Student Union: Recent Episodes
Voice of America
Throughout the pandemic, college students in the U.S. have struggled with studying remotely. The same is true for foreign students enrolled in American universities. Connor Smith has this report.
Some international students in the United States are struggling to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to school this fall. Connor Smith has this report.
Afghan university students in the U.S. and Afghanistan react to the Taliban takeover of their country.
The U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association has announced that student athletes can profit off their names, images and likenesses, but what does this mean for international student athletes? Connor Smith has this report.
After last year’s summer Olympics in Japan were postponed because of the pandemic, some American student athletes have been balancing school and training in anticipation of this year’s Games in Tokyo. Connor Smith has this report.
Even before the COVID pandemic shutdown, some colleges had announced they would no longer consider standardized tests like the SAT and ACT for admission. But as Anush Avetisyan reports COVID may have permanently altered the role these tests play in student admissions.Camera: Sergey Sokolov
European borders and economies are opening up this summer, thanks to falling coronavirus cases and rising vaccination numbers. But experts warn the pandemic’s scars could be long term and profound—especially for young people, a generation Europe cannot afford to lose. Things are looking up for young Parisians. Bars and restaurants have reopened, also schools and universities, for the last weeks before summer vacations. Young people having coffee in Paris. France reopened bars and restaurants mid-may as coronavirus cases dropped. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)At a community room with other students, Sorbonne University student Katarzyna Mac is studying for final exams. She is grateful that months of coronavirus confinement are over. At a community room with other students, Sorbonne University student Katarzyna Mac is studying for final exams. She is grateful that months of coronavirus confinement are over. With France’s rolling lockdowns, Mac says, it was difficult and stressful to be alone all day in front of the computer. Like other students in France, she spent most of her academic year taking online classes from home. Katazyna Mac studies for final exams at her student housing outside Paris. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)Experts point to multiple ways the crisis has and continues to hit Europe’s youth — causing economic, social and mental distress. Many, like Mac, already live on the edge. Shuttered businesses, especially in sectors like hospitality, wiped out job opportunities on which many depend. European Union statistics estimate more than 17% of people under 25 are out of work — more than twice the regional average. Youth poverty and homelessness are on the rise. So is depression. Abbe Pierre Foundation's European Studies head, Sarah Coupechoux, says many European youth are living on the edge. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)Sarah Coupechoux is Europe studies head for French nonprofit the Abbe Pierre Foundation. She says there is a segment of Europeans today, including young people, who are merely surviving. With the pandemic and job losses, huge lines of young people have been seeking food, and are hungry. A recent report by the charity also explores the growing difficulties Europe’s youth face in finding housing. Like many other young Europeans, Mac was too poor to leave home. But she recently managed to find subsidized housing, at a building for young students and workers on the edge of Paris. Her apartment has just enough room for a bed, desk and small kitchen. Dirty dishes are piled high in the sink. The refrigerator is mostly empty. She gets student aid and a small government stipend. ...
The Supreme Court recently asked the Biden administration for its input on a Harvard University admissions lawsuit. For VOA, Connor Smith has more.
While virtual reality-based simulation is commonly used in medical education, its use in dental education is still limited. Two university professors in the U.S. want to change that. They developed a VR dental clinic that offers the potential to revolutionize dental education. Vina Mubtadi reports.
The rate of anti-Asian hate crime has soared in the United States since the coronavirus pandemic started in early 2020. International students in the U.S. report isolated incidents. Kathleen Struck has this report.Camera: Nicholas Jastrzebski
Student journalists across 23 campuses of California State University have played a crucial role in keeping other students informed during the COVID pandemic. VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports that the student newsrooms are now linked through an online newswire, permitting students to pool resources and share information across the expansive state.
Mass vaccination centers are emerging around the U.S. as more doses are rolled out more than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Colleges and universities around the U.S. have turned into these centers, serving thousands of patients a day. VOA’s Kathleen Struck reports. Producer and camera: Mike Burke.
Bradley University student Zach Bachmann didn’t grow up thinking he’d be an astronaut.“I’m short, blind and asthmatic, so I can’t really be an astronaut if I wished to,” he said.But a lifelong interest in video games and computers is putting him at the center of a nationwide effort to boost new space helmet technology for the next generation of astronauts going to the moon and, someday NASA hopes, to Mars.“I’ve always been into sci-fi and tech, so it sounded like this was kind of a cool project,” Bachmann told VOA.That “cool project” is NASA’s Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students, or S.U.I.T.S Design Challenge, which allows college students to design information displays astronauts could see without obstructing their view of what’s in front of them.“You still see the world around, but you would just have overlays,” said Bachmann’s teammate, Abby Irwin. That means, she said, “the vitals would be an overlay, but they would still see the moon or whatever they are working on.”Irwin is a design lead on Bradley’s S.U.I.T.S. team, which uses the latest Microsoft HoloLens to create and test their ideas. According to Microsoft, the HoloLens is a virtual reality headset that allows the wearer to see 3-D holographic images.“We kind of got examples from flight software that pilots use and train with, but we also got like some ideas from the game Skyrim, how they do navigation in video games,” she said.Providing more autonomyWhile NASA has announced a new spacesuit for the upcoming Artemis moon missions scheduled later this decade, the next challenge is figuring out the final version of the technology embedded inside.That’s where S.U.I.T.S. plays a role.“The idea was, ‘Why don’t we put some funding toward having students contribute solutions to these technical challenges?’” said NASA’s Brandon Hargis, outlining how the S.U.I.T.S. program helps NASA solve several old problems, including how to handle the time delay communicating between Earth and the moon and the longer lag time for signals to reach Mars.“The main technical challenge is providing more autonomy for the astronaut during a planetary EVA (extravehicular activity), in this case 250,000 miles away from Earth on the moon, or several millions of miles away on Mars,” he said. “There’s somewhat of a delay in communications, so if the astronaut has a little more autonomy to make some decisions based on the plan of the mission, augmented reality could help them do that.”Hargis, who ...
