Mariam Aburdeineh

School suspensions can triple the probability that a student will drop out of school or have later involvement with the criminal justice system, according to studies linked to the school-to-prison pipeline. These statistics are concerning, but Sarah Parshall has hope.

What was once unfathomable became reality on July 20, 1969: astronauts landed on the moon. About 600 million people around the world watched live on television, transfixed as three Americans (two of whom stepped on the moon) ventured into uncharted territory and took “one giant leap for mankind.”

Millions of people were captivated by the murder mystery case involving Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee, after George Mason University law school alumna Rabia Chaudry took the case to NPR and the hit podcast “Serial” was born.

For about 25 years, Khairi Shammo said it felt like he and his family from Sinjar, Iraq, were “running from a conflict to a conflict.”
They moved back and forth from Iraq to Syria multiple times trying to avoid the Iraq-Iranian war, terrorism and religious discrimination for being Yazidis, members of a religious minority.

Mason alumnus Joey Meyer developed an appreciation for using his imagination to build ever since he was a child fascinated by Legos. After graduating from McLean High School in Virginia, he still wanted to create, and earning an engineering degree was his goal.

Originally from the Czech Republic, Michaela Dodge first became interested in missile defense as a college student. Her home country was considering hosting a U.S. missile defense site at the time, she said, and she became fascinated with debates surrounding the controversial topic.