Community College Success Stories & Community Health Considerations

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March 6, 2020 – Here’s what we’re reading this week about the issues affecting high-achieving students. Cooke Transfer Scholars are making an impact on campus and in the world at large. Media coverage also discusses community college completion and how institutions are planning for coronavirus.

Do you know an academically talented 7th grader? Encourage them to apply for the Cooke Young Scholars Program, a selective pre-college scholarship that offers educational support to exceptionally promising students from across the nation. Cooke Young Scholars receive comprehensive advising and scholarship support from 8th grade until high school graduation. The application deadline is March 23, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

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Elementary & Secondary Education:

  • Students at CR Anderson middle schools’ PEAK Gifted and Talented Program in Helena, Montana presented in-depth research on human migration through poetry performances, reports the Helena Independent Record. On the unconventional program, PEAK Teacher Katie Knight said, “We wanted to demonstrate to them that research doesn’t just lead to PowerPoint presentations.”
  • Should public schools close to prevent coronavirus outbreaks? The Baltimore Sun and The Seattle Times look at the impacts on equity and public health that decision-makers must consider.

 

Higher Education:

  • “Students starting at community colleges made stronger gains than public four-year starters, and some states improved completion outcomes for racial/ethnic minorities at higher rates than overall,” reports the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
  • An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education notes that the coronavirus has created numerous enrollment concerns in college admissions offices across the country.

 

Student Voices:

  • Esther Gold, a student at Arizona State University, writes in The State Press that despite some critics’ beliefs that liberal arts degrees do not offer students depth of experience, an education in the liberal arts provides students with practical skills that set them up for success.
  • Patrick Doyle writes in The Daily Aztec that living in the dorms at San Diego State University has helped him get involved on campus. Doyle expresses his appreciation for the school’s policy of having students live on campus for their first year, discussing how this experience has made him come out of his shell, and feel more integrated with the campus community.

 

Cooke Foundation Highlights:

  • “I got the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, and once I got that, it just opened the doors to everything,” says Cooke Scholar Anyssa El Manfaa in a video from Swarthmore College. Anyssa began her higher education at the Community College of Philadelphia before transferring to Swarthmore.
  • Cooke Scholar An Garagiola-Bernier is one of Food Tank’s 20 Heroines Revolutionizing Food Activism to Improve the Planet. Her student-led program, Feed Your Brain, provided over 1,500 pounds of food each month to 200 students experiencing food insecurity at Hamline University.
  • Cooke College Scholar Semifinalists are profiled in local coverage The Grunion and Pilot News. The Daily Journal and Brookdale Community College celebrate Cooke Transfer Scholar Semifinalists in their communities.

 

Social Media Spotlight:

Photo header: Cooke Transfer Scholars meet members of their cohort at Scholars Weekend before heading from their community college to a four-year institutiton.