John Carroll’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion (CSDI) will sponsor a film at the 44th annual Cleveland International Film festival at the end of March. CSDI will also sponsor post-screening film discussions for each day the film airs at the festival.
The film, Hungry To Learn, follows the issues presented to students of lower incomes as they pursue higher education in a marketplace that is becoming more expensive for Americans:
As the price of tuition and the cost of living continues to rise, getting a higher education is becoming more and more expensive for Americans. So expensive, in fact, a growing number of students find themselves going hungry and homeless in pursuit of a degree. Many endure their struggle in silence, thinking they are the only ones left to choose between classes, books, and daily meals. But, unfortunately, this situation is much more common than we’d like to believe. With the average student graduating with around $37,000 in debt, affordable education is clearly an enormous problem for families and individuals nationwide. Documenting the experiences of four college students as they battle food insecurity and poverty, HUNGRY TO LEARN opens the conversation around the price of education, and those suffering under the current system, in the wealthiest country in the world.
Directed by Geeta Gandbhir and produced by Soledad O’Brien, Hungry To Learn presents a unique view on the struggles students endure on their journey to earning a degree in higher education during the 21st century. Gandbhir is the recipient of two Emmy Awards for her for her filmmaking and has also won an Academy Award as an editor. O’Brien, the CEO of Starfish Media Group and a former CNN morning news anchor, has previously been named journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists and taught as a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard University in 2013.
Salomón A. Rodezno, M.Ed., Director, Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, spoke on the importance of John Carroll sponsoring the film: