“We can’t afford to overlook talent,” says Del Siegle, a professor of gifted education at the University of Connecticut, where he also directs the National Center for Research on Gifted Education. “The only way our country is going to reach its potential is if all the children have an opportunity to reach theirs.”

Claire Smith, an African-American female, grew up in a time when both of her underrepresented identities first made their breakthroughs. She told of how both her parents grew up as big Jackie Robinson fans and how that had a trickle-down effect on her. In a time where blacks in America faced oppression in a multitude of areas in society, every breakthrough was of major significance.

“Right now you have a megaphone coming from the White House that is being challenged by the megaphone coming from the athletic world,” Joseph Cooper says.

“My project will be focused on human rights and social justice and kids can choose a topic they’re interested in and that impacts their lives,” says Jessica Stargardter. “They’ll document an issue they see in their own community and hopefully be inspired to take action.”

“This is a matter of priorities,” says Preston Green. “States should first provide sufficient funding to traditional public schools in urban areas. Once states have systems of traditional public schools that meet the educational needs of these students, then they can assess how much funding and resources to devote to charter schools.”

The small parent rebellion forming in one of Pennsylvania’s wealthiest school districts began at a Starbucks in suburban Chester County.

Preston Green III, Professor of Educational Leadership and Law at the University of Connecticut, told Capital & Main that charter school growth, especially in California, is at a crossroads.

“We warned that the policy of multiple authorizers, which was designed to increase the number of charter schools, could lead to the insufficient screening of charter schools,” Preston Green explains. “Independent authorizers would be freer to issue charters because they did not assume the risk of failure.”

At UConn, Laura Burton has seen how the Global Sports Mentoring Program can be a powerful experience for student-athletes. Burton, a professor in UConn’s sport management program, says she and her colleagues work to provide connections between the delegate and the athletics department — usually including at least one women’s basketball practice, providing the delegate a chance to see women playing at one of the highest levels.

The University of Connecticut recently unveiled Courtroom 600, a project that places users inside the courtroom at the Nuremberg trials where Nazis and collaborators were tried. This project, still in prototype form, allows users to engage with virtual reality technology in order to interact with a fictitious member of the United States team of prosecutors. It also enables users to read primary source documents, gather evidence and prosecute select defendants.