USC Aiken
Education Key to Successfully Exploring Issues
Aiken, SC (08/22/2018) — The guest speaker for Freshman Convocation at the University of South Carolina Aiken signed books for members of the Class of 2022 after highlighting the power of education and the importance of engaging in civic dialogue about critical, and often sensitive, issues, like immigration.
Dr. Dan-el Padilla Peralta, author of Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League shared the struggles, challenges and opportunities he faced growing up in New York City after his family's visas expired. His educational experiences helped him rise above homelessness, fear, shame, confusion and uncertainty.
Prior to their Freshman Convocation ceremony, members of the Class of 2022 had to read the book as part of their required Critical Inquiry course.
"We would like students to be willing to explore many sides of an issue, be able to find and evaluate sources of information, and be able to communicate arguments or ideas supported by credible evidence," said Dr. Michelle Vieyra, director of the USC Aiken Critical Inquiry program.
"With so much unsupported opinion and biased information readily available on the web, it is important to have tools to sift through all of the noise and find sources of information that are credible. It is also important to be able to synthesize information obtained by multiple credible sources and be able to communicate that information to others. [The Critical Inquiry course] is an introduction to this process."
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Dr. Dan-el Padilla Peralta, guest speaker for Freshmen Convocation at the University of South Carolina Aiken, signed books for members of the Class of 2022 after highlighting the power of education and the importance of engaging in civic dialogue about critical, and often sensitive, issues, like immigration.
USC Aiken
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