An AACC adjunct professor is campaigning for a seat on the Anne Arundel County Board of Education.

LaToya Nkongolo, who has taught human services at AACC for about a decade, will run for District 5 Board of Education, which includes Arnold, Severna Park, Millersville and Gambrills.

“I launched the campaign for a couple of reasons,” Nkongolo said. “For one, I am a mom and I have a son who’s in middle school, and also as a mental health therapist, I work with a lot of kids and families across Anne Arundel County.”

Nkongolo, who lives in Severna Park, lost her campaign for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates last year, her first foray into politics.

Nkongolo said the experience campaigning last year helped prepare her to run for the Board of Education.

“I didn’t win the seat, but I definitely won in a lot of different ways,” Nkongolo said. “I have a strong team now based on the relationships I built during the last campaign.”

Nkongolo said working at AACC “influenced my decision to run.”

“The students that I’ve taught over the years, most of them come from the public school system,” Nkongolo said. “I see where there are some struggles with … the basics, that I feel like if they’re prepared in high school or in the public school system, that they would probably not struggle as much at the college level.”

In addition, Nkongolo said, “It … became clear to me that there was a lot of learning loss post-COVID. A lot of kids are still having a difficult time catching up academically and I feel like we need to pour resources into making sure that kids have all the tools and resources to thrive academically.”