Author: Nola Jones

There is something almost unremarkable about the scene — a parent, a child, a book, a lamp casting warm light across the bedroom. It happens in millions of homes every night, tucked between dinner and sleep, squeezed into the narrow margin of a busy evening. Easy to rush. Easy to skip. But neuroscientists who have spent years studying what actually happens inside a child’s brain during those quiet minutes are increasingly convinced that skipping it carries a cost most parents would not expect. The research coming out of brain imaging labs over the past decade paints a picture that goes…

Entering a brand-new school building that exudes possibility and fresh paint has a subtle yet striking quality. Although the Hamilton Early Childhood Center in Kentwood, Michigan doesn’t make a big deal out of it, it’s difficult to ignore the significance of what it stands for. This is more than a preschool. It is the result of years of preparation, community trust, and a school district placing a significant wager on the notion that a child’s formative years are unquestionably the most important. The Hamilton Early Childhood Center, Kentwood Public Schools’ second significant early childhood facility in as many years, opened…

Candace Owens’s pursuit of journalism has a subtle irony. She enrolled at the University of Rhode Island with the kind of ambition that low-income, small-town children typically carry with them—not making an announcement, just making progress. Of all things, journalism. Asking questions, confirming statements, and holding influential people responsible are the cornerstones of this field. Looking back, it’s difficult to ignore how that chapter ended so differently than it must have started. Born in White Plains, New York, Owens was raised mostly by her grandparents in Stamford, Connecticut, following her parents’ divorce when she was about eleven years old. According…

In one version of the story, David Corenswet remains at the University of Pennsylvania, completes his psychology degree, and perhaps becomes a lawyer like both of his parents. No one outside of Philadelphia ever finds out his name. That was not the case. However, it nearly did, and in 2025, Superman’s appearance was altered by that tiny fork in the road and the quiet choice to move to Juilliard in New York City. Growing up in Philadelphia, Corenswet attended the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, which is a private preparatory school with high academic standards. It’s easy to picture…

A woman in her late thirties is sitting with a textbook that she should have had access to twenty years ago in a study center in a mid-sized Indian city. The building itself is unremarkable, slightly worn at the edges, and the ceiling fans move slowly in the afternoon heat. The first time, she didn’t complete her education. Her education did not keep up with the speed of life. She has now registered with the National Institute of Open Schooling and is studying for her secondary exam on her own schedule and at her own speed. It’s possible that we’ve…

If you’ve ever driven through Sneedville, a small town in East Tennessee, you know exactly what kind of place it is. Everyone knows your last name, Sunday church attendance is required, and a child with a strong pitching arm is practically considered local royalty. That’s where Morgan Wallen was raised, and knowing where he came from makes his path—education included—feel much less unexpected than people think. On the surface, Morgan Wallen’s formal education took a rather typical course. Tommy and Lesli Wallen welcomed him into the world on May 13, 1993. His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father was…

A parent experiences a certain type of stress during report card season. It’s a low hum of anxiety, the persistent feeling that you should already know something you don’t, but it’s not quite panic. That sentiment has led thousands of Calgary families to the MyCBE portal, which is powered by a platform that most people just know as CBE PowerSchool. Whether or not they are able to log in is a major factor in whether or not they find relief there. PowerSchool is the primary student information system used by the Calgary Board of Education, one of the biggest public…

Baseball is practically a religion in a small town in Iwate Prefecture, which is tucked away in northern Japan and has long winters. Shohei Ohtani attended high school there. Instead of attending one of the glitzy baseball powerhouses in Osaka or Yokohama, where scouts congregate and attention naturally pours in, he chose Hanamaki Higashi High School, a decision that, in retrospect, reveals nearly everything about the man he would grow up to be. Ohtani never went to college. Not a single campus tour, not a semester. That sounds like a gap, almost like a missing chapter, in the American sports…

Some people don’t just pass through college; instead, they intentionally use it as a tool, even if it doesn’t appear that way. That type of person is Erika Kirk. Long before she emerged as the unexpected face of Turning Point USA after her husband Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September 2025, she was assembling an educational background that, in retrospect, seems almost tailored to her current situation. Unlike most political figures, it began with basketball. Erika, then known as Erika Frantzve, received an athletic scholarship to Regis University in Denver, Colorado, following her graduation from Notre Dame Preparatory High School…

Almost every time someone discusses Lamar Jackson, a detail about him is overlooked. The part where the youngster from Pompano Beach, Florida, had to actually sit in a classroom and figure out how to survive that too is entirely skipped over in favor of highlