The College Mind

Name: Nick Fortunato School: Saint Joseph's University Passion: Education Reform... Education in the United States has been on a decline since the 1980’s, especially in 2002 when President Bush implemented No Child Left Behind. It redefined what education was like in the United States. It focuses it’s policies on numbers, statistics, and outcomes, more than individual learning. It’s really been detrimental to the state of education in the United States because it has forced teacher and students to teach and learn to the tests and not to their skill level. Education is the doorway and the gateway to the future, not just for our country, but also for our children. Education increased tolerance and open-mindedness across the world. It also creates a global thinking pattern, which helps prevent things like racism and bigotry. If we just have a more informed populous, then we will be able to have an increased quality of life in the United States. www.thecollegemind.com

Name: Brian Radermacher School: Saint Joseph's University Passion: MAKING THE WORLD SUSTAINABLE... I’ll start with people asking me 'What do you want to do with your life?' For a really long time my answer was, change the way people think. That has gotten revised to I want to challenge the way people think. I think people are very set in their assumptions of the world and how that works. I don’t pretend that I have the answers to these questions that challenging people’s thoughts brings up. I don’t. I think people ignore those questions and that is a huge reason for a lot of the systemic problems we see in our society and the world’s society today. So ideally, someone would pay me to have conversations with the people who are educated enough to make policy. I want to make sure they are considering people and how much of an impact actions have on people in their policy making decisions, because I think a lot of that is lost on a fundamental structural basis. The individual and their reaction to events and history and world economics and everything is just ignored or dismissed as unimportant, if your narrative and reactions to something is different than the way the majority see it, you are diminished as less, even when it is all just an interpretation of events. Your reality is no less valid than anyone else’s.

Name: Karen Medina School: Saint Joseph's University Passion: Saving The Environment... I am most passionate about the environment because we only have one. I study Environmental Science so that I can find a way to keep our environment safe and sustainable, so that we can still live there for a long period of time. Without it, we would not have a place to go and that is why I feel like it is very important to take care of. We may not really think about it and throughout history we definitely have not, but lately we have, and I want to be apart of that movement to save the world.

Name: Danielle Zabielski School: Saint Joseph's University Passion: Art and How People Express Themselves ... I love music, I love to draw, I love reading, I love writing, and I feel like all of these are intertwined art forms. They are all people creating things. I love the idea of people expressing themselves and making something from nothing. You have so many ideas in your head and to be able to create them and make them in to tangible, physical things is an amazing thing. Poetry and even architecture, science, and math are art forms in themselves. What I am passionate about is an idea, the idea of people keeping the arts alive and relevant in their own lives. Without art, there is really not much left in the world.

Name: Kailee Fisher School: Saint Joseph's University Passion: Women in Leadership Positions ... Women in general do not have the same opportunities as men do. I feel as though women put different perspectives on the table that aren’t always addressed. Women should have these different opportunities available to them, whether it be in business or science. We have unique perspectives, experiences, and knowledge. We are important and we need to be in the forefront.

Name: Scott Kenkelen College: Saint Joseph's University Passion: Family... I think family is everything. They are the first people you get to meet and they take care of you, especially your parents. But I think your siblings really are the best. They are like your first friends. You really get to grow up with them and make a lot of mistakes with them, but learn from those mistakes. I think I am motivated most by them, because no matter what I do in life, I always want to make sure I am making my father proud and making sure my mom knows she raised a kind gentleman. I also want to keep them in mind and make sure that no matter what I do; I always stay in contact with them. I don’t want let things that might seem more important than my family ever take over. https://thecollegemind.com/a-collection-of-passions/