Education has been a hot-button issue recently. Many people engaged in public dialogue, attended walk-ins and organized protests in efforts to effect change throughout the nation.

Situations such as these lead one to wonder: What is the most constructive way to engage in such dialogue? How do we equip our children with argumentation skills to effectively create social change?

Ana Contreras immigrated to Phoenix, Arizona from Mexico with her family when she was three years old. One of her first memories is of Head Start and the kind teachers she had — that kindness continued throughout her education. Contreras says her family didn’t have the means to buy her nice things like some of her classmates had, but her teachers made her feel special. “Whenever I thought about teaching, I thought about kind people,” she says.

Lora Eger never questioned what she wanted to do with her life: “I was born into teaching. Both of my parents are teachers and that’s all I know.” Eger grew up in a small town in Mesa and is now student teaching at a charter school in the same area. She teaches 7th-grade math and has signed a contract to teach at the school next year.

Along with teaching, Eger enjoys music. She grew up going to ASU football games and dreaming about being in the Sun Devil marching band. Eger promised herself she would be on that field — and she did just that.

Arizona State University is known as a university in many places — Tempe, Glendale, Mesa, Phoenix and Lake Havasu. But what if students in western Arizona didn’t have to travel to be part of the Sun Devil community?

This spring, ASU@Yuma celebrated its first graduating cohort. The 24 students pursued bachelor's degrees from ASU without ever stepping foot near any of the four metropolitan Phoenix campuses.

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