Introductions are made, and the conversation begins. But Clint Smith, ritically-acclaimed poet and writer for The Atlantic, and many of the students were anxiously waiting for 1:15 p.m. “In one hour, we’re going to find out what the grand jury decided in regards to Breonna Taylor."

Only 1 in 5 first-generation college students graduate with a bachelor’s degree within six years. Only 1 in 5 Latinos ages 25-29 have a bachelor’s degree at all. Gabriel Anguiano accomplished both.

"At the end of the day, I’m still a black man. That’s just how it is. ... They won’t know I’m an All-American track athlete. They’re going to apply whatever they think they know about me…whatever they want to see me as."

What’s a 12-year-old kid to do when the 40-watt bulb that runs his blue lava lamp stops working? For Joe Whitaker, the answer was simple. Give it more heat. In the microwave. “There’s not a lot of reasoning behind the things I do.” He smiles. “At least not solid reasoning.”

“Just how controversial it was to do that play at an all-male school in the middle of Indiana—I know that now, but I didn’t get it back then,” says Mathew Boudreaux ’98, who played Louis. “I knew that some people wouldn’t like it, but, then again, some people didn’t like me.”

In Urban Outfitters on Fifth Avenue on a Sunday afternoon, Saturday Night Live producer and head costumer Tom Broecker makes his way through the maze of displays until he’s standing in front of these bright, floral-patterned, men’s button downs. “Sometimes ugly clothes make more of a statement than pretty clothes,” he says, whipping through the shirts on the rack.

"Running from screaming girls on the streets of Paris, Eric Daman ’92 found himself in a world he was not used to but one he helped to create."

It’s not normal for a baby to be blue. Yet there she was—a tiny patient tangled in tubes lying on an operating table. Her name was Lea, and parts of her body weren’t receiving enough oxygen. The scientific term is “cyanotic.” Watching the entire time were Joey Lenkey and Joey Ballard, in the first surgery of what would be their weeklong trip with renowned pediatric heart surgeon Jack Myers. Their work was just beginning. So was Lea’s.

Trace is fighting a degenerative neurological disease that has left the former defensive lineman, shot-putter, artist, and wordsmith homebound and confined to a wheelchair. Countless medical specialists still don’t know why. He eats through a feeding tube. He can barely talk or use his hands. But that’s not who he is.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It is a time to focus on a problem that should not be addressed privately or behind closed doors. It is a problem that takes an entire community to solve. Because domestic violence is a problem that affects an entire community.

Michael Reed was 19 years old the first time he went to prison. Because of his addiction to pain killers and heroin, Michael spent almost all of his 20s behind bars. Now, at almost 31 years old, Michael is almost two years sober. And it’s because of the chances that only God could give him.

Kennedy Ellis is four years old. She loves Strawberry Shortcake. Her favorite color is pink. And the first thing she does every morning is dance. Kennedy has long, blonde hair that flies everywhere when she dances and glasses that, somehow, stay put. But her bouncy hair is thinning out and her cute glasses are correcting her vision loss. Kennedy Ellis is four years old. And she has cancer.