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, is partnering with teams on college campuses across America to develop new spacesuit technology that will help astronauts returning to the moon, and those who will eventually reach Mars. VOA's Kane Farabaugh visited one team in Peoria, Illinois, hoping to make a big contribution to the US space program. Camera: Kane Farabaugh Producer: Kane Farabaugh and Bronwyn Benito
One year after many universities and colleges in the United States shut their doors and transitioned to virtual learning in response to COVID-19, the ripple effect continues to impact higher education. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more.
Columbia University in New York is providing scholarships to help students who have been displaced from their homelands due to war, violence, hunger and natural disasters. For VOA, Keith Kocinski reports from New York City on one woman’s journey from refugee to student at one of America’s most prominent universities.Camera: Nick Jastrzebski & Keith Kocinski Producer: Ihar Tsikhanenka
Meet members of Coalition Z, a student lead policy organization working to make a grassroots impact across the US. Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor, Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin, Editor: Kyle Dubiel
Virtual patients are stepping in for real ones and allowing nursing students to continue their training during the pandemic. Tina Trinh reports.
Student loan debt in the U.S. accounts for over $1.7 trillion, a figure higher than the GDP of countries like Canada, Russia, and South Korea. Now, students at one of the United States most prestigious universities say they will withhold their tuition payments unless the school meets their demands. VOA’s Keith Kocinski in New York City with more.Camera: Nick JastrzebskiProduced by: Henry Hernandez
During the pandemic some schools are able to go to a so-called “hybrid model” where some students physically go to school while others remain at home and log in virtually. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee tells us about a robot connecting students and teachers in a hybrid classroom
Art therapy can be part of working through past trauma. Maxim Moskalkov tells the story of sexual assault survivors who have turned therapy into a thriving business that also helps other women survivors. Camera: Andrey Degtyarev
“My name is Natalie Bergeron. I'm 20 years old.” “My name is Daniel Hendrick. I’m 19 years old.” “Nelson Quezada, 22 years old.” “Michael Rotstein, age 20. I go to Stetson University.” Daniel Hendrick “I am a sophomore at Stetson University.” Natalie Bergeron “And I go to Stetson University.” Nelson Quezada “I attend Stetson University.” Daniel Hendrick “So, for me, as a queer-identifying man, like, this election is super important.” Nelson Quezada “So, immigration reform is really important to me.” Natalie Bergeron “Environmental issues that are smaller scale than just saying a blanket statement about climate change.” Michael Rotstein “I’m very pro-Second Amendment; I like my gun.” Natalie Bergeron “So, I worked with a butterfly over the summer that used to be the most prevalent butterfly species in all Florida, and only natural habitat is now one tiny island in the [Florida] Keys. And that's because we've built up so much on the Florida coastline. So, I think one of the biggest things we need to focus on is stopping habitat destruction because of development.” Daniel Hendrick “A lot of dangerous beliefs are being emboldened and lifted up. And so, it's this election is important because I need to know that I will be safe. I need to know that I will be able to be who I am anywhere in this country.” Nelson Quezada “Um, I'm an immigrant. I immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador when I was seven. And so, ensuring we have an immigration policy that is inclusive, that it provides the millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship.” Michael Rotstein “Wants to establish a gun tax — $200 on each semi-automatic rifle. I am heavily against that. Yes, it still doesn't go exactly against the Constitution, I just don't find it very constitutional to tax guns, especially on people that have already owned them. The tax kind of disincentivizes people who own guns to keep them; they don't want to keep paying that $200 yearly tax, and I'm very against it.”
College towns across America are eager to see students return to classes this month and help local businesses recover from the coronavirus pandemic. But as Mariama Diallo reports, local business owners are also worried there will be a surge in new cases.
It’s the end of summer in the US, a time when many families are preparing for the new school year. But with the threat of COVID-19 delaying a return to campuses across the country, preparations this year include trying to make online learning work better for everyone. Matt Dibble has the story
Many countries, school administrators and families are facing the troubling problem of when and how to reopen schools. Opening-up the schools with the lingering COVID danger is a difficult challenge. Saba Shah Khan tries to find out if the students, parents and schools are ready. Camera, Producer: Saba Shah Khan
The coronavirus pandemic has caused colleges and universities in the U.S. to rethink how they will keep their students safe this fall. But in the case of sports, many institutions fear losing a significant portion of their revenue if games are canceled. Esha Sarai and Bart Vandever have more.
Nigerian Benjamin Akande came to the United States to attend college in Plainview, Texas and is now the President of Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. VOA's Sarmat Misikov has the story of his journey.
