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‘They're part of the family': A Vermont dairy farmer fears being separated from a family of migrant workers

Boston Globe

6 days ago

Politics
Boston Globe

‘They're part of the family': A Vermont dairy farmer fears being separated from a family of migrant workers

Morin hired Bernardo and her partner out of necessity. He couldn't find Americans willing to milk his cows, raise his calves, and shovel out the barn — physically demanding work with long hours and modest wages. Over time, the relationship between the self-described conservative farmer and his migrant workers has deepened. Advertisement 'I consider them more than just employees,' he said. 'They're part of the family.' Farmer John Morin and his partner, Lynn Beede, had lunch with Wuendy Bernardo's family at home in Orleans County, Vt., on July 10. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff The feeling is mutual. As Bernardo's 17-year-old daughter let out the family's chickens one muggy morning this week, she described Morin and his partner, Lynn Beede, in similar terms. 'They are like our grandparents,' she said. 'They care about us.' But this blended family could soon be pulled apart. Bernardo, who was apprehended after illegally crossing the southern border in 2014, has been required ever since to make periodic check-ins with immigration authorities. Since President Trump took office, those appointments have become more frequent, and the stakes have felt much higher. Her next one is Monday. 'Each time I go back, it's with the same fear,' the 33-year-old Bernardo said through an interpreter last week, seated at Morin's dining room table. 'When I walk into that building, it's with the thought that I might not be able to go home, and I might not be able to see my children.' Advertisement Morin — a Carhartt-clad man with gray facial stubble and kind eyes — also dreads the check-ins. 'If I lose my workers, I'm going to be done,' he said. 'What am I gonna do? Hire more migrant workers and worry about losing them ?' Bernado's children played outside the barn on the dairy farm in Orleans County, Vt., on July 10. Bernardo and her partner have lived and worked on the farm for over a decade with their family. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; margin: 25px -28px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } .dip__image { position: relative; top: 50%; left: 0%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 24px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } @media only screen and (min-width: 700px) { .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; max-width: 1200px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .dip { width: 48.5%; } .dip:not(:nth-child(2n)) { margin-right: 3%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 0px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } } .dip_cap_cred { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: .5px; text-align: left; margin: 3px 15px 0px 0px; font-weight: 200; } .dip_cap_cred span{ text-transform: uppercase; color: #6b6b6b; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred{ color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred span { color: #fff; } Will Lambek of Migrant Justice comforted Wuendy Bernardo after discussing her immigration situation on July 10. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Bernardo milked a cow during an early morning shift at the farm in Orleans County, Vt., on July 11. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) When Morin was growing up, there were dozens of farms in these parts. He and his siblings would milk his father's 50 cows before and after school, and bale hay in the summers. Most of those farms are now gone. The ones that remain are far larger and rely less on family labor. Throughout the state, an estimated 750 to 850 migrant farmworkers, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, constitute 'There aren't a lot of people growing up into farming anymore,' Morin said. 'It's very hard to find American help that will actually milk the cows, work in the barns.' Margins in the industry have grown tighter as the price farmers get for milk hasn't kept pace with rising costs. 'I'm surviving, but I'm not gonna lie: It's hard financially,' said Morin, who bought the family farm from a brother. 'Of the 20 years I've been farming, I've probably had three good years.' Advertisement Bernardo's 18-year-old sister helped John Morin collect a calf and its mother on his dairy farm. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Bernardo's children cast shadows on a garage at the dairy farm where they live and work. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Of Vermont's 14 counties, Orleans was one of two Trump won in 2024. But Morin says there's a growing, if quiet, discontent among local farmers. 'I think a lot of people are not happy at all,' he said. 'We have to worry about weather. We have to worry about the price of milk fluctuating. And now we gotta worry about losing our help. We're just trying to make a living and feed the country.' Morin said he voted for Trump in 2016 'against my better judgment,' but backed the Democratic nominees in 2020 and 2024. 'I consider myself conservative, but I don't consider this administration conservative,' he said, emphasizing the importance of family values. 'You don't treat people like they're doing.' In recent months, rival factions within the Trump administration A Trump 2028 flag was posted on a hill in Orleans County, Vt., near Morin's farm. