COSLI July Newsletter

Colorado Student Leaders Institute
and the
University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs
present the annual 
Student Showcase

Friday, August 5
11:30 am to 1:00 pm

Student Commons #2600
1201 Larimer St.
Denver, CO 80204

RSVP by July 30
Register Now

By Joe MacDougall

In a nation where opinions and news have become increasingly polarized and truth has been called into question, media literacy has proven to be an important skill to effectively stay fully informed. Colorado Student Leaders Institute students meet with Dana Coffield and Skip Thurman to discuss the importance of media literacy and methods to detect bias in an effort to develop their critical reasoning skills and learn ways to be well informed. 

Coffield, Senior Editor of the Colorado Sun, makes it her mission to promote the consumption of non-partisan media. She is an advocate for objective truth in media, and, along with Skip Thurman, talks to COSLI students about the importance of media literacy and ways that students can employ it when consuming media. The development of media literacy skills has become crucial in this new era. In the past, as Coffield explains, “Journalism was defined by its pursuit of truth and less by entertainment.” Now, however, truth has become much more difficult to discern due to the increase in media outlets. COSLI students meet with Thurman and Coffield to develop the skills to sift through sources and look for unbiased information. As maintained by Coffield, doing so proves to be difficult with the rise of entertainment media and many new ways to consume news. Coffield and Thurman aid students in looking for key identifiers of trustworthy sources. Coffield highlights that it is crucial that information “is good quality,” that “sources are cited,” and that “there are links in your stories that you can click on and look at original research.” Key identifiers such as these enable consumers of the media to stay well informed with objective information and to be minimally impacted by personal biases. 

In addition to staying personally informed, being able to seek out unbiased sources of media also enables media consumers to have meaningful connections and conversations with people who have perspectives differing from their own. Coffield asserts, “It is important to, perhaps more than anything else, be able to have discourse with people who are not like ourselves.” Staying well informed without letting personal biases cloud our judgment enables media consumers to contribute meaningfully to topics of debate. For this reason, COSLI promotes the inclusion of and respect for varying perspectives throughout all four weeks of the program. Regularly practicing media literacy enables a student to do just that: take a step back from entertainment media and focus on objective truth. 

What else happened in May/June?

by Sandra Brock

July 1st, 1969: The state legislature voted to provide public transportation to a large portion of the Denver metro area, creating the Regional Transportation District (RTD). 

July 5th, 1991: The Colorado Rockies were born! They were selected by the league to play in 1993. 

July 20th, 2012: A mass shooting occurred in the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora. 

COSLI Birthdays!

Diana Garcia - 7/2 

Joey Vongphasouk - 7/2 

Bella-Analise Brown - 7/5 

Elena Dunn - 7/8 

Bedha Neopaney - 7/8 

Frederick Norman - 7/9 

Payvan Gudavali - 7/10 

Valeria Miramontes  - 7/10 

Prashasth Satish - 7/10 

Mikaela Kevil - 7/11 

Cristina Nava Rios - 7/12 

Ashley Gurrola - 7/13 

Rafael Lutz - 7/13 

Kevin Nguyen - 7/15 

Subul Zeerak - 7/20 

Elena Fierro - 7/21 

Karthrik Reddy - 7/22 

Greta Cahill - 7/23 

Mo Dominguez - 7/24 

Mirebelle Riley - 7/24 

Laura Morfitt - 7/27 

Akaljot - 7/31 

by Mo Dominguez
Need book recommendations? Here’s a list of what the COSLI alumni are reading — take a look, you might find one you like!
 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo 

The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin 

The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid 

Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw 

Merchants of Doubts by Naomi Oreskes and Eric M. Conway 

SAT Prep Book by Princeton Review  

Macbeth by William Shakespeare  

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 

Made for Goodness by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu 

The No Asshole Rule by Robert I. Sutton, PhD 

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow 

Zelensky by Andrew L. Urban and Chris McLeod 

Need podcast and music recommendations? Our COSLI alumni have lots of music and podcast recommendations that they enjoy. See what your COSLI alumni have been listening to!

Daebak Show w/ Eric Nam - podcast 

Duolingo Spanish Podcast - podcast 

Teenage Therapy - podcast 

Proof - album by BTS 

Title - album by Meghan Trainor 

SZNS: Summer - album by Weezer 

“Mother I Sober” - song by Kendrick Lamar  

“Surfin” - song by Kid Cudi 

“Monogamy” - song by Leith Ross 

“Another Lifetime” - song by Nao 

By Anjana Radha and Allison Thomas

Binh Nguyen is a COSLI alum from the class of 2018 and current student at Regis University. She studies biology as a pre-med student, fueled by a passion derived from several events throughout her life. 

Through her experience at COSLI, Nguyen not only made lifelong friends and felt more prepared for transitioning into college, but she also gained a new perspective on social justice issues. One activity consists of making sandwiches and giving them to the homeless community in downtown Denver. Nguyen recalls it as her favorite. Even after running out of sandwiches, she and her peers came together to buy more food for additional homeless people in the community. This experience was incredibly touching and inspired Nguyen to dedicate future work to helping homeless communities as well. At Regis, Nguyen started P.A.C.T. (Providing Assistance to the Community Together). This club provides clothing and food to homeless communities in need. 