While a majority of voters in the United States identify as either Republican or Democrat -- the two major political parties -- a growing number of voters see themselves as independent or unaffiliated with any party. “Personally, I've never really felt either major party represents my interest,” Ellen Moorhouse, who identifies as an independent voter, told VOA. Moorhouse, 30, is deputy communications director at RepresentUs, a political and government reform advocacy group which aims to reduce corruption and gridlock. Thirty-five percent of Americans under the age of 30 say they are independent or unaffiliated, according to the Spring 2020 Harvard Youth Poll. Independent Voting is one organization that connects independent voters in an effort to build a network and a movement to reform the electoral process. The group’s mission has changed significantly since its formation in the 1990s, moving away from a focus on alternative political parties. “We made a shift at that point away from a party building orientation to what you might call a voter empowerment orientation,” Jackie Salit, president of the organization, told VOA, noting that independent voters want to vote “for the person, not the party.” “They want to be involved in the issue, not the ideology,” Salit said. In 2018, a poll by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, found that just over half of voters (56%) between the ages of 18 and 24 were affiliated with the Republican or Democratic party.FILE - A young voter casts her ballot during early voting in Chicago, Illinois, Oct. 14, 2016.Moorhouse grew up in Massachusetts in a conservative Republican family. She said she was raised with views informed by a desire for less government regulation, but that the idea of taking the government “out of my bedroom” has actually shaped her philosophy as an independent. “If we're talking about liberty and choice, you know, then it's your choice to own a gun and it's my choice to get an abortion,” Moorhouse said. “No matter how polarizing the issues, the true heart of it is liberty, and you don't get to then hand pick which choice isn't right.” Corley, an independent voter who asked to be referred to by his last name, was raised by lifelong Democrats. He said he thinks identity politics have led him and his friends to believe they’re Democrats, too. However, a few years ago, when they did ...
New guidelines introduced this week by U.S. immigration will require international students to leave the U.S. if they do not attend class on campus in person. But students already in the U.S. on F-1 visas will face challenges trying to go home amid a global pandemic. Esha Sarai has more.Producer: Esha Sarai. Videographers: Esha Sarai, VOA Russian, Tina Trinh.
China sends more students to study in the U.S. than any other country – over 300,000 a year. Some young Chinese attend U.S. high schools to be more prepared for a U.S. college or university. VOA’s Bronwyn Benito has the story of one student’s journey living and learning in America.
Online schooling is hard on everyone. We take a look at the pros and cons of virtual learning from a high school teacher and students ranging from middle to graduate school. Reporter/Producer: Lisa VohraCamera: Rajan Agarwal, Dia White, Mohit Gupta, Maryah Roberts, Priya Agarwa, Bimal Prakash
Young Americans have taken to the streets to protest what they see as widespread racism and police brutality after the death of an African American man in Minneapolis. They say they want to wake up the world and make changes. Bronwyn Benito has the story
For Naiska Cheung, graduating from Yale University as a physician associate is her Everest (highest goal). Something far greater than a diploma, it represents triumph over a long and steep climb. This is not a fairy tale; this is her story of struggle about overcoming adversity to reach her fairy-tale ending. Bronwyn Benito reports.Produced by: Bronwyn Benito
The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Orchestra offered a violist an experience she thought the coronavirus had stolen from her: graduation and her final degree recital. Bronwyn Benito has the story
Many medical students feel that a pause has been placed on their education because of COVID-19. But a few have seen their careers suddenly accelerate when they were asked to graduate early to help hospitals fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Esha Sarai has more.Produced by: Esha Sarai
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the highest unemployment numbers in the U.S. since the Great Depression of the 1930s. While more people are out of work, financial experts expect home prices to fall and interest rates to remain low - factors that could enable some young people to buy their first home. Esha Sarai has more.
Social media has given young entrepreneurs a platform to promote themselves and retail brands. These influencers are uniquely positioned to reach followers with other messages. Bronwyn Benito explains how COVID-19 has influenced some influencers.
Most universities and colleges have required standardized tests for admission applications since the 1960s. Because the COVID pandemic has closed schools and campuses, a growing number of universities are waving the test requirement for prospective students. Bronwyn Benito has more.
No classes and no graduations. The class of 2020 will miss their commencement ceremonies due to coronavirus pandemic bans of all mass gatherings. Colleges and universities across the US are offering alternative solutions – some have rescheduled the ceremony, while others are holding virtual graduations. For many students, however, the thrill of the moment is forever lost. Daria Dieguts has the story.
In the underprivileged Delmas 75 neighborhood of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, residents are keeping their hands clean and preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus thanks to a brand-new contraption, courtesy of teen inventor and recycler Wens Dimanche.The 18-year old, who received acclaim in Haiti in 2019 for his ingenious remote-control loaders and trucks made of scrap metal, saw a need to help his neighbors wash their hands without contaminating the faucet with the coronavirus. Haitian teen inventor Wens Dimanche invented a way for his neighbors to wash their hands without risking COVID-19 contamination. (Photo: Matiado Vilme / VOA)“I made this electric bucket because I feared that if a person has the virus on their hands and they touch the faucet to turn it on, they could contaminate not only the faucet but also their neighbors. So, I wanted to find a way to solve that problem,” Dimanche told VOA Creole. The teenager, who has no formal training in electronics, took a white plastic bucket, filled it with water, attached a mechanical faucet to dispense the water, and linked it to a blue plastic pedal, which powers it on and off. When people need to wash their hands, they simply step on the pedal to release water. “This is an electric pedal,” Dimanche explained as he held up his invention for us to see. “It turns on by attaching this chord. When you lift your foot off the pedal, the water stops flowing.” When a person steps on the pedal, the bucket releases water. (Photo: Matiado Vilme / VOA)To power his invention, the teen used a cell phone battery, which is rechargeable. And to keep things safe and easy, the pedal can be detached from the bucket when it needs to be recharged. His invention is currently located on a metal table in his back yard, where neighbors are free to stop by to wash their hands at any time. VOA found children and adults alike washing their hands with the invention. Adults and children alike come to wash their hands at the hands-free bucket in teen Wens Dimanche's backyard. (Photo: Matiado Vilme / VOA)Dimanche says he’s not satisfied yet - this is just a start. He is still refining his invention and plans to introduce a new and improved prototype soon. Haiti had 72 confirmed cases of the coronavirus as of April 23. Five people have died and two have recovered.
