EDUCATION
Using an iPad app, Colton Vazquez, a senior at Allderdice High School, works on a lesson in managing money with school paraprofessional Daryl Anderson. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)

Meet Colton, a student with Down syndrome, who plans to take part in the wave of inclusive higher ed programs.

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This fall, Colton Vazquez, who has Down syndrome, will be one of a few thousand high school graduates attending college in a non-traditional yet quite regular way. These students will commute to their campuses or live in dorms, audit classes or take them for credit, become more independent and self-reliant, explore career interests and make new friends. In other words, they’ll be doing exactly what their fellow college students are doing.

Let's talk about RACE

My 6-year-old grandson thought a book character’s skin was ‘too dark.’ Here’s how I handled it.

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When my 6-year-old grandson told me he didn’t like the African-American girl in a book about diverse children because she was ‘too dark,’ I felt like the protagonist in the French film “Amélie” when she transformed into water and dropped into a huge puddle on the floor. I was devastated — shocked, angry, surprised and, most importantly, stumped.

food policy
James Dreher, a 25-year-old student from Carrick, pours marinara sauce into separate containers at Community Kitchen Pittsburgh on Feb. 13, 2018. (Photo by John Hamilton/PublicSource)

‘Doing food different’ connects elementary students with a Pittsburgh program training people with barriers to employment

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The Community Kitchen caters, cooks for people experiencing homelessness and has contracts to provide food to five Pittsburgh-area schools. The tension between training its cooks and providing high-quality meals can create challenges, especially as the organization grows. But the Community Kitchen’s success doesn’t only depend on its ability to deliver lunches on time. The food is healthier than typical school lunches, and it has to find schools that can get kids to eat it.