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, until recently ICE did not respond to questions from the Globe about her case, or about its current posture toward migrant farmworkers. Advertisement Bernardo and her partner have five children, from 5 to 17, and also care for two of her orphaned half-sisters, ages 15 and 18. The family members have a range of immigration and citizenship statuses. It is a hard life of long days. Most mornings, Bernardo and her partner start milking Morin's 125 cows at 4:30 a.m., and again at 3 p.m. before letting them out for the night. In between, they do other farm and household chores and spend time with their kids. Morin's farm is smaller than most and lacks a modern 'milking parlor' that would allow the cows to come to centralized machines. Instead, Bernardo and her partner walk up and down three rows of cows in the barn, disinfecting their udders and attaching mobile milkers one by one. Bernardo and her 15-year-old half-sister made dinner at their home in their kitchen upstairs. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Bernardo fed a calf on the dairy farm on July 11. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff The younger children also help feed the calves, and the older ones take the occasional milking shift. Days off are vanishingly rare because, no matter what, the cows have to be milked. But sometimes life gets in the way. When their 10-year-old son had appendicitis this spring, Bernardo and her partner stayed by his bedside for three weeks at a hospital in Burlington, while Morin took over some of their dairy duties. 'John was the one who picked up the slack, and they also helped care for the family,' Bernardo said. In better times, Morin and Beede share meals with Bernardo's family, ply the kids with snacks, wait for them at the bus stop, and take them to town. The children love his cat and her dogs. Bernardo and her partner took a walk on the farm with two of their children after a second round of milking cows on July 11. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; margin: 25px -28px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } .dip__image { position: relative; top: 50%; left: 0%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 24px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } @media only screen and (min-width: 700px) { .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; max-width: 1200px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .dip { width: 48.5%; } .dip:not(:nth-child(2n)) { margin-right: 3%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 0px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } } .dip_cap_cred { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: .5px; text-align: left; margin: 3px 15px 0px 0px; font-weight: 200; } .dip_cap_cred span{ text-transform: uppercase; color: #6b6b6b; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred{ color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred span { color: #fff; } Bernardo's 15-year-old half-sister said a prayer before having breakfast with her family. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Bernardo's daughters played in their bedroom before breakfast. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Occasionally the younger kids call down from their upstairs apartment to ask if they can come down to play or watch a movie. Advertisement 'Kids give life purpose. They give life meaning,' Beede said. 'I think that's what Wuendy and her family do in our lives.' Without them, 'It would be a very lonely existence for us, with very little purpose.' According to Dan Kurzman, a longtime friend of Morin's: 'He adopted that family — and they've adopted him.' Upstairs, the family of nine shares close quarters: a cramped kitchen and common area, one bedroom for the parents, and two more packed with bunkbeds. Several balloons in the kids' bedrooms last week marked the recent high school graduation of Bernardo's oldest half-sister. 'It feels exciting,' the 18-year-old said. 'My first graduation.' 'As a mother, that's what I hope for all of my kids,' Bernardo said. 'I hope to see them all graduate.' Bernardo's children played outside the barn while their parents work on the dairy farm. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff The children have typical aspirations, of becoming a nurse, or a veterinarian, another an attorney, another a dentist, Bernardo said. They attend local schools, which the older kids say they prefer to long, slow summers on the farm, when they must concoct their own entertainment. 'We go to the river and spend time there when days are hot,' the 13-year-old said. 'And I think that's all.' (To protect their privacy, Bernardo asked that her children not be named.) Over a breakfast of homemade tortillas filled with pork sausage, spinach, and Vermont cheddar cheese, Bernardo's partner said he wished more Americans understood that all he and his family are looking for is a better life. 'We do the dirty work they don't want to do. We are not criminals. We are supporting our kids. We are part of the economy of the United States,' he said. 'That's all we do: work and feed our family.' Advertisement He said he felt nervous about Bernardo's looming check-in. 'I always try to stay positive and think everything will be all right,' he said. 'But with this administration, you never know.' Bernardo sat with her cup of coffee after having breakfast with her family. Her day started at 4:30 a.m. with the first of two shifts milking cows. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff At Bernardo's last appointment with ICE, on June 20, crowds of supporters gathered outside the agency's office in St. Albans to protest her potential deportation. After a half hour she reappeared. She'd been told to return in a month. Morin, who had driven Bernardo and three of her children to the appointment, waited for her outside, fuming. 'This is not American,' he said. 'I wear the American flag. I support the Constitution. I support our troops that have fought for this country, that make this country free. What's going on in this country — it's not humane.'

