Volunteering, outreach, public service

Alex Padilla ’94 has been appointed to fill the Senate seat held by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, reports Shawn Hubler for The New York Times. Padilla, who will be the first Latino senator from California, said of his appointment: “I love public service and I’ve been doing it for more than 20 years, and I’d like to continue as long as I’m effective and they’ll continue to have me.”

Members of the MIT Spokes team speak with NBC Boston reporter Michael Page about their quest to ride their bicycles across the country this summer, hosting STEM workshops for students along the way. Undergraduate Leah Yost explains that the hands-on workshops provide students with a sense of “what a future in STEM might look like.”

While playing the popular video game Fortnite, graduate student Henri Drake and the Climate Fortnite Squad battle for glory and chat about climate science in an effort to make information about climate change accessible to Fortnite fans. “The squad hopes their streams will be watched by climate-curious gamers who can send in questions for them to answer midgame,” Andrews explains.

Greg Walton, an IT service provider and consumer support engineer at MIT, speaks with Chris Emma on NECN about his experience with Year Up, a non-profit organization focused on professional and personal development. “Year Up was one of the first opportunities that helped me get into a position where I could be someone successful,” said Walton. “They helped build that confidence.”

Open Style Lab, which started as a project at MIT's Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center, designs tech-based clothes for people with disabilities. "Technology is a big part of the design process at Open Style," reports Magdalena Petrova for CNBC, and the lab looks to "expand its reach by partnering with tech companies and hospitals to bring its designs to life.”

Preston County News & Journal reporter Theresa Marthey writes that students from Preston County, West Virginia are working on code to move SPHERES satellites on the International Space Station as part of the Zero Robotics program. Instructor Amanda Rehe explains that, “students have direct access with students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to use as a resource and assist with coding help.”

Stuart Schmill, MIT’s dean of admissions, speaks with WBUR’s Fred Thys about why colleges are placing an increased emphasis on the whole student as opposed to extracurricular activities. “We want students to take the most challenging classes that are most appropriate for them,” says Schmill, “but they don't need to do that in every single subject.”

Boston Globe reporter J.M. Lawrence writes about the legacy of D. Reid Weedon Jr., an MIT alumnus and life member emeritus of the MIT Corporation, who died at age 96. Lawrence notes that Weedon was a “key fund-raiser for MIT for 60 years,” and “worked with nine MIT presidents while mentoring many young fund-raisers.”

In an article for The Boston Globe, Linda Wertheimer writes about “Turning the Tide,” a new report that aims to focus the college admissions process on the whole student. “The right thing is not to overdo it, not to have this push for quantity over quality,” explains MIT Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill.

Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill speaks with WRKO’s Kim Carrigan about a new set of recommendations for the college admissions process. Schmill explains that, “we want students who are going to come here and try to improve the lives of their classmates,” as well as students interested in having a positive effect on the world.

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni examines “Turning the Tide,” a new report that recommends changes to the college admissions process. Bruni says the report - which Stuart Schmill, dean of admissions, contributed to – “sagely reflects on what’s wrong with admissions and rightly calls for a revolution, including specific suggestions.”

In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Leslie Brody speaks with Stuart Schmill, dean of admissions, about a report that recommends new guidelines for the college admissions process. “We want students to lead balanced lives,” says Schmill of the impetus for updating the admissions process. 

MIT students collaborated with residents of the Boston Home, a facility for adults with neurological diseases, to create InstaAid, an app that acts as a call button for nurses on the campus, writes Virgie Hoban for The Boston Globe. “The app preserves the independence of people contending with debilitating diseases," Hoban explains. 

Students from MIT and Harvard are biking across the country, stopping in rural communities along the way in an effort to get kids excited about science, the AP reports. "We can't teach them programming in a day, but we can get them excited about programming," says MIT freshman Drew Bent.

Middle school students from Lincoln County, Maine spent February vacation creating electronics as part of an educational program developed by the Edgerton Center, reports Rob Nesbitt for WCSH-TV. "Normally kids would not be exposed to this level of electronics until, maybe at the earliest, junior year of high school," explains Edgerton instructor Bob Vieth.