Stonehill Skyhawk View

By: Brendan Hughes Stonehill College News Blog Staff EASTON, MA - For many years, there has been a debate on whether athletics positively or negatively affect a student’s academic performance. It depends on the individual whether sports help or hurt college academic success, a recent report said. The Senior Associate Director of Athletics at Stonehill College, Cindy MacDonald, has been working with student-athletes now for more than two decades. MacDonald started her career at Stonehill College as the head athletic trainer and later moved to more administrative roles to reach her current position. In terms of the debate, MacDonald believes that athletics help students to be more successful in the classroom, even though they may lead to a busier schedule. “I 100 percent believe that athletics have positive impacts on a student-athletes’ academics. Student-athletes often do better in season, even when the demands are higher,” she said. MacDonald mentioned that this is mai...

By Juliana Beauregard Stonehill News Blog Staff International adoptions to the United States are declining, although the number of children in need of homes worldwide remains high.   According to the 2018 report  “Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption,” submitted by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues, there was a decline of 655 intercountry adoptions to the United States compared to the statistics of the 2017 report.   The study points out that the majority of this decrease happened in China because their economy has gotten better and they have developed “domestic permanence” options for children. Also, in FY (fiscal year) 2018 there were some countries including Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Indonesia that saw their first intercountry adoptions to the United States. Further, the second most influential decrease in international adoption came when Ethiopia banned international adoption during FY 2018.  The report pointed ...

By Giana Gualda Stonehill News Blog Staff EASTON- Stonehill College offers academic and emotional accommodations for their students. Although there are regulations, each student is allowed to have a personalized accommodation style. A rather popular accommodation that has accumulated throughout the years is support animals. With this growing number, concerns have been raised among the public. According to an online survey presented by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “ An anonymous, online survey was distributed to examine the perceptions of US adults who do not own any type of assistance animal. A total of 505 individuals responded to the online survey, yielding 284 usable responses. Results suggest widespread misconceptions about definitions, rules, regulations, and rights associated with each type of assistance dog.”  Students with support animals want to advocate for their dog’s helpful services. Stonehill College student Joanna Vad...

By Joe Thompson   Stonehill News Blog Staff                        A recent study from 2018 done by the Pew Research Center titled "Most Americans say higher ed is heading in the wrong direction, but partisans disagree on why" explores the reasons why Americans are divided on the issue of higher education.                Anna Brown conducted the study and it shows that while there are various reasons why Americans feel higher education has fallen, one area of agreement lies in the rise of college tuition.                Seventy-seven percent of Republicans and 92% of Democrats cite the rise of tuition as one reason higher education is moving in the wrong direction. Eighty-four percent of the American adults surveyed are concerned with rising tuition.     ...