Nguyen advises future COSLI students to make the best of the experience. “Use this program to help you discover your passion and allow it to show you what your potential is in both life and careers,” she says. 

Throughout college, Nguyen has worked on several research projects. She is in the process of publishing her first research paper, has participated in research relating to a roundworm called C. Elegans, and took part in a human clinical trial testing a new drug for type II diabetes through Anschutz Medical Center at CU Denver. Nguyen currently works as a Medical Assistant/Scribe for Colorado Heart and Vascular clinic at St. Anthony Hospital. 

Partnering with Global Medical Brigade, Nguyen was also able to travel to Ghana; she named the trip a “life-changing experience.” There, she provided healthcare to two communities while learning about shortcomings in Ghana’s healthcare systems. Nguyen and her group fundraised to allow about 300 individuals to sign up for free healthcare. “One of the most important things I learn[ed] is to be grateful for what we have and to always smile even when things are rough,” she recalls from the trip. The Ghanaians she met were always grateful and smiling despite any hardships they faced, and she took their outlook on life to heart. Nguyen’s trip to Ghana is pictured above. 

In her future, Nguyen hopes to attend medical school in order to practice family medicine. She hopes to continue serving her community by providing free healthcare to individuals and assisting the homeless community. 

Binh Nguyen is a wonderful representation of how COSLI’s lessons can be further developed after the program. Her actions and accomplishments thus far are incredibly admirable. Congratulations Binh! 

The 350 Colorado Youth Action Committee is a committee for the 350 Colorado climate organization dedicated to promoting youth activism and interest in climate action. The committee is run by youth for youth. The youth action committee is for any youth living inside or outside of Colorado who has interest in having a say in the future of climate action or wants to be involved in climate action and climate strikes. More information on the Youth Action Committee and 350 Colorado here. Join the committee here. 

The Colorado Young Leaders Program is for high school students wanting to be involved with their community. The program provides the framework to help students get involved and find what they want to do. CYL students want to learn more about the world around them, discover their own gifts, and make a real impact. More information here, and register here. 

Women in the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame student-written biographies: This opportunity is for any student doing an NHDC project. Students can sign up and will receive $25 for each biography completed. After you sign up, a NHDC student board member will email you to confirm your signup. Signup here. 

The Mile High Flight Program is a special youth initiative sponsored by the Hubert L. “Hooks” Jones Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen. Their goal is to inspire the next generation of aerospace leaders through the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen. The program specializes in increasing students’ knowledge of aerospace and aviation, and even includes flight training and ground instruction. The application for this year is closed, but students may still apply to be considered for the next cycle. Apply here. 

By Riley Cooper

A few weeks ago I traveled to Washington DC to participate in Learning Disability Day of Action with a group of other incredible high school and college students with a wide range of differences including Dyslexia, ADHD, Dysgraphia, slow processing, and Dyscalculia. The day started with a roundtable with the Department of Education, followed by a  discussion with a few speakers at the West Wing of the Whitehouse about the importance of having people with disabilities in the United State’s workforce, and wrapped up with meetings with Senator Hickenlooper and Bennet’s offices to advocate for the RISE act. If passed, the RISE act will, “amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide students with disabilities and their families with access to critical information needed to select the right college and succeed once enrolled” (RISE). One aspect of the RISE act that reeled me in to lobby for is if passed, it will guarantee college students who had accommodations in high school the same, or improved accommodations in college without having to pay copious amounts of money to get retested for learning disabilities their freshman year to receive equitable access to learning.

Accommodations, also referred to as 504s or IEPs, play a key role in supporting equitable access to learning for all students and range from extended time on exams to large print copies of class material to open notes on assessments and more. Unfortunately due to such strict guidelines, accommodations are incredibly out of reach for college students, 94% of students with diagnosed learning disabilities received accommodations in high school while only 17% received accommodations in college. As a result, there are higher dropout rates of students with learning disabilities and ultimately less learning disabled faces in the workforce altogether. This is a significant issue for both people with learning disabilities and the workforce missing out on their unique talent. Accessible accommodations for college students are rather simple and would aid the path to a much-needed, more neurodiverse workforce.

Often when teachers or fellow students learn that I have learning disabilities I’m met with disbelief. There is so much stigma around learning disabilities and expectations for students with LDs are so low that many are surprised by the fact that a student leader struggles with learning disabilities. As one of my peers at this initiative put it, “They [teachers and peers] had no idea how hard I was working outside of the classroom”. 

Enacting a bill is a huge challenge and while I’ll continue to work with The National Center for Learning Disabilities to push for the RISE act, some things can be done by educators and peers on a more immediate level to protect the 1 in 5 with learning disabilities. I challenge you to update your perception of learning disabled people. Yes, students with learning disabilities are often spelling what seem to be easy words on essays, taking longer on tests, and asking what many feel to be too many questions during class but we’re also the ones pushing the creative limits, inventing the theory of relativity, operating businesses, running for president with a catchy banjo theme, and advocating on the hill.