist and founder of Launch Annapolis, which provides business resources to local startups. “It didn’t have any real basis in reality—it was just an experiment in technology. It’s gained credibility because everyone from the biggest companies to the smartest technologists have said, ‘This is amazing—it really does work.’”

But there are plenty of high risks when it comes to Bitcoin. Think of it sort of like stocks and bonds, but instead of putting money into a company, you’re investing in a concept.

“This is an alternative asset, but it’s on the extreme end of the spectrum,” Sears explained. “Compared to venture capital—which is a risky alternative asset—this is even more risky. You’re investing in the future value of what it could be worth as opposed to it’s actually worth.”

Third party online wallet sites like Coinbase allow users to purchase Bitcoins, Ethereum, and Litecoins without quite as much risk, by allowing users to invest as much or as little as desired. According to Coinbase, more than 1,000 users are buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrency per day.

Local startup EFynch, which helps connect homeowners and contractors on a project basis, has been accepting Bitcoins as a form of payment through its app. 

“We want to provide every possible convenience for a homeowner to pay,” said founder  Teris Panatazes. “We believe in the digital currency, and Bitcoin has become increasingly popular.” 

Since its creation, the number of cryptocurrencies has soared to more than 1,200, and is steadily growing everyday. A new form of digital currency can be created at any time for specific transactions—such as buying computer programming to create stealth web addresses or purchasing music files.

“Over time, as people get more comfortable with this and it’s easier to use, people will adopt it,” Sears said. “Digital currency is the resurgence of what society really wants—a peer-to-peer transaction that eliminates the middleman.”