Julie Weinstein teaches psychology and child development at LaGuardia Community College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY), but in her emails she reflects on something more basic – and even more inspiring – than her psych classes.
Noting that 40% of all college students get their education at community colleges, she describes the manifold challenges these students face. “Many are over 25, single parents juggling childcare and often eldercare as well, working full-time and going to school, with an average family income of $25,000. It's a far different experience than we had on the Hill, and assisting my students in pursuing their dreams is an amazing experience.”
Her enthusiasm for teaching the First Year Seminar is infectious. "This fall I will be teaching a new class that was recently implemented, called the First Year Seminar, which focuses on students who are the first in their families to go to college, and who need orientation to college in general, to our college, to how to network and become engaged with co-curricular activities, to how to study and learn, to ideas about who they are and how they can best pursue their dreams. I'm very excited about this."
Meanwhile, Julie has nothing but applause for the theatrical career of her daughter Rachel (Oberlin '13), who has appeared in a number of touring children's musicals and is now in an off-Broadway musical! Here is Rachel in costume for the show.
Having written a children's musical (“everything except the orchestration”), Rachel is gathering funding for the production while writing a play and preparing for a workshop with Leigh Fondakowski, who wrote The Laramie Project.