Three international music students from Alabama State University traveled to Florida to attend the Southeast Horn Workshop (SEHW) at the University of Central Florida, according to the Alabama State University website. The three students — seniors Vitalis Wagome and Wanja Nganga and freshman Shaka Marko Lwaki, all from Nairobi, Kenya – attended the conference, billed…
How Did COVID-19 Affect Plans of American High-Schoolers?
In a recent survey of 12th-graders, about 40% said the COVID-19 pandemic made them rethink their choice of career or undergraduate degree, and about 10% said it made them doubt the value of college at all. Nirvi Shah of USA Today unpacks the findings. (June 2023) …
Roman Ruins Where Caesar Was Stabbed Opens to Tourists
Four temples from ancient Rome, dating back as far as the 3rd century B.C. stand smack in the middle of one of the modern city’s busiest crossroads. But until Monday, practically the only ones getting a close-up view of the temples were the cats that prowl the so-called “Sacred Area,” on the edge of the…
Iranian Diaspora in Los Angeles Unites to Aid Anti-Government Protesters
A new film charts the response of the large Iranian community in Los Angeles to the brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Paris, Iranian communities across the world are coming together to try the help their countrymen and women back home. Camera: Vahid Karami …
Survey Looks at How Students Approach Studying Abroad
The Keystone Education Group, based in Oslo, Norway, surveyed 23,800 prospective international students representing more than 195 countries and found that students are evolving in the way they approach decisions about study abroad. (June 2023) Several highlights from the group’s 2023 State of Student Recruitment Report conducted from January-April 2023 include: A growing number of students…
How to Succeed in Your US Student Visa Interview
Indian Eagle magazine takes a look at the U.S. student visa interview process, offering tips and success strategies. Among them: organize your documents, be honest and concise, and demonstrate strong ties to your home country. Also: don’t be nervous or defensive, and don’t memorize responses. Read the full story here. (June 2023) …
Seattle Marks Summer Solstice With Whimsical Parade
June 21 marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere – in Seattle, Washington, the summer solstice was celebrated this past weekend with the annual Fremont Solstice Parade. Natasha Mozgovaya has more. …
Pastors Find Role Ministering to Young Men Swept up in El Salvador’s Crackdown on Gangs
The smell of pineapple bread fills the kitchen of “Vida Libre,” or “free life,” a gang rehabilitation program founded in El Salvador by American pastor Kenton Moody in 2021. The trust that Moody puts in former gang members is not widely shared. Thousands of lives have been destroyed in this Central American country after decades…
Some US Lawmakers Unhappy With Proposed PGA-LIV Golf Merger
The PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf have long battled in court over competing claims affecting men’s professional golf. But in a surprise move last week, the groups announced they would merge commercially. Some U.S. senators are alarmed. VOA’s Laurel Bowman reports. …
International Students Face Post-COVID Challenges at Seattle Colleges
The expiration of COVID-19 restrictions means that Seattle Colleges’ international students, who’d been permitted to take fully online classes from either their home countries or their U.S. residences, have to go back to the classroom. And that, the student newspaper notes, is a problem. “This might leave international students in hot water because some classes…
Young Afghan Girls Find Ways to Keep Learning, Report Says
After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, tens of thousands of girls were banned from attending school beyond sixth grade. Many found a way to continue their studies through informal tutoring centers, but those too have come under increased scrutiny as the government continues to crack down on women and girls’ access to…
Beyoncé Likely a Factor in Sweden’s Unexpectedly High Inflation
Can you pay my bills? That seems to be what Sweden is asking Beyoncé after the star came to town. When the singer launched her global tour last month in Stockholm, tens of thousands of fans from around the world swarmed the Swedish capital. But it’s not all fun and games for the host of…
Virginia Commonwealth University Helps International and Immigrant Students Navigate College
Two staff psychologists – one who grew up in South Korea and one in Kenya – with Virginia Commonwealth University’s counseling services specialize in intercultural issues, VCU News reports. Mijin Kim and Abey Muthoni Wachira draw on personal experience in their work and have highlighted a range of issues that international students can face as…
Wisconsin’s Door County Welcomes International Students for Summer
Nearly 530 students from 27 countries will be spending the summer working and traveling in the U.S. state of Wisconsin thanks to a program known as the J-1 Student Visa. The program provides workers from area businesses, placing most of them in eight municipalities in Door County. The Door County Daily News has the story.…
Most Popular Graduate Admissions Test in the US Just Got Cut in Half
