Featured individuals in “Redefining Access for the 21st-Century Student” documentary participate in a panel discussion during the Institute for Higher Education Policy National Summit. (photo by Ronald Roach)
However, during the institute’s annual national summit event on Tuesday, data-heavy research took a decidedly lower profile as IHEP leaders premiered a documentary to showcase first-generation college-going students describing the challenges they overcame to gain admission to and, in two cases, complete college. In “Redefining Access for the 21st-Century Student” documentary, five students told poignant stories of how they struggled during their high school and young adult years to get into and find stable paths in college.
IHEP President Dr. Michelle Asha Cooper told the roughly 150 summit attendees that, while the organization, whose “core strength is in research and analysis,” has “prepared many research reports and policy briefs over the years,” IHEP took a different course with the documentary project because it “wanted to bring our data and our research to life.”
“We have done that by capturing stories—stories of students and students of institutions,” she said. “And when you hear these stories, especially the stories of students, I’m sure you will feel very so much like me. You will recognize that there is a sense of urgency that is needed to make sure that none of these students falls through the cracks.”
Following the film’s showing, the five students—Andrea Fitch, Donald Richards, Jenell Holder, Sharon Flores and Traval Mensah—participated in a panel discussion along with Dr. Charlie Nelms, founder of the Destination Graduation Initiative and former chancellor of North Carolina Central University, who also appeared in the documentary.
In the film, each student describes the challenges that he or she has either overcome or continues to battle. In addition, high school and college counselors add details to the stories of the featured students, whom they have helped and counseled. Commentary on the challenges low-income and first-generation students confront in seeking to attend and complete college is provided by experts such as Nelms and Dr. Arnold Mitchem, president emeritus of the Council for Opportunity in Education organization.
A veteran with military service in Iraq and Afghanistan, Richards talks about grappling with “two bureaucracies,” meaning that of the military and South Dakota State University, where he remains a student eight years after first enrolling at the school. As adult students, Fitch and Holder face similar challenges enrolling in college several years after finishing high school.