25 hot new paperbacks to read this summer, from page-turning thrillers to steamy romances

Boston Globe

10-07-2025

General
Boston Globe

25 hot new paperbacks to read this summer, from page-turning thrillers to steamy romances

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As Trump administration punishes Ivy League, universities in the heartland stand to benefit

Boston Globe

27-06-2025

Politics
Boston Globe

As Trump administration punishes Ivy League, universities in the heartland stand to benefit

Advertisement 'A lot of higher education is in a political food fight because they don't like the flavor of the current leadership,' said Todd Graves, chair of the Mizzou board. 'We keep our head down, we educate the students, we conduct the research, and we don't try to tell people how to live their lives. We try to make people's lives better.' A new University of Missouri Research Reactor employee, Christopher Verbsky, right, operated a mock-up hot cell while two other MURR employees watched. Each of MURR's hot cells costs approximately $2 million. Bailey Stover for The Boston Globe As the Trump administration starves Ivy League schools received $473.1 million in new from an average of $425.9 million, according to an analysis by STAT prepared for this report. Advertisement In a few more years, as SEC school leaders see it, wealth and talent will be more broadly distributed at public universities around the country, and less concentrated in the coastal elite institutions. 'American higher education is going to thrive,' said Jay Greene, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, the group behind The Trump administration is trying to force cultural changes in what it sees as the elite schools' At seven of the eight Ivy League schools, 20 to 25 percent of students are from foreign countries, according to US Department of Education data. At Columbia University, the figure is nearly 40 percent. The SEC colleges, by contrast, have some of the lowest percentages of international students in the United States. At most of these schools, non-Americans make up 5 percent or less of the student body. Advertisement At most SEC schools, at least 70 percent of the student body is white, though some schools have relatively large proportions of Black students. Just 33 percent of Harvard's students are white. Large public universities in the South, where Gaza protests were generally more muted last year than at Harvard or Columbia, have not seen the same kind of targeted attacks. Their science labs have lost money in President Trump's massive cuts to research funding, but their ambition to continue growth already underway in the last decade is fierce. @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; } .dnddicesarea__container{ display: block; max-width: 750px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; background-color: #fff; } .cvsillotitle { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Bold", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.28; text-align: center; color: #000; padding: 0; margin-top: 25px; } .cvsillotextblurb { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 800; line-height: 1.28; text-align: center; color: #000; padding: 10px 10px 10px 0; letter-spacing: .5px; } .cvsillotextblurb span { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Bold", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 800; line-height: 1.28; text-align: center; color: #000; padding: 0 0 10px 0; letter-spacing: .5px; } /* Dek styles */ .cvsillo-well__dek { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Bold", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 38px; font-weight: 200; text-align: center; color: #000; padding-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; line-height: 1.2; } .cvsillo-well__dekblurb { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 800; line-height: 1.2; text-align: center; color: #000; margin-bottom: 10px; letter-spacing: .5px; padding: 0 0 0px 0; } /* Link box styles */ .cvsillolinks { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 2; letter-spacing: .8px; background-color: #fff; color: #333; cursor: pointer; padding: 5px; border: none; text-align: left; transition: 0.4s; margin: 0px 0; width: 100%; } .abovecredline { width: 100%; display: block; border-bottom: 0px solid rgba(000, 000, 000,1); height: 1px; background: #56849b; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px; text-align: center; } /* Flex layout for responsive card grid */ .cvsillo-well__top-links { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: space-between; gap: 20px; margin-top: 0px; } .cvsillo-well__related-container { flex: 1 1 100%; max-width: 100%; } /* Medium screens: 2 per row */ @media (min-width: 600px) { .cvsillo-well__related-container { flex: 1 1 calc(50% - 10px); max-width: calc(50% - 10px); } } /* Large screens: 3 per row (optional) */ @media (min-width: 900px) { .cvsillo-well__related-container { flex: 1 1 calc(50% - 10px); max-width: calc(50% - 10px); } } .cvsillo-well__related-container { position: relative; } /* Show vertical divider between 2-per-row items, EXCEPT the last item */ .cvsillo-well__related-container:not(:nth-child(4n)):not(:last-child)::after { content: ""; position: absolute; top: 10%; right: -10px; width: 1px; height: 80%; background-color: #ccc; } /* Remove all dividers on desktop (4-per-row or more) */ @media (min-width: 1000px) { .cvsillo-well__related-container::after { content: none; } } @media (max-width: 599px) { .cvsillo-well__related-container:nth-child(2) { border-top: 1px solid #ccc; padding-top: 10px; margin-top: 10px; } } Total terminated NIH grants at Harvard vs. Vanderbilt The two universities have seen vastly different reductions from the federal funding cuts from the National Institutes of Health, as of May 27. Harvard $2,163,911,123 Vanderbilt $23,947,335 SOURCE: Scott Delaney and Noam Ross; Note: Some grant terminations may not be included in the total; RYAN HUDDLE/GLOBE STAFF The predominance of the Ivy League will hardly disappear overnight, of course; the schools have For now, though, public universities in red states stand to gain from East Coast campuses' losses. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, made the administration's intentions plain Sixty to 65 percent of NIH funding goes to about 20 universities, he said: 'The system is set up almost to guarantee that that [concentration] happens,' Bhattacharya said. Advertisement NIH director Jayanta Bhattacharya said research funding should be more 'geographically dispersed. Win McNamee/Getty 'The way to combat scientific groupthink is by empowering researchers across the country, no matter where they are, to have a great opportunity if they have great ideas for NIH funding,' Bhattacharya said, referring to a common critique from the right that scientific research suffers from insularity. Even before Trump took office, the SEC schools had been making major gains in securing research dollars and recruiting students from around the country. Applications to SEC universities have soared by almost 300 percent since 2001, while elite colleges in New England have seen a smaller 188 percent increase in interest, said Kyle Whitman, chief data scientist of the Carnegie Classifications, a system used to organize universities based on research levels and degrees offered, managed by the American Council on Education. Fewer and fewer students from New England have enrolled in the region's most selective universities, while the SEC has successfully recruited more Northern students. 'There is a broader cultural shift to the Sun Belt right now,' he said. 'There's an attitude there that growth is good.' The SEC schools also offer attractive selling points that are hard to find in New England: booming Greek life, massive sporting events, lower sticker prices, and milder winters. The columns at the University of Missouri's David R. Francis Quadrangle in Columbia. Bailey Stover for The Boston Globe 'It's fun being a student at a university like ours,' said Mun Choi, chancellor of the University of Missouri and president of the Missouri system. 'Not only do you have a beautiful campus, excellent faculty members, and a thriving downtown . . . we're an SEC school where football weekends or major basketball games — literally it feels like electricity in there.' The SEC schools' big-time athletic programs help students and faculty members see 'themselves on this greater common mission,' said Ross Zafonte, who recently joined Mizzou's medical school administration after many years at Harvard University and Mass General Brigham, where he served as president of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. Advertisement 'On Fridays here, it sounds corny, people wear Mizzou Tiger stuff,' Zafonte said. The Ivy League schools, the Trump administration and its allies argue, have fraught campus cultures because they've become obsessed with identity politics, a byproduct of DEI initiatives, and because they enroll too many Graduates passed the John Harvard Statue during Harvard University's 374th Commencement in Cambridge on May 29. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff When questioned about Harvard enrolling the 'best and brightest from around the world,' Trump said it had to offer 'Then you see the same people picketing and screaming at the United States, and . . . they're antisemitic,' he said. 'We don't want troublemakers here.' Some students and faculty members, said Greene, of the Heritage Foundation, may want to avoid the political drama consuming campuses like Harvard, and choose instead to go to 'universities in red states,' where, he argues, students can receive a great education in a less politicized environment. In this period of retrenchment for the elites, some SEC campuses are developing aggressive research growth plans. At the University of Texas Austin, federal funding cuts have affected $47 million in research funding for about 60 grants, or just 1 percent of its research enterprise, which spends about $1 billion annually on roughly 4,600 projects. Moving forward, UT Austin plans to expand its Texas Institute for Electronics, a semiconductor research and development facility that has received substantial government investment in the past, according to the university's 2025 strategic plan for research. Advertisement As applications from out-of-state students continue to soar, 'we see the caliber of those students exponentially increasing,' said Miguel Wasielewski, vice provost of admissions at UT Austin. And though the University of Tennessee system is wading through almost $38 million in federal funding cuts, its leaders expect research operations to continue to grow, said John Zomchick, provost and senior vice chancellor. The University of Missouri Research Reactor emits Cherenkov radiation, a blue glow. Bailey Stover for The Boston Globe In the last five years, the school's research expenditures increased by 21 percent to $384 million in fiscal 2024, and the university plans to hire more faculty to oversee research in engineering, artificial intelligence, and precision health, he said. Research expenditures at Harvard, by contrast, increased 13 percent to $1.02 billion from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2024. In May, the University of Tennessee signed an agreement with Consolidated Nuclear Security, which operates a government office that was initially part of the Manhattan Project. A spokesperson said the deal will create 'new partnership-powered R&D initiatives that will enhance our nation's national and nuclear security.' Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory nearby is also partnering with the Department of Energy in plans to add hundreds of PhD students in its data, energy, and genome science programs. 'There's enormous optimism here,' said Zomchick. 'Are there some things that are happening that we will have to adapt to? Absolutely. But our intention is to hold the course, modify the course, as necessary.' The University of Alabama in 2018 was named among the universities with the highest levels of research activity in the country, a long-held goal of the Tuscaloosa campus. President Trump was applauded by graduates after his commencement speech at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on May 1. HAIYUN JIANG/NYT The institution's big commencement speaker this spring was Trump himself. 