While many American universities and colleges already offered online degree programs, the coronavirus pandemic has forced most schools to do away with formal classes and shift all course work online. But both students and educators are reporting frustration with the new normal, as VOA's Bronwyn Benito explains.
Medical students from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., have launched a volunteer organization called MedSupplyDrive to help supply doctors and nurses with much-needed medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic. Now hundreds of med students nationwide are collecting as many face masks, gloves, disinfectants and hand sanitizers as they can from tattoo parlors, nail salons and labs to pass along to medical professionals who are working round the clock to save people. Lesia Bakalets reports in this story narrated by Anna Rice.
A professor at New York University has called on social scientists around the world to participate in an effort that could help medical experts and world leaders to better predict the spread of the coronavirus and also to control the outbreak. Bronwyn Benito has more.
BRYN MAWR, PENNSYLVANIA — When Sandy Doran became president of Salem College, a women’s college in North Carolina, she inherited a daunting task. “When I arrived, we were in a bit of a financial pickle,” Doran told VOA. Doran faced a decline in enrollment seen across higher education. According to figures by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, enrollment in higher education began declining in 2011. One possible reason for the decline is that after the economy recovered from the stock market crash in 2008, young people felt more secure jumping into jobs or putting off college for a few years after high school. But like many colleges and universities, Salem hadn't seen the decline coming, and took on debt to build new facilities. Doran and the school turned to alumni for support. “Through relentless communication, transparency about what was needed, we were really able to unify the campus, unify the students, faculty, staff, and the wider alumni community and the wider community of Winston-Salem,” Doran said, referring to the city that is home to the campus. Salem College was founded in 1722, Doran said. “It predates the U.S. Constitution!” And like many other women’s colleges in the United States, Salem has seen significant positive change in the past four years. “Our applications have increased by 100%,” Doran said. Notable women’s colleges, including Barnard College in New York, Mount Holyoke College and Smith College in Massachusetts, Agnes Scott College in Georgia, and Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, have all noted increased applications and enrollment since 2016 and the #MeToo movement, which was created in reaction to sexual harassment and assaults. “After the 2016 election, we definitely saw an uptick in young women looking for these spaces where women are empowered, and they're empowered to use their voice,” Marissa Turchi, director of undergraduate admissions at Bryn Mawr College, told VOA. “Years ago, students were selecting Bryn Mawr despite the fact that it was a women's college. I think more and more now are choosing Bryn Mawr because it’s a women's college,” Turchi said. For some students, the choice to study at a women’s college has always been an easy one. “Women's colleges actually run in my family,” Katarina Karris-Flores, a student at Bryn Mawr told VOA. “Both my aunts went to Wellesley and my cousin went to Wellesley and my mom went to a woman's college in California,” she explained. But her classmate, Liz Marchini, said she had never planned to attend a ...
The prestigious Fulbright program, which sponsors recent graduates and some professors to teach English or conduct research overseas for anywhere from one to nine months, was brought to an abrupt halt because of the coronavirus pandemic. Many of the Fulbright scholars were left with the choice of either returning to the United States or stay in-country without the program’s support. Esha Sarai has more
Some international students in China are feeling relieved as the lockdown in Wuhan, China, is being lifted after the COVID-19 outbreak. But they remain concerned about family back home as the virus has spread to more than 170 countries. Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by Kathleen Struck.
International students in the U.S. usually learn English in their home countries before coming to study at American universities and colleges. But for one group of international students at American University in Washington, developing materials for teaching English as a second language to help immigrants is part of their master’s program in education. In Washington, Esha Sarai has more.
As the coronavirus quickly spreads across America, front-line health care workers are facing critical shortages of surgical masks and respirators. To help tackle the problem, more Americans are sourcing a huge number of masks from overseas. VOA's Eunjung Cho has their story.
In an effort to quell the spread of the coronavirus, most American universities and colleges have shifted to online learning. But for many international students who have returned to their home countries, that means going to class in the middle of the night. Esha Sarai has more.
Schools around the world have jumped into high gear to respond to the coronavirus global health crisis. In a matter of days, classes have moved online as students check in to virtual classrooms. Bronwyn Benito has more
Today's coronavirus pandemic looks eerily similar to the fear experienced in 2009 when the swine flu broke out. Kathleen Struck has the story.
Jacqueline Deprey says she’s always been a bit of a tomboy.Jacqueline Deprey (center, in maroon cardigan), a computer science student, works on a project with classmates in a game design and development class, Jan. 28, 2020, at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md. (Julie Taboh/VOA)So perhaps it’s no surprise that she’s been drawn to a field that typically attracts more men than women.Deprey’s love of computer science in particular was realized in high school when one of her teachers recognized her talent and drew her attention to it.“I don’t know if it’s because I was good at it, that I enjoyed it, or if it was vice versa, but she really was the first one to point out this passion of mine, and the more computer science classes I took, the more I kind of fell in love with it,” she said. Deprey said she especially enjoys working on projects that can be applied to the real world.“And so I found that that tied in nicely with my side love for business, since in computer science we learn, what are the best ways to collect data to organize it? What are the fastest algorithms to sort it?” she said.Deprey is now a senior at the University of Maryland where she’s double majoring in computer science, and operations management and business analytics.Hidden figuresDeprey said she credits much of her success to a collaboration between her school and AnitaB.Org, a global nonprofit that’s helping advance women in technology.Stephanie Rodriguez, vice president of policy and engagement for the organization, works with the university and 14 other institutions on an annual basis through a project they call BRAID.“It stands for Building, Recruiting and Inclusion and Diversity,” Rodriguez said. “And it really focuses on a few strategies that leaders in undergraduate computer science departments can take to build more inclusive campuses.”What started as a small group of women online in the early days of the internet has grown into a coalition of millions of women around the world, Rodriquez said.The organization’s flagship event is the annual Grace Hopper Celebration, which is the world’s largest gathering of women in technology. Deprey was one of more than 26,000 people attending the celebration in Florida last year.“Through attending that conference, I think I was able to really recognize this passion in me and to know that there are other people who are fighting the same fight, who ...
