Daily Lumina News 121620

St. Paul high school seniors Saylia Moo, Lay Lay, and Let Let have a lot in common. They all came to the United States from refugee camps in Thailand as young children. They work part time at Panera Bread. Before the pandemic, they volunteered at a local hospital.
The three friends also have their eyes set on the University of Minnesota. But the pandemic has made navigating the application process—college counseling, savings, and financial aid forms—harder than ever for these first-generation students.

A recent federal court ruling has given new life to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, marking a significant step forward for its 600,000-plus beneficiaries.
On this episode of River to River, current DACA recipients talk about the latest court decision and what it means for them and their future. Policy experts join the conversation to offer their take on immigration policy under President-elect Joe Biden.

After months of unrest over racial injustice across the country, Catherine Volcy, a 20-year-old junior at Towson University in Maryland, would really rather be on campus this semester. But like so many college students, she’s studying from home. And that reality makes it harder to talk through difficult issues with her peers and professors.
A psychology major, Volcy says online education has become a barrier to standing up for the issues she believes in—but she has also found creative new ways to communicate.

As the nation contemplates its post-pandemic future, it's vital that Americans come together at the local, state, and national levels to reform and rebuild our education system, writes former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings in this op-ed.
Spellings calls on school districts to work more closely with employers, community colleges, and others to create degrees and programs that help students fill high-skill jobs. She also encourages institutions to treat education and training as a lifelong pursuit, forging multiple entry points into degree programs.

The so-called demographic cliff up ahead might not be quite as imposing as previously thought, but it’s still very much a cliff.
That’s one takeaway from a new report by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. The study provides a crucial glimpse of the number of high-school graduates colleges can expect in the future. Those numbers will affect an institution’s enrollment, its bottom line, and its ability to fulfill its mission.

Colleges and universities are expected to play a significant role in getting the coronavirus vaccination to the public. For example, the University of Arizona will provide a "freezer farm" with a set of storage units that can hold 1.6 million doses of the vaccine.
Washington State University will not only offer freezers for vaccine storage, but it has also trained its pharmacy students to administer it.