'It is clear to see the next chapter of the American story will not be written by the Harvard Crimson,' Trump told a cheering crowd of thousands. 'It will be written by you, the Crimson Tide.' As a pall descended on major East Coast research schools this spring, Mizzou's president began pitching the research reactor to the Trump administration. In a March visit to Mar-a-Lago, Mun Choi was the only university president in the room, he said. Choi has calibrated his sales talk to resonate with a White House that has deep anxieties about global competition. If the university does not get the funding to build the new reactor, Choi said in his wood-paneled office overlooking Francis Quadrangle's six limestone columns, there is 'no other supplier in the Western Hemisphere.' 'We do not want to be in a situation where we are reliant on other countries' generosity to be able to share the radioisotopes with American patients,' Choi said. Mizzou, like other universities with burgeoning research enterprises, is working hard to diversify its research funding sources beyond the NIH to rely more on other sources, including the state and the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Transportation. 'Places like Harvard and Columbia and Yale, they are so heavily leveraged with NIH, which was a good thing for two generations,' said Richard J. Barohn, executive vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of Mizzou's School of Medicine. 'Now, maybe it's not such a good thing. . . . I think we're going to get faculty that are going to move here.' And in Choi, the university has a steady leader, several faculty and administrators said. His life story embodies the American dream, and he understands the political nature of the job. An immigrant from South Korea, Choi arrived in Akron, Ohio, as a 9-year-old and learned about resilience from watching his parents, who grew up during the Korean War, build a business making Taekwondo uniforms. University staffers and faculty members marvel at Choi's talent for remembering the name of everyone he meets. One evening, he worked the room at an alumni event held at an outdoor bar with live music, shaking hands, and clinking a pint of beer with guests. He's also a regular attendee at athletic events and games, cheering on the Tigers in an iridescent yellow jacket, he said. Mun Choi, chancellor of the University of Missouri and president of the Missouri system, said, 'Our objective is to create an epicenter of nuclear medicine right here in mid-Missouri." Bailey Stover for The Boston Globe His tenure at Missouri has not been without drama. Before Choi began the job in 2017, the Chronicle of Higher Education put the task ahead in stark terms: 'The University of Missouri system is looking for a new president, but given the system's recent upheaval a better title for the new leader might well be 'miracle worker.' ' The university, about two hours west of Ferguson, Mo., where police shot and killed Michael Brown in 2014, had been rocked by protests about race and Black students' experiences on campus in 2015. Two senior leaders resigned because of the conflagration, and school officials blamed subsequent declines in enrollment, donations, and state funding on the protests. While overall enrollment has improved since, Black enrollment continues to lag. Asked about what the university is doing to recruit students of color to recoup those losses, Choi answered carefully. 'It's very important for us to recruit very broadly, and to bring the very best students to our university so that they can benefit from what we offer,' Choi said. Race relations on campus made headlines again in 2020 after the police murder of George Floyd when student protesters called for the removal of a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson because he was a slave owner. The university did not concede. There have been pro-Palestinian protests on Mizzou's campus over the Israel-Hamas war, though they were reportedly peaceful and did not attract the media frenzy many Northeast campuses experienced. Choi also forbade the student group Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine from marching in the annual Homecoming Parade last fall, prompting criticism from students who accused university leaders of discrimination. 'I was concerned about the safety concerns, and also I didn't feel that what they planned to do, which I believe was to protest the war, was appropriate for the Homecoming Parade,' Choi said. It's that same pragmatism that brought him to Mar-a-Lago, at the invitation of an alum who had a meeting scheduled with Republican Representative Jason Smith to discuss tax issues. Choi said he spoke with lawmakers about his idea to offer tax credits for radioisotope production. The lawmakers didn't bite, but Choi remains optimistic about seeking federal support. The Missouri General Assembly earlier this month approved a request from the governor to provide $50 million in funding for the project. The university in April announced a $10 million agreement with a consortium that includes Hyundai Engineering America, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, the Hyundai Engineering Co., and MPR Associates for the design and licensing of the new reactor. Mizzou has also successfully brought at least one paused project back online by working with the Department of Agriculture and congressional leaders, Choi said. Asked about the East Coast schools' plea for solidarity from campuses across the nation in their fight against what they see as dangerous government overreach that threatens academic freedom, Choi paused. Joint statements against the onslaught have crossed his desk, but he and his team made a 'conscious decision not to sign.' 'My words and my action can have dramatic impact to this institution, and I have to be very careful in what I say and what I do to ensure that those words and my actions do not negatively impact this university,' Choi said. 'I've been very mindful of that responsibility.' J. Emory Parker, data editor for the Globe's sister publication STAT, contributed to this report. Hilary Burns can be reached at Follow Us Subscribe Now My Account Contact More © 2025 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC

