Daily Lumina News 063021

The ongoing pandemic has upended the college experience for millions of Americans, leaving many uncertain about their futures. But for some students, it’s been a call to action.
This episode of the "Rethinking College" series takes a look at several students who were inspired by the events of the last year and returned to school to start on a completely new career path.

Byanca Moore knew she needed help during the pandemic. The rising junior at Le Moyne College, in Syracuse, New York, had medical expenses to pay and no food to eat. She turned to the college’s Jesuit Fund, which provides students with up to $500 in emergency funding.
But the Jesuit Fund is only a quick fix. Representative Norma Torres, a Democrat from California, is hoping the Basic Assistance for Students in College Act will provide a long-term solution for students who struggle to meet their basic needs.

For 23 years, Tylan Bailey worked as the head custodian for Hightower Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia. He's also been hard at work on something else: He just received his teaching degree from Georgia State University.
In his commencement speech to the school's fifth-grade class, the teacher-to-be reminded students to be more than what people think they are—and to stay on their path no matter how long it takes. This fall, Bailey's path will take him to Briar Vista Elementary School as the new physical education instructor.

Thousands of California high school graduates put college on the back burner last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The drop, which mostly affected community colleges, might be temporary, but it shows the need to provide more support for students transitioning from high school to college.
College Comeback aims to do just that. The new counseling program specifically targets recent graduates who want to go to college but don’t know how.

Chris Jones, a former assistant dean of graduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is running for governor in Arkansas. The nuclear engineer received a full scholarship from NASA to attend Morehouse College and went to graduate school at MIT. He’s helped astronauts build technology for use in space and was part of a team that doubled minority enrollment for MIT’s graduate school. But in the political sphere, he’s a newcomer.
In this interview, Jones talks about what he sees as the biggest challenges in higher education today—and why he hopes more academics take on public roles in their communities.

Undergraduate enrollment has dropped sharply at many colleges—down about 4 percent nationwide last fall, nearly 6 percent in the spring. That means college leaders, especially in a crowded field like the one in northeast Ohio, are fighting to stand out from the others.
Twenty-six nonprofit colleges and universities call the region home, including more than a dozen private institutions. Baldwin Wallace University, with about 3,100 undergrads on a 100-acre campus in Berea, is one of them. Leaders there are trying to set themselves apart by cultivating a wide range of partnerships to benefit both students and the institution.