Nearly a year since the nation went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, just about everyone is struggling to maintain a semblance of normality. Parents of school-aged children have taken to social media and countless news stories have been written on the difficulties of balancing remote learning with remote working.

Among the 53 “DREAMers” who played instruments and sang on the Grammy-winning big-band album “American Dreamers (Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom)” is Jesús Cortés-Sanchez ’18 (ED, SFA), ’19 MA, an aspiring music teacher in the integrated bachelor’s/master’s program with the School of Fine Arts and the Neag School of Education.

Mentors and guidance counselors helped Erik Hines, an assistant professor of educational psychology, find his path. Now he is paying it forward.