Frederick's final bell: Boston shutters its last middle school

Boston Globe

25-06-2025

General
Boston Globe

Frederick's final bell: Boston shutters its last middle school

'Our friend group, everyone's going to go their own way,' said Honesty Graham, as she spun a hot pink fidget toy around her hand. 'Everyone's being split up.' Advertisement The district marked the Frederick for closure at the end of the school year as part of its broader effort to address declines in enrollment in the 48,000-student district and shift students to schools that house grades 7-12. Eighth-graders Alexis Pierre and Cyrus Dorzelma arrived for the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School promotion ceremony as they move on to high school on June 18. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Seventh-grader Anyel Pimentel played with an inflatable ball while waiting for dismissal at the Frederick on June 20. It's an early release day and with only one day of school left, the year was all but over. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff When plans were first announced in 2018 to phase out middle school over five years, more than a hundred students, teachers, and parents Advertisement Across the country, many districts have phased out standalone middle schools over the last couple of decades, as education experts tried to determine how best to serve young adolescents. Related : Sixty years ago, education scholars believed middle schools could tailor education to that age group. More recently, By 2024, middle grades had been added to a half dozen Boston high schools, while other middle schools had already closed or merged with high schools. With closure on the horizon, the Frederick community made some demands about the building's future, including retaining the name of Lilla G. Frederick on the elementary school that will open there. They then sought to make the last year count. As staff member Andrew Brown put it last summer, 'People talk about auspicious beginnings but never inspiring endings.' Related : When the Frederick opened in 2003 as New Boston Pilot Middle School, it was a hard-fought victory and rare investment for Grove Hall. and the area had seen decades of underinvestment. Even the site of the school, a vacant lot on Columbia Road, was so infamous for drugs and crime that Mayor Thomas Menino called the National Guard to help clean it in 1996. Advertisement Seventh-grader Isaiyah Marquez passed the welcoming faculty and staff as he arrived for the first day of school at Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School on Sept. 5, 2024. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; margin: 25px -28px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } .dip__image { position: relative; top: 50%; left: 0%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 24px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } @media only screen and (min-width: 700px) { .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; max-width: 1200px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .dip { width: 48.5%; } .dip:not(:nth-child(2n)) { margin-right: 3%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 0px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } } .dip_cap_cred { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: .5px; text-align: left; margin: 3px 15px 0px 0px; font-weight: 200; } .dip_cap_cred span{ text-transform: uppercase; color: #6b6b6b; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred{ color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred span { color: #fff; } Seventh-grader Erntz François read "Monster," a novel by Walter Dean Myers, during English Language Arts class on May 20. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Erntz sat for his school picture on Dec. 11. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Project R.I.G.H.T., a community organization formed to address violence in the neighborhood, campaigned for a new middle school to serve as a community hub, said Michael Kozu, co-director of the organization and the original board chair of the school. Lilla G. Frederick, one of Project R.I.G.H.T.'s founders, led the process of getting neighbors onboard. It would be a semi-autonomous pilot school with multiple board seats for community members. 'It was a major investment that kind of reversed the legacy of disinvestment,' Kozu said. 'It's made such a big difference in terms of stability and increasing opportunities.' It lived up to its mission as a community, housing at various times a church, a basketball league, a polling place, and even a support group for the previously incarcerated. When Frederick passed away in 2005, the school was renamed in her honor. Speaking to the School Committee in 2024, board chair Emmanuel Tikili asked the district to continue to honor her commitment to the neighborhood, including by keeping her name on the building. Members of the 4 Star Dance Studio entertained the crowd during 'Groovin' in the Grove' outside the middle school on May 30. The final, annual celebration included food and entertainment for students and their families as well as alumni and community members. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; margin: 25px -28px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } .dip__image { position: relative; top: 50%; left: 0%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 24px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } @media only screen and (min-width: 700px) { .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; max-width: 1200px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .dip { width: 48.5%; } .dip:not(:nth-child(2n)) { margin-right: 3%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 0px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } } .dip_cap_cred { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: .5px; text-align: left; margin: 3px 15px 0px 0px; font-weight: 200; } .dip_cap_cred span{ text-transform: uppercase; color: #6b6b6b; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred{ color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred span { color: #fff; } Seventh-grader Donnay Burton walked the red carpet in a dress she created for the fashion show at 'Groovin' in the Grove.' (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Eighth-grader Cris Santiago helped to decorate for the event. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) The school's commitment to the community manifested itself in various ways throughout the years. It had a one-to-one laptop program years before it became a norm. It attracted national attention for not only sending children home with personal computers but teaching parents to use them. For years the school had many Somali refugee students, and Related : Susan Lovett, a social worker at the school in its early years, said even her position was innovative at the time. The district now has social workers in every school. The Frederick was also a model for the district in bringing in partners, Lovett said, previewing today's community hub schools that host organizations like the YMCA. Advertisement 'We wanted the school to be as resourced as some of the schools in Boston's wealthiest suburbs are,' Lovett said. That meant everything from a program with the Boston Ballet to a wrestling team. And opportunities like those continued into the school's final year, with partners like the Becoming a Man group counseling program, the combination tennis and tutoring club Tenacity, and This school year, students focused not on the school's closure but on all the fun they had, culminating in a field trip to Six Flags. 'It was fun while it lasted,' said Alieshaa Felix, a graduating eighth-grade student. Seventh-graders Jaziah Sylvert, Donnay Burton, and Arianna Lang took in the scene inside a mobile planetarium at the school gymnasium on Dec. 11, 2024. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; margin: 25px -28px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } .dip__image { position: relative; top: 50%; left: 0%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 24px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } @media only screen and (min-width: 700px) { .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; max-width: 1200px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .dip { width: 48.5%; } .dip:not(:nth-child(2n)) { margin-right: 3%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 0px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } } .dip_cap_cred { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: .5px; text-align: left; margin: 3px 15px 0px 0px; font-weight: 200; } .dip_cap_cred span{ text-transform: uppercase; color: #6b6b6b; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred{ color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred span { color: #fff; } Anyel Pimentel held onto an interception in a flag football game during the BAM (Becoming a Man) program field day. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Students circled together at the end of the BAM program. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Over its two-plus decades, the school has changed with the neighborhood. The school was never as successful academically as leaders hoped, with trailing both the state and district across most subgroups. Two principals were pushed out in 2012 and 2013, the first over 'questionable use of technology' and the second after being Advertisement But it's remained a hub of the community, said Gloria West, a former parent at the school. It's a place where staff notice when a student got caught in the rain walking to school and offer them dry socks, where students insist as part of a 'week of joy' on helping organize their teachers' offices, and where many students and families wish they could stay longer. Eighth-grader Bendu Sanoe joined her classmates before the Frederick's promotion ceremony at the Albert D. Holland High School of Technology in Boston on June 18. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Eighth-grader Isa Gomez posed with a mask she completed during the Craftpreneurs afterschool program at the on May 21. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff 'I really wished there were more grades,' said Sinaika François, who attended the school from 2013 to 2016. 'I didn't want to leave.' François' younger brother Erntz was the third member of the family to attend the school but will complete eighth grade at East Boston High School next year. Their little sister can't follow in their footsteps at all, François lamented. Instead, the Frederick will become the home for a new elementary school, a In the new, middle school-less era, the district will have to take on the challenge of educating students in new ways. It's a challenge that has bedeviled educators for a century, said Penny Bishop, dean of Boston University's school of education and an expert on the middle grades. Young adolescents have intense need for belonging but also demand independence, she said, which calls for more structure than traditional high schools but less than elementary schools. Seventh-graders Honesty Graham, Aaliyah Figueroa, and Jaylani Latorre researched a social studies project with teacher Taylor Roberts (right) on June 4. The students were working on a presentation about immigration and were watching a news report regarding Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts PhD student detained by immigration authorities. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; margin: 25px -28px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } .dip__image { position: relative; top: 50%; left: 0%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 24px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } @media only screen and (min-width: 700px) { .dipgrid { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: stretch; max-width: 1200px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .dip { width: 48.5%; } .dip:not(:nth-child(2n)) { margin-right: 3%; } .dip__image.portrait { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 10px; } .dip__image.landscape { height: auto; width: 100%; padding-top: 0px; } .dip__main { position: relative; overflow: hidden; } } .dip_cap_cred { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: .5px; text-align: left; margin: 3px 15px 0px 0px; font-weight: 200; } .dip_cap_cred span{ text-transform: uppercase; color: #6b6b6b; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred{ color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dip_cap_cred span { color: #fff; } English Language Arts teacher Kaylah Mack congratulated the seventh grade class after they finished reading "Monster," a novel by Walter Dean Myers on May 20. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Seventh-grader Janneliz Reyes (left) joked with classmate Arianna Lang between classes on Dec. 11. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) Bishop said there's nothing essential about the separate buildings, but middle grade students need supports they often miss in schools dominated by younger or older students. At the Frederick, for example, students are grouped into teams to help build community, and given agency whenever possible, even in seemingly minor matters like planning spirit weeks. Related : Advertisement For Honesty, the Frederick met all the conditions of a good school: 'A good community, teachers you can count on, good environment where you can feel safe and feel welcome and learn … and you can still have fun.' But going into next year, Honesty is considering leaving the district entirely, for Dedham. Her classmates are scattering across the city. So are the staff, many of whom have been at the Frederick longer than Honesty has been alive. Last Wednesday, the school community gathered at the nearby Albert D. Holland School of Technology, for the city's last middle school promotion ceremony — graduating the final Frederick eighth grade class. Families bearing balloons and flowers filled the auditorium, and students in three-piece suits, crisp white sneakers, gowns, and party dresses cheered as staff handed out awards and certificates of completion. Principal Meghan McGoldrick set the tone of celebrating the final year. 'We promised ourselves and each other that this final year will be one of our very best years ever together,' the principal said. 'We have kept that promise.' Student Shari Martinez David, who gave a speech at the promotion ceremony, kept the focus on their shared future. 'We made it, and we're ready for whatever's coming ahead,' she said. 'This isn't the end of the story.' Eighth-grader Gabriel Fernando De Leon Ortiz stood for a selfie with his parents, Ferleon De Leon and Lesix Ortiz, following the Frederick's promotional ceremony at the Albert D. Holland High School of Technology in Boston on June 18. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Christopher Huffaker can be reached at

Boston Globe

10-06-2025

General
Boston Globe

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