While reports from places where coronavirus has spread show images of people wearing surgical masks, health experts say they are not the most effective protection against the spread of the illness. As Bronwyn Benito reports, there are other more effective ways to protect yourself and others from contamination
Roughly 20 million people in Pakistan’s most populous city, Karachi, face water shortages regularly. That is a key issue addressed by a Houston team at the Future City National Finals in Washington. Students on the team attend the Al-Hadi School of Accelerative Learning in the Houston area and most have relatives from Karachi. For VOA, Sahar Majid has more on their winning future city model. Kathleen Struck narrates.
In this year’s Future City competition, more than 45,000 middle school students from around the U.S. and abroad participated in a contest to come up with a concept for a city with a reliable supply of clean water. The teams pitched their presentations in Washington, D.C., where the winning team and four runners-up were awarded prizes. Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by Laurel Bowman.
Among the 11 million people under lockdown in the Chinese city of Wuhan — the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak — is Kristin Xiao, who attends Veritas Collegiate Academy in Springfield, Virginia.Kristin, who traveled to China to be with her family to celebrate the Lunar New Year holidays, which began January 25, said she is trying to make the most of a difficult situation. She is joining her classmates, using real-time online video chats, from 9 p.m. to midnight local time."This incident in Wuhan has given me a lot of study pressure. I'm already in 11th grade. So my time is very tense," Kristin told VOA through online chatting.FILE - People wearing face masks walk down a deserted street in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Jan. 28, 2020.As for the lockdown, she said only one family member is allowed to leave the residence three times a week. Communities in the neighborhood also organized group purchasing for necessities.She expressed hope over the news that the new number of coronavirus infections is declining in China. But when asked how much longer she can stand the lockdown, Kristin replied, "Maybe one month."With Kristin confined to her home in China, Veritas Collegiate Academy reached out to help her with classes."As a school, we were looking for an opportunity to be able to facilitate learning while she's in China. We wanted her to be part of our school," said Sean Elgut, superintendent of the academy. "So we kind of brainstormed and developed a system using a piece of hardware that's called Swivl. It allows the student to be live in the classroom. We use the WeChat app, which is very popular in China."Medical aid to WuhanWhile attending classes online earlier this month, Kristin sent a video message to her friends and teachers, asking for medical aid for hospitals in Wuhan.FILE - A medical worker in a protective suit moves a coronavirus patient in a wheelchair at a hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Feb. 10, 2020.In just a week, the school was able to raise $30,000, and is working with an international aid agency, Hungarian Baptist Aid, to send aid to the hard-hit city at the center of the outbreak.Dr. Bela Szilagyi, vice president of aid group, told VOA the agency is procuring N-95 respiratory masks and contactless thermometers from Europe. The medical supplies will be transported from Hungary to Wuhan by air within ...
Among the 11 million people under lockdown in the Chinese city of Wuhan — the epicenter of the new coronavirus — is Kristin Xiao, a Springfield, Virginia student. She's been stuck in China since visiting her family in Wuhan during the Lunar New Year holidays. Now, her school is stepping in to help. For VOA, Eunjung Cho has more.
The Trump presidency has presented challenges to professors of politics across the United States, as they navigate more divided classrooms. Esha Sarai went to St. Anselm College in New Hampshire to speak with Jennifer Lucas, who has been teaching politics for more than a decade.
For decades, many high school and college students have participated in Model U.N. - a conference simulating a U.N. gathering to teach students about diplomacy and international relations. VOA's Esha Sarai attended one of the conferences in Washington to speak with students who traveled from Guatemala to participate.
Studying abroad can be the opportunity of a lifetime, but sometimes it comes at a cost to personal relationships. For this Valentine’s Day, partners Pavel and Vince explore the secrets to maintaining a long-distance international relationship, affirming their love for each other from 16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles) away.
In much of the world, child care is a family duty. But in the U.S., parents often work hectic jobs and need to hire someone for the job. An increasingly popular choice: au pairs – young foreigners who live in the home and watch the children, all for the chance to sample life in the USA. Some 20,000 come each year -- but as Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports in Part 1 of her series, “The Perils of Au Pairs," not everyone gets the cultural experience they are promised.
For decades, presidential debates have been taking place on college campuses, including Friday night’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire. The reasons are mostly practical—universities are typically equipped with spacious auditoriums, parking lots, and media centers. But they also provide students an opportunity to be directly involved in the national political conversation. VOA’s Esha Sarai traveled to St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, to find out more about the student experience just ahead of a key primary for the 2020 presidential election.
A travel ban on non-U.S. citizens who have been to China within the past 14 days is the latest reaction to the coronavirus outbreak as fear of the disease continues to spread. Another symptom of that fear is face masks worn in airports and in crowded places by some people in the U.S. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where more than 13% of the student population are foreign students from China.
Democratic candidates in the 2020 election for president talk about what they would do about student debt, tuition, jobs and opportunity. And they did it in less than two minutes.
More than 60 Afghan students are among foreigners stranded in Wuhan, China. Their families in Afghanistan say these students are hurting psychologically since the city has been on lockdown. Food and supplies are running out, and they are losing hope of leaving the city. Today, the Afghan government asked China to keep the students in Wuhan and not send them back to Afghanistan. Their desperate families are asking the Afghan and Chinese governments to help these students. Sayed Hasib Mawdoodi in Kabul met with families, and students who returned from Wuhan 10 days ago.
