open letter to people starting college this fall.

[Desert grandma]

11. Thank you for your post.

My twin granddaughters that live with us just graduated and turned 18 in March. ( Btw, They registered to vote and voted D in the special election we are having to replace Deb Haaland in our congressional district, too.) They spent the last year and a half in virtual school and still graduated with very high GPAs. This year many incoming college freshman have been impacted by the pandemic in ways that have not yet been fully understood imo. I am so very glad these two girls chose Fort Lewis College in Durango. The college has extensive support systems for incoming students. They will move in their dorms a few days early to attend a workshop sponsored by the Native American Center called "Skyway to Success", which will brief students on such things as adding/dropping classes, where to go for tutoring and mental health support, information about the various clubs and support groups on campus, etc. In addition they applied for and were accepted to a program called TRIO which assigns a mentor/advisor to the student and follows the student throughout their college career. This college of 3500 students (all freshman live on campus) has been able to maintain the small knit community feel that attracted the girls to begin with. The classes are small enough so that most professors know their students individually. I hope that all of this year's incoming freshman college students will be able to access the support services they might need in order to succeed.