Category: StudentNation

With minimal representation in my hometown and in the media, I hid my queerness and internalized toxic misconceptions about gender and sexuality. By Hannah Reynolds Coming of age in a rural, conservative-leaning town of 500 is in itself no easy feat. Growing up queer in such an environment is much harder. Supporting queer youth, regardless of […]

This year, the Penn State community has a golden opportunity to choose a new direction for its university. By Nora Van Horn Students and alumni of Pennsylvania State University—my school and Pennsylvania’s flagship land-grant institution—recognize that the climate crisis is personal. The Keystone State accounts for nearly 1 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and is expected […]

Timely Warning notifications were designed to provide community members with important information during an emergency, but there are unintended consequences. By Charlotte Rubin On Tuesday, September 21, 2021, over 50,000 New York University students’ phones buzzed at the same time. An identical notification appeared on their screens: “Safety Alert—Shots Fired.” A few minutes later, their phones buzzed […]

With the payment moratorium for student loans expiring on May 1, millions of women will face the possibility of financial ruin.  By Vivek Kakar and StudentNation Today, women hold over two-thirds of America’s trillion-dollar student debt. Each holds, on average, $31,000 in student debt before their career even begins, and because of the persistent gender wage pay gap, […]

The oil and gas industry uses universities to influence environmental policy. Here’s how we fight back. By Ilana Cohen and Jake Lowe As student organizers, we’ve seen the power of divestment come to bear by helping secure historic commitments from our universities—including the world’s richest school, Harvard​​—to sever their endowments from the companies driving climate breakdown. Yet at the […]

My peers and I spent years studying for the Standardized High School Admissions Test in NYC. Should that change? By Merry Li EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published by Youth Communications and is reposted here with permission. YC is a nonprofit publisher of teen-written stories and curriculum to help educators strengthen the social and emotional skills of youth. In June […]