Born in Beijing, Andrew Hsu spent his teenage years harvesting cotton in remote China while trying to get his hands on English books to satisfy his hunger for learning.He grew up during China's Cultural Revolution, a political movement launched in 1966 by Communist leader Mao Zedong that led to a decade of national chaos and nearly 2 million deaths.After Hsu earned his diploma in hydraulic engineering from Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University, he came to the United States and the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he earned his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering in 1986."I've always wanted to help other people with their education," he said, "and this is one of the best places in the country to do that."Last May, he was installed as president of the College of Charleston in South Carolina. His goal, he says, is for the college to offer an innovative liberal arts program with a strong technology component.Hsu sat down with VOA's Student Union to talk about higher education, and let us know that he learned English in the mountains of Shanxi Province in China by listening to Voice of America's "Learning English" programs on his shortwave radio.This transcript has been condensed for clarity and brevity.VOA: You believe more women should be in engineering, and that one of your missions in the school is to expand your liberal arts program to include more technology, with the push for more women to get involved with that. Please explain that, and why you think it's so important.Hsu: The City of Charleston has really become an international destination for manufacturing and for high-tech industry. In fact, we have 250 software companies, many of them startup companies, and some of them well-established software companies here in the city.And we also have Boeing, Bosch, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz — so many international manufacturing companies here.So as a public institution, we do have the responsibilities of training the workforce for the local economy, and that is why I believe that we need to expand our programs to include engineering.Diversity is extremely important for any company in order for them to develop products that would make sense not only for men, but also for women. And so, it's really important to have engineers that are from diverse backgrounds — men, women, minority. And that's what we're aiming for.Our campus is 65% female. So, our hope is that if we have engineering programs, which we will ...
When Irma Becerra took over as president of Marymount University in 2018, one of the first tasks presented to her was finding funding for some of the nearly 80 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients on campus. “I think I was a president for a week when the students were sitting around my table and saying this has to happen,” Becerra recounts of her first meeting with the Marymount Dreamer’s Club. “One of the things that the club really needed was resources,” Charlene McCall, president of the Dreamer’s Club, told VOA. “A lot of undocumented students had a lot of trouble finding scholarships, because you've got an application, it says, 'Are you a citizen? Are you an international student? Where do I fit in the box?' ” Recipients of DACA have legal protections in the United States, though they were brought into the country illegally as children. They’re able to go to school and pursue higher education in the country, but they are not eligible for federal financial aid. Whether they are eligible for in-state tuition is determined state by state, and most available funding is through private scholarships such as TheDream.US. Roughly 25 universities are registered as recipients of this fund, which provides incoming students with $7,000 — the equivalent of a Pell Grant. As soon as the Dreamer’s Club presented information on this scholarship to Becerra in late 2018, she began working on it. By fall 2019, Marymount welcomed seven incoming freshmen and transfer students on TheDream.US scholarship. Ashly Trejo Mejia chose to attend Marymount after she was offered the scholarship. But she said the search for a school that could offer her any financial help was daunting. “It was scary,” she said, noting how her experience was different from most of her classmates. “I applied to many schools. I applied out of state, in state, just to see wherever I would get any help. I would call the schools and see if they offered any help or not. That’s how I would try to figure everything out.” Though Becerra is happy her school was able to provide these incoming students with scholarships, she is still pushing for a bigger fund to provide tuition assistance for more, if not all, of the school’s DACA recipients. “For me, it’s personal,” she explained. “My family left Cuba when I was eight months old, so I understand what it is like to have to leave your country with no assets, with ...
Since Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and took 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage for 444 days, relations with the U.S. and Iran have been volatile. Tensions escalated recently after the the U.S. conducted a targeted killing of a top Iranian commander in Iraq. The incident has increased anxiety among many Iranian Americans in the U.S. who already felt vulnerable. VOA’s Julie Taboh talked with a few of them and has this report.
A team of Mexican entrepreneurs were the winners of the 2019 Hult Prize -- a $1 million award presented each year to aspiring young visionaries from around the world who are creating businesses with a positive social impact.This year's contest focused on global youth unemployment and attracted more than 250,000 participants from around the world.Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who’s been a major supporter of the Hult Prize since its inception in 2009, announced the winners."These young people are our best hope for the future,” Clinton said. “Look at them! They are from all over the world. They are happy to be together. They think what they have in common is more important then what divides them."RutopiaRutopia, the winner, connects tourists with indigenous communities in rural areas of Mexico.Mexican travel start-up Rutopia has teamed up with Airbnb to offer visitors unique travel experiences in rural areas of Mexico. (Courtesy - Rutopia)"It feels great! We are very excited and we cannot wait to come back to Mexico and share these with all the other people in Rutopia,” said Emiliano Iturriaga, who accepted the award along with three of his team members.He also said it was a win for all the people they work with in the local communities.Iturriaga describes Rutopia as an engine that empowers indigenous youth to design and sell trips online, while making it easy for travelers to find authentic cultural experiences."We're turning unemployed youth into successful touristic entrepreneurs in their own villages,” he said.The company is now collaborating with Airbnb to create eco-friendly, immersive travel experiences.Business as a force for goodAhmad Ashkar founded the Hult Prize Foundation in 2009, to inspire students on university campuses around the world to think differently about business, he said."I was an investment banker, the child of refugees, who felt unfulfilled with their own life and my contribution to society,” he said. “So I felt young people had to choose: be good or be cold-hearted investment bankers. So I created The Hult Prize as a platform to equip them, arm them, and then deploy capital to these young people and their ideas; capital that can help them change the world."A social entrepreneur himself, Ashkar feels he's doing his part toward that goal. He's the founder of Falafel Inc., a Palestinian-inspired small-food business in Washington, D.C., with a cause.Falafel Inc. in Washington, D.C. uses some of the proceeds from its Palestinian-inspired falafel sandwiches to ...
