Features

Juan Resendez and other recent Dell Medical School graduates around the country are joining the front lines as they begin working in hospitals and labs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When campus closed on March 13, faculty members began to work from home while custodial service employees, considered essential personnel, stayed. 

In May, Juan Valles, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient, walked the virtual stage to receive his degree in biology. Valles said as a DACA recipient, he faced financial and political barriers different to those U.S. citizens face, and as a result had to work twice as hard to complete his college education.

After in-person graduation ceremonies were canceled in March, spring 2020 graduates said they hoped their virtual celebration would be memorable. For Nicole Pownall, the prerecorded “celebration” only lasted 4 minutes and 50 seconds.