The Graduate Records Exam, or GRE, is now less than two hours long and has no writing section. Scores will also be released faster. The changes come as many schools are making the test optional, in what the academic journal Science dubbed “GRExit.” Stephanie Saul of The New York Times describes the new format, and…
Pride Month Celebrations, Protests in Los Angeles
Pride Month in the United States includes a parade in Los Angeles that is one of the world’s largest LGBTQ+ events. This year’s celebrations come amid protests over school curricula and consumer boycotts of businesses marketing to LGBTQ+ customers. Genia Dulot has our story from Los Angeles. …
Influencers Overtaking Journalists as News Source, Study Finds
TikTok influencers and celebrities are increasingly taking over from journalists as the main source of news for young people, according to a report published Wednesday by the Britain-based Reuters Institute. The report found that 55% of TikTok and Snapchat users and 52%t of Instagram users get their news from “personalities” — compared to 33-42% who…
Cormac McCarthy, Author of ‘The Road,’ ‘No Country for Old Men,’ Dies at 89
Cormac McCarthy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who in prose both dense and brittle took readers from the southern Appalachians to the desert Southwest in such novels as The Road, Blood Meridian and All the Pretty Horses, died Tuesday. He was 89. McCarthy died of natural causes in Santa Fe, New Mexico, publisher Alfred A. Knopf…
Hong Kong’s Film Industry Quietly Blooming Again, Despite Censorship
A young actress drags a suitcase despondently up a tree-shaded street, as a crew shoots a scene in a film about director Norris Wong’s unachieved dream of becoming a Cantopop lyricist. The movie “The Lyricist Wannabe” is the latest from Wong and part of an unprecedented trend in Hong Kong’s moviemaking history — the growth…
Hong Kong Film Industry Undergoing Revival
In its heyday, Hong Kong was the Hollywood of Asia, turning out stars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat and recent Best Actress Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh. While the industry has seen a decline over the past two decades, Hong Kong is experiencing what some say is a film revival, despite stricter controls…
Should Zoom Classes Outlive the Pandemic?
After colleges went online during the pandemic, professors reported “stunning levels of student disengagement.” Now, many schools are walking back those policies and no longer offer coursework online. While this is welcome for many students, others with disabilities and chronic illnesses argue that Zoom is the only safe way for them to attend. Julian Roberts-Grmela…
McCartney: ‘Final Beatles Record’ Out This Year Aided by AI
A “final Beatles record”, created with the help of artificial intelligence, will be released later this year, Paul McCartney told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Tuesday. “It was a demo that John (Lennon) had, and that we worked on, and we just finished it up,” said McCartney, who turns 81 next week. The…
BTS Turns 10; Seoul Lights Up Landmarks to Celebrate
Skyscrapers, bridges and other landmarks in South Korea’s capital will be lit up in purple Monday as the country begins celebrating the 10th anniversary of K-pop band BTS, whose global popularity is a source of national pride. The lights will provide the backdrop for various social media-driven events marking the 2013 debut of the seven-member…
Denver Contemporary Art Gallery Adds 2 Painters from Ghana
The new Modern Art gallery at the Denver Art Museum includes two painters from Ghana. VOA’s Scott Stearns gives us a look. …
What Would College Classes Look Like in Virtual Reality?
Imagine if your first-year biology class took place at an “Alien Zoo,” where you dissect animals and identify medical conditions. This is already happening at Arizona State University, where thousands of students pair their real-life lecture courses with virtual labs. Students in the virtual reality course were 1.7 times more likely to earn an A…
Select List of Winners of 2023 Tony Awards
Best musical: “Kimberly Akimbo” Best play: “Leopoldstadt” Best revival of a musical: “Parade” Best revival of a play: “Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog” Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical: Victoria Clark, “Kimberly Akimbo” Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play: Sean Hayes, “Good Night, Oscar” Best…
Tony Awards Make History With Laurels for Nonbinary Actors
The intimate, funny-sad musical “Kimberly Akimbo” nudged aside splashier rivals on Sunday to win the musical crown at the Tony Awards on a night when Broadway flexed its creative muscle amid the Hollywood writers’ strike and made history with laurels for nonbinary actors J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell. “Kimberly Akimbo,” with songs by Jeanine…
‘Transformers’ Edge Out ‘Spider-Verse’ to Claim Box Office Lead
It was Miles Morales and the Spider-Verse versus the “Transformers” at the box office this weekend and the bots came out on top. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” the seventh entry in the series, took the No. 1 spot in its first weekend in North American theaters with $60.5 million according to studio estimates Sunday.…