"Liberal education is more critical than ever if we take into account our nation's historic mission of educating for democracy," Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, said.Those statements come as an increasing number of small, liberal arts colleges in America are closing or being taken over by larger academic institutions... and as the number of international students coming to the U.S. is at an all-time high. (According to a recent report by Open Doors 2019, recently released by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs). [[ ]]Pasquerella spoke in detail about this topic, and touched on many other issues in an in-depth interview with VOA earlier this month at the AAC&U offices in Washington.The following is a transcript of the full interview.VOA: Thank you for taking the time to sit with me today. First, tell us about your association.Lynn Pasquerella: The Association of American Colleges and Universities has a mission of advancing the vitality and public standing of liberal education equity and quality as the foundations for excellence in undergraduate education in service to democracy.VOA: Let's talk about the status of small liberal arts colleges across the US. Where is it right now and what's happening with them?Pasquerella: There's a prevailing national rhetoric that calls into question the value of higher education in general, and liberal education in particular.A number of small liberal arts colleges are at risk, in part because of this rhetoric, but also because they have served very distinctive missions. Many small, faith-based institutions in the past, had relied on the clergy, to do administrative work, to teach classes. And as their numbers are dwindling, the colleges are finding that they're having trouble keeping up with the payroll.But there are many, many liberal arts institutions that are thriving today, and at AAC&U we believe that that mission is more critical than ever.VOA: Can you give me some examples of colleges that have either closed or been taken over by larger academic institutions, and examples of colleges that are doing okay.Pasquerella: In the headlines recently there has been attention paid to places like Mount Ida College, looking at a partnership with the University of Massachusetts being absorbed by that. Marlborough College is looking at a perspective absorption by Emerson, that's being contested right now.At Sweetbriar and Hampshire colleges we’re thinking about ways ...
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, are facing declining enrollments as are many other American universities. But North Carolina A&T, the country's largest HBCU, has boasted of growth as it continues to welcome international students to its campus. In Greensboro, Esha Sarai has more.
The number of new international student enrollments in the U.S. has declined for a straight third year, according to the Institute for International Education. Experts say many foreign students feel less welcome, find it harder to secure a U.S. visa and have more educational options around the globe, including in countries where tuition is cheaper than in the U.S. Sahar Majid reports in this story narrated by Kathleen Struck.
In the aftermath of disaster, it is sometimes the young who seem the most resilient. That is the case for high school student athletes in the town of Paradise, in Northern California. Only half of the students in the district returned after one of the deadliest and most destructive fires in the state’s history destroyed their town a year ago. Then, even as the community recovered, the high school football team experienced what could be described as a miracle season. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.
Indiana University's South Bend campus is home to 5,000 students almost 10 percent of whom are international. For the past decade, the school has put on a Thanksgiving dinner to bring international students and Indiana residents together. Esha Sarai has more.
Indiana University's South Bend campus is home to 5,000 students almost 10 percent of whom are international. For the past decade, the school has put on a Thanksgiving dinner to bring international students and Indiana residents together. Esha Sarai has more.
Dolica Gopisetty is considered an international student, even though she's been living in the U.S. with her family for the past 14 years. But feeling that her adopted country has not yet embraced her as one of its own hasn't stopped the gifted 21-year-old tech student from pursuing her academic and professional dreams. VOA's Julie Taboh has more.
Divinity schools do not just teach about religion and prepare students to be a chaplain or to follow a pastoral route. These schools have a far larger role to play in a society. Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by Kathleen Struck.
An international report from researchers at 35 institutions says climate change will threaten the health and quality of life of children born today. The report says rising temperatures will lead to more diseases, extreme weather, and risk of food insecurity affecting current and future generations. As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, researchers hope to force the issue to the forefront of an upcoming climate change conference.
The video app TikTok has become the world’s most downloaded app. Teenagers are fueling the craze by posting videos as short as 15 seconds of themselves dancing, lip-syncing, being silly and generally showing off. Michelle Quinn talked to teenagers about why TikTok is important to them.
The recent scandal surrounding wealthy parents in the U.S. caught in a scheme to buy their children's way into elite schools has drawn renewed attention to the admissions practices of American universities and colleges. There remains a widespread perception that students from wealthy families can more easily gain admission to elite schools because they can pay the high tuition costs. To address this, education experts say more needs to be done to make it easier for applicants from low-income families to be admitted to these colleges. Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by Kathleen Struck.
Most people think of rats as dirty, disease-ridden creatures that should be avoided at all cost. But rats are proven to be highly intelligent, with a keen sense of smell. For the past 20 years, a nonprofit organization in Tanzania has been taking advantage of those attributes by training a special breed of rat to help save lives. VOA's Julie Taboh caught up with a member of their research team in Charleston, South Carolina.
