I graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College back in 2008 with a B.A. in History. After I travelled to South Korea to teach English, I came back home to Minnesota and worked in AmeriCorps for two years. My next step was turning my passion into a job by co-founding Danger Boat Productions and The Theater of Public Policy.
The designation was originally drafted in 2019 by LeadMN, a student-led organization that represents two-year college students in Minnesota. The designation passed, but only included state community and technical colleges and did not include funding to help schools start programs.
Mike Dean, executive director of the community college student association LeadMN, argued that Minnesota State could have afforded a tuition freeze after receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds as well as a $56 million funding boost from the Legislature.
The months of May and June have been busy ones for LeadMN and federal higher education issues. From a panel with Vice President Harris to expanded eligibility for federal student emergency grants, read the first of our federal advocacy updates covering all of the exciting things happening in the past month.
Known as Emancipation or “Freedom” day, June 19th 1865 commemorates the day enslaved African Americans in the state of Texas were told that the institution of slavery had been abolished. This was two years after the Emancipation Proclamation (HR40) or the 13th Amendment.
On May 17th the Minnesota legislature adjourned its regular session without having passed the higher education budget bill or any other budget bills. While legislative leaders and Governor Walz had come to an overall budget agreement a few days before the end of the regular session, details for all of the budget bills remained to be worked out.
LeadMN recently selected 18 deserving students to receive a LeadMN scholarship for the 2021 Fall Semester, totaling $19,120. Several of the recipients are highlighted.
In this edition, we talk about the Summer Leadership Training Series, our mental health day of action, the Spring Forward Campaign, and introduce the new student leadership team.
