Colleges and universities typically provide in-person programming and supports to strengthen bonds between students and build a sense of community. But the pandemic curtailed both in-person learning and campus-wide events.

As students return to classrooms, new research shows what schools might do to rebuild those bonds. Ithaka, a nonprofit that works to improve educational opportunities, encourages higher-ed institutions to step up community-building.

Research by Emily Schwartz - senior program manager with the Ithaka S+R's educational transformation team - found a greater sense of belonging can improve a student's academic experience, and boost their chances of graduating.

"A lot of students that are entering college now," said Schwartz, "they haven't had the chance to have the in-person experience, and without those roots of the connections made in person, I think it can be very challenging."

Schwartz said schools need to make sure they're listening to students and student leaders about what they need to succeed in a post-pandemic world.

Undergraduate enrollment at colleges has fallen 6.6% since fall of 2019, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

For most college students, the pandemic eliminated one-on-one advising appointments, career development workshops and mentorship programs. Schwartz said that's been especially tough on students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, lower-income students and students of color.

She said she thinks it will be important, particularly for community colleges, to offer more diverse activities and programs to rebuild a sense of community.

"If you're offering some sort of activity that's at 7 p.m. every night, and a student has a family and kids, that time might not work for them," said Schwartz. "So, having variety in programming, I think, is really important."

She added that the pandemic also magnified existing societal inequalities in access to technology, including disparities in access to broadband and digital devices.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

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In the Keystone State and nationwide, educators are voicing concerns that politics are demoralizing current teachers and discouraging others from entering the profession, at a time when more are needed.

They cite school shootings and political rhetoric from GOP vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, criticizing people without their own children being teachers as reasons the country's teacher shortage might get worse.

Maggie Myers-Atac, who teaches history at Olney High School in Philadelphia, agreed that teaching is a difficult path to choose right now, and can be a challenging work environment.

"We're getting a lot of negativity from a lot of different places," she said. "We're seeing politicians and leaders in the news talk poorly about us. We're seeing families and parents, unfortunately, who have kind of been turned against us and what we're trying to do in our schools."

She added that school administrators also face pressure from higher-ups to implement specific teaching methods that may not align with what teachers know would work best in their classrooms.

Pennsylvania has more than 109,000 teachers in public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 14 students. That's better than the national average of one teacher for every 16 students.

For all its challenges, Myers-Atac said she's convinced teaching is still a rewarding profession. She said her own recent Teacher of the Month award serves as a testament to the positive aspects of the profession countering the negative narrative.

"I had the entire 11th-grade class coming up and congratulating me. I had students who were talking about the impact that being in my classroom had," she said. "And so every day, there's something special and there's something beautiful that you see as a teacher. It's just that the problem is, it's only students and teachers who are recognizing that among themselves - and it's not being seen in larger society."

Citing the teacher shortage in the state, she said one way to address it would be to raise teachers' salaries in Pennsylvania to be more competitive. She would also recommend changes to what she calls the "messaging and values" around education.

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Correction: Sánchez Sotelo would go on to contribute money in exchange for the land used to build ASU. An earlier version of this article stated she sold the land. (07:53 a.m. PST., Sept. 26, 2024)

It took one Arizona State University alumna years to find out she is a descendant of a Mexican pioneer, who was foundational in the creation of ASU.

Sonia Reyes Corella, 55, is hoping to establish a scholarship to honor her third great-grandmother, Manuela Sánchez Sotelo. Reyes Corella says Sánchez Sotelo made her way to Tempe with her family for irrigation work. Sánchez Sotelo and her husband eventually purchased 160 acres of land near present day Rural Road and east University Drive. She would go on to contribute money in exchange for the land used to build the university.

During Hispanic Heritage Month, Reyes Corella wants folks to know that Latinos have been an integral part of ASU's history, something she hopes to further cultivate with her proposed scholarship.

"But if you know, 'Hey, we've been here, we've been here the whole time, we've been here since before it started - this is our school, this is our town, maybe it's not so scary that way.' If I knew that I would've come in feeling completely different if I would've known this woman had helped to found ASU," she said.

Over the years, Reyes Corella has mentored several ASU students, something she said simply was not an option during her studies. She is now working to establish a Los Diablos alumni chapter scholarship that will help a student cover the costs of books and supplies. She says the scholarship recipient would have to give a presentation on Sánchez Sotelo to honor her legacy.

Today the university is designated a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the Department of Education, for having over 25% of undergraduates identify as Hispanic or Latino.

A Phoenix native, Reyes Corella said she came to find out about her connection to Sánchez Sotelo through an uncle, whom she calls the historian of the family. As she learned about Sánchez Sotelo's life, she said she was shocked to know they shared so many similarities such as being single mothers, property owners as well as supporters of education.

"I mean, I thought I was doing something kind of new in the family - not at all. People will ask me, 'How did you do it?' And I never really had a good answer, until I found out about her," Reyes Corella explained.

Reyes Corella added that as a first-generation college graduate and a Latina, she recognizes her higher education journey was impacted by Sánchez Sotelo and is eager to honor her by helping enable access to deserving and qualified students.



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Workers in Washington state schools are spotlighting the need for higher wages as kids settle back into the classroom. Workers at the preschool through high school levels known as classified staff - people other than teachers who help schools run - are paid low wages and sometimes work multiple jobs to stay afloat. That's why the American Federation of Teachers of Washington is campaigning for higher pay for classified workers.

David Patten, a bus driver for the Renton School District, said some of his coworkers with families, for instance, are having a hard time getting by.

"They're working that job on top of having to apply for state benefits or state help. That shouldn't happen these days. f you're working, you know, 40 hours a week, there shouldn't really be that struggle," he said.

Patten said AFT Renton, representing classified staff in the district, was recently able to secure a new contract. But workers are still facing low wages. For example, he notes that nutrition service workers earn 26 dollars an hour, too low they say, after decades of work in the district.

Patten said it took eight months to hammer out a new contract for classified workers in Renton schools and that his union nearly went on strike, and added that many members were frustrated with the contrast between their pay and that of higher positions in the school district, such as the superintendent's.

"All we have money to do is pay our bills and make sure that we're able to make our mortgage, make our rent and do those things while some of the other people that are sitting up there are able to do whatever they want to do, and they look at us when we're asking for, maybe, a 6% raise or 7% raise and telling us 'no' and making us fight for it," Patten contended.

Patten added he and other classified workers are the ones who ensure schools efficient operation.

"Being able to provide those services and make sure that those kids are there safely, getting to eat, the mechanics making sure the buses are working, the plumbers and stuff making sure the stuff at the schools are working - without any of us, there is no school," he said.

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