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — Most people think of rats as dirty, disease-ridden creatures that should be avoided at all cost.But not the folks at APOPO, a global nonprofit organization in Tanzania that has developed an innovative method of detecting landmines and tuberculosis by using African giant pouched rats' extraordinary sense of smell.Saving livesEllie Cutright, who has loved rats all her life, works on the APOPO research team.American researcher Ellie Cutright works with African giant pouched rats that are trained to detect landmines."There's a very negative connotation about rats, which is kind of sad," she said during a recent visit to her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. "I was a child who had rats as a pet, so I got over that negative connotation."Cutright had followed APOPO on Facebook for years when she noticed a job announcement during her last year of college and applied. "I never really thought I would get the job, but here we are," she beamed."I think rats are very intelligent, and they can be amazing animals," she said. "And the kind we work with are all very sweet, they like to be held and be handled, they like to interact with people, and they really like to work hard. They are really out to please you."Amazing ratsThe giant rats, which grow to about the size of a domestic cat, are born and bred at the organization's headquarters in Morogoro, Tanzania.African giant pouched rats are trained in a click and rewards system to sniff out a tea egg infuser filled with TNT to eventually locate landmines. (APOPO/Courtesy)Once they open their eyes — at around four or five weeks old — they are socialized to handle people and adjust to the environment around them. Training starts when they're weaned from their mother — at around 10 weeks old — with a click and reward system, "which means food, so they're very happy about that since they really like to eat," Cutright explained.The landmine rats first train on a small table covered with soil where they are taught to sniff for tea eggs — much like the kind used to infuse tea — filled with TNT."When they approach that, they get the click and the food reward, so then they learn that the smell of this TNT means food," Cutright said. "And then slowly we stretch out the area that they're working in so they're running on a leash ...
Thirty years ago, a deadly hurricane ripped through the beautiful city of Charleston, South Carolina, destroying many of its historic homes and buildings. A shortage of skilled artisans meant it took years to rebuild the city. Today, a generation of aspiring artists is learning traditional building skills at a local college where job placement is 100%. VOA’s Julie Taboh traveled to the fast-developing coastal city to see how students and faculty at this unique college meet a growing and urgent need.
While 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg has inspired some people, she’s faced fiery criticism from others. Thunberg continued on her journey, this week, at the United Nations Climate Change Summit in New York. Meanwhile, other young people have been protesting in Washington and worldwide. Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by Kathleen Struck.
Fifty-seven percent of full-time American college students had a drink in the last month, and about 38% of those students were binge drinking, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. What influences such heavy drinking on campuses? Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by JimBertel.
School dress codes are legal in America, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. But many students say they discriminate against females and burnish stereotypes. During the 2015-16 school year, 53 percent of public schools compelled students to abide by a dress code, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But some young women in the United States and around the world are pushing back, saying dress codes unfairly target women more than men. Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by Kathleen Struck.
After a college student at Cornell University in New York was asked to dress more conservatively in class, she responded by taking her clothes off. While Letitia Chai was previewing her thesis to professors -- “Reimagining the Refugee-Host Country Relationship: Tibetans and India” -- one of them suggested her shorts were too short for a thesis presentation. Cornell declined to comment for this story.So, on the day the international student formally presented her thesis in May 2018, she broadcast the event on Facebook Live, and streamed her protest and presentation for 37 minutes in her underwear. “Mom and dad … hello,” she said to her parents who were watching in Korea, before explaining why she believed a woman’s clothing should not dictate the conversation about who she is.“How much longer do we need to put up with this nonsense … of being put down and being made to feel less because of someone else’s words and perceptions?” Chai asked, sounding defiant and exasperated at various times.Social media response was quick. Chai’s livestream garnered 266,000 views, more than 3,000 reactions and nearly 650 shares. Among the detractors, they called Chai childish, mixed up and “stupid.” “Grow up Chai and become professional. Your professor did you the biggest favor of your life by trying to teach you professional dress. Unfortunately you believe you are a gift to the world as opposed to thinking what you can give to the world,” wrote Lori Shecter, whose post garnered 216 reactions, most giving it a "thumbs up" in agreement.“Left or right, doesn't matter. In a professional environment you need to look and act professional. Sadly if you did this for a job interview or at work, you would only be making a fool of yourself,” wrote Nicole Morrison, whose post received 23 reactions, again, mostly in agreement. Advocates, however, labeled her righteous, inspirational and brave. “She is no more exposed than if she wore a swimsuit, so you can stop pretending to be shocked. I applaud this young woman's bravery,” wrote Larry Greene, whose post received 108 reactions and 23 responses, mostly in agreement, but with some virulent opposition. “She's wearing more than many girls and women wear at the beach. I really don't get why this is upsetting to so many people,” Becca Spivey responded.While many of the commenters said they would be distracted by what women wear in the classroom, an academic who has studied visual sexual stimuli and who ...
The #MeToo movement has exposed how powerful public figures use sexual harassment against the less powerful. But underreported is how international students in the U.S. deal with harassment on campus. Students from some cultures might face a higher risk because they have been taught not to challenge authority or create conflict. VOA's Kathleen Struck talked with graduate Althea Rao from China, who uses her art to express how she coped sexual harassment and to help educate others.
In the age of #MeToo, Washington's Miss District of Columbia 2019 is using her title to help victims of sexual violence and raise awareness about the problem. Her name is Katelynne Cox and besides being Miss. D.C., the 25-year-old is the executive director of 'Silence Is Not Compliance,' an organization that rehabilitates rape survivors and educates kids on how to prevent sexual violence. VOA's Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by Kathleen Struck.
The average monthly student loan payment is about $400 a month in the United States. Eddy Encinales, who used student loans to pay for college, talks to us about the effects of the debt and toll it takes trying to make her monthly payments and plan for her future. Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal.
Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders and Representatives Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal have joined together to introduce a bill that promises to cancel all $1.6 trillion of student debt by taxing stock, bond and derivative transactions on Wall Street. The legislation, called the College for All Act, would also eliminate tuition and fees at public, four-year universities. More in this report from Sahar Majid for VOA News.
These students got four-year, full-ride scholarships to prestigious US universities. How did they do it?