The transition from high school to college can be difficult, but for first-generation, high financial need, and historically underrepresented students, it can be a steeper uphill climb that can lead to persisting in college at lower rates than their non-marginalized peers.
It can be hard for college students to leave their non-academic struggles at the classroom door, especially in a time of greater uncertainty or stress with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
It is with that in mind that this month Rockhurst University became one of seven college campuses in the state piloting a program from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development and the Missouri Department of Social Services aimed at helping connect students (as well as faculty and staff) to the resources they need to be successful.
Members of the Rockhurst University community tuning into Kansas City’s morning news might see a familiar face — Carolina Cruz, ’16, recently came back to join the KCTV-5 newsroom.
“I think it was always part of my plan to get back at some point,” said Cruz, who grew up in St. Louis. “I fell in love with Kansas City when I was in college. I think the goal for me that I found within the last few years is staying in a community and growing roots there.”
It’s a section of the sky that Mark Pecaut, Ph.D., associate professor of physics, is well familiar with.
Since his days as a doctoral student at the University of Rochester, Pecaut has been studying a particular group of stars in the night sky. And even after several publications, conference presentations, and undergraduate research projects led using the same group of stars, it turns out there’s still plenty to learn.
