Student Union
- By Esha Sarai
Millennial Farmer Runs for Office, Runs After Her Flock
On her 25th birthday, Brittney Johnson slept in until the luxurious hour of 7 a.m.
"I'm thrilled I'm officially a quarter of a century old today. Glad to have made it!" she laughed later, sipping lemon iced tea on the porch of her farmhouse, surrounded by irises.
Johnson planned to spend this birthday morning fixing the fencing around the farm to keep her sheep from breaking out. She bought the farmhouse, 40 acres, five ewes and one ram in her home state of Minnesota last year, shortly after her mother died, armed with a degree in plant science from the University of Minnesota, and months in rural Senegal and northern India on scholarships to learn more about agriculture around the world.
The biggest challenge to being younger, she says, is getting capital to maintain the property. So to keep the farm afloat, Johnson works two jobs: full time as an irrigation technician in a nearby town and part time at a farm supply store in another town. Then she comes home to make sure her flock is fed, safe and sheared.
While she would be justified in putting her feet up and resting after that, she feels a responsibility to her community to help local farmers who are just as stretched, just as hard working.
So she's running for a seat in the Minnesota State House of Representatives.
Partly motivated by the love for her community and partly because she's become keenly aware of the struggles faced by the local farming community, she campaigns in her extra hours, she said, to represent the many farmers who are in the same situation as she is.
"You just see so many people who have to work two or three jobs like 60-70 hours a week just to afford the basics," she said.
Struggling for the American dream
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), net profits of farms are down for the fourth year in a row, cut almost in half since 2013. The median income of farmers in the United States has effectively remained flat since 2015, even decreasing slightly when accounting for inflation, according to the USDA's Farm Income Forecast released in February.
"I think in America we have this ethic of 'If you work really hard you should be able to get ahead.' That's like the American dream, right? But for a lot of people they're working really hard and they still can't get ahead and that dream is gone," she said. "And you know I want to get it back and that's why I'm running."
Improving access to affordable health care for farmers in her area, who mostly have to buy extremely expensive plans in the individual market, is one of the first issues she said she would tackle if elected.
"I would love to be able to farm full time," she said. "One of the challenges we face is the affordability of our health care."
Johnson also cited the divisive political climate across the United States, which she says has led people in her area to feel forgotten by their representatives.
Her goal in St. Paul, she says would be "re-establishing those relationships between people and people who are supposed to represent them."
Meanwhile, she sees her age as an advantage in the busy mix between the farm, the jobs and the race.
"You've got to do a lot of physical work, and I feel like I have more energy now than I might later, so that's good I've got that on my side," she said, noting that there are fewer new farmers entering the field. Older farmers nearby have been willing to help teach and guide her.
But does it get lonely?
Not when she is enthusiastically greeted by her golden retriever, Mumford, two cats, and Hillary, her seemingly most social ewe, whether she's entering her house, walking the pasture, or coming up the driveway.
"What a great way to come home!" she said, patting Hillary on the woolly head.
See all News Updates of the Day
- By VOA News
Michigan State international students get their own space
Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, is setting aside a space in the International Center for international students.
Nidal Dajani, vice president of the school's International Student Association, said that the club plans to use the space to host events and hopes to collaborate with other student groups.
- By Dylan Ebs
International students find community during Pride Month
For LGBTQ+ international students, Pride Month, observed in June, is a unique time to reflect.
They hold on to multiple identities — both their LGBTQ+ identity and their cultural background — but coming to terms with them is not always easy.
For graduate student David Zhou, these identities can feel conflicting as transgender rights in China remain a controversial issue and spaces for LGBTQ people close. Zhou, 25, is transgender and pursuing an education in the STEM field at an urban university in the Midwestern United States.
VOA is using a pseudonym for Zhou’s first name and is not naming his university to protect his identity due to safety concerns back home in China. Zhou is not open about his transgender identity to his family.
During Pride Month, Zhou said he attended multiple LGBTQ+ events in his community and is surrounded by a supportive group of LGBTQ+ students who can relate to his experiences. But he’s not open about his identity to everyone on campus and said he doesn’t disclose his preferred pronouns to everyone to avoid transphobic comments.
“I feel like I have to make some judgments of the character of that person to see if they’re a good person to disclose [my identity] to,” Zhou said.
Zhou’s Pride Month celebrations included attending local markets with LGBTQ+ vendors and hanging out with his LGBTQ+ friends.
“They normalized being trans and for a long time I feel like trans identity is, should I say a vulnerability, brings me fear and worrying about discrimination, but having those events are helpful because it allowed me to see that queer people could just [live] openly,” he said.
At social events where few international students are present, Zhou said it can be tough to fit in.
“There's a lot of times like when they were talking about things I kind of, don't really understand, mostly because I kind of lack some background experience or knowledge,” he said.
Zhou said he is not aware of specific groups for LGBTQ+ international students at his university, but said international students are more prevalent in graduate programs and therefore find representation in organizations for LGBTQ+ graduate students.
In China, transgender individuals must obtain consent from an “immediate family member,” even for adults hoping to transition, which critics say limits the autonomy of transgender individuals while supporters say the policy protects doctors from violence by upset parents.
Struby Struble, a former coordinator of the University of Missouri LGBTQ+ Resource Center, told NAFSA: Association of International Educators in 2015 that LGBTQ+ international students face a “double barrier” on campus.
“With their international student friends, they feel isolated because they’re the LGBT one,” she said. “But then among the LGBT students on campus, they feel isolated because they’re the international one.”
Nick Martin, associate director of the Q Center, Binghamton University’s LGBTQ+ student support office, said when international students tour the center, there’s often a sense of hesitation as they enter a type of space that may not be present in their home country.
“I compare that to a year in after they've come into the space, they've again, maybe come to some of our events, they've got more connected,” he said.
Martin said graduate students have a unique interest in the Q Center as they may use the office for research and advocacy purposes that align with their studies.
“For older students, there may be hesitancy in a different way, but I think it's more in the vein of they want to do some of the advocacy work,” he said.
Martin said he thinks about how both his office and BU’s international student office can support students who come from countries with few — if any — protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.
“It's been a learning process of what those students really need, but I think I've kind of learned that a lot of students are just looking for the safe space that we offer,” Martin said.
- By VOA News
International students discuss US campus culture shock
International students at De Anza College in Cupertino, California, talked about culture shock in an article in La Voz News, the student newspaper.
"It felt like a major culture shock. Everything was so different, from academics to mannerism," said a student from Mexico.
Read the full story here.
These are the most expensive schools in the US
High tuition costs along with housing and food expenses can add up for students at U.S. colleges and universities.
MSNBC looked at the most expensive schools in the country, with one costing more than $500,000 for a bachelor’s degree. (June 2024)
Uzbekistan students admitted into top US universities
Students from Uzbekistan are among the international students admitted to top colleges and universities in recent years.
Gazata.uz profiled some of the Uzbekistan students attending Harvard, Brown, Princeton and other U.S. universities. (June 2024)
