There is something so lonely about getting an education in 2020. While reporting a story last month, I met a 6-year-old who hadn’t stepped foot inside a classroom since March. “I really need some friends,” she told me. Sadly, decades of underfunding and neglect have left too many school buildings unsafe to welcome students back.
 
On the college level, countless numbers of students are spending freshman year in their childhood bedrooms instead of on the leafy campuses of their dreams. 
 
There are, however, some silver linings on the horizon. Former LaGuardia Community College President Gail Mellow is among those excited about welcoming incoming first lady Jill Biden as “first professor” to the White House. And across the U.S., students inspired by the leadership of Anthony Fauci are applying to medical schools in record numbers.
 
These are some of the stories we bring you this week. I’m hoping they leave you inspired, and that you’ll consider a donation to The Hechinger Report, in honor of #GivingNewsDay.
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Rundown schools forced more students to go remote

Living the Harvard dream – from her childhood bedroom

PROOF POINTS: When parents got involved in schools, kids did no better

Coronavirus means school food is free across the U.S. What if it stayed that way?

COLUMN: Dear Black students: Don’t let white efforts at miseducation deny your legacy

Inspired by front-line health care workers, record numbers apply to medical schools

OPINION: What math class and police brutality have in common

OPINION: Let’s welcome a ‘first professor’ to the White House