Cheers & Jeers
California University of Pennsylvania
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
An estimated 400 Americans are dying every day due to the coronavirus, and the country will soon reach a grim milestone when it records its 1 millionth death caused by COVID-19.
Cheers: Every year, Waynesburg University鈥檚 Bonner Scholars take on service projects to help better not just the school, but the community as a whole. The 60 students who are a part of the program give up their weekends and breaks to participate in clean-up efforts, work with Greene County Habitat refurbishing homes, or with after-school programs. Each participant must complete 140 hours of service each semester 鈥� an average of eight to 10 hours a week 鈥� and maintain a 2.0 cumulative GPA. In exchange for their service, the students receive financial aid to attend the school. They also receive something much greater from the program: 鈥淚t opened my eyes and heart,鈥� said one scholar. And that鈥檚 a lesson no amount of schooling can teach.
Cheers: The price of everything seems to be going up, thanks to inflation that is bedeviling the United States, Europe and other parts of the world. But students at California University of Pennsylvania and the 13 other institutions within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) can breathe a little easier following the announcement last week that tuition is going to be frozen for the fourth year in a row. It will remain at $7,716 per academic year for an undergraduate degree, which is still pretty pricey to anyone who remembers when getting an education at a public institution was much less costly. Nevertheless, officials with the state system are hoping that more funding comes from Harrisburg this year. State system Chancellor Daniel Greenstein said, 鈥淛ust freezing tuition is not a sustainable strategy without meaningful investment from the commonwealth. Pennsylvania must invest in its state-owned universities if we want them to continue providing the high-quality, affordable education they were born to deliver.鈥� The Legislature needs to listen to Greenstein.
Cheers: Monessen baseball team snapped a 16-game losing streak with two victories last week. The Greyhounds, led by senior pitcher/first baseman/catcher Jack Sacco and freshman catcher/shortstop/pitcher R.J. DiEugenio, beat Mapletown in a pair of six-inning games, 12-2 on April 12 and 11-1 on April 14. Sacco hit .750 in the two games (3-for-4 with a walk, hit by pitch and two sacrifice flies) which included a double and seven RBIs. Sacco also was the winning pitcher in the second game, tossing a one-hitter with no walks and five strikeouts while allowing one earned run in going the distance on just 61 pitches. He also had seven putouts and two assists. DiEugenio batted .833 (5-for-6 with a walk) including two doubles, six runs and three RBIs in the two games. DiEugenio also earned a save with two scoreless innings in the first game, striking out four and walking none. He had four assists and two putouts, including an unassisted double play from his catcher position in the second game.
Jeers: Though there has been a recent spike, COVID-19 numbers have declined from the heights they reached in January, and the disease is not claiming as many victims, thanks to the availability of vaccines and other treatments. Still, an estimated 400 Americans are dying every day due to the coronavirus, and the country will soon reach a grim milestone when it records its 1 millionth death caused by COVID-19. We have largely become numb to the pandemic over the last 25 months, but to borrow a recent headline in Scientific American, there is nothing normal about 1 million people dead from COVID. At the outset of the pandemic, such a loss of life in one of the world鈥檚 wealthiest countries would have seemed inconceivable. Whenever the next pandemic comes, we can only cross our fingers that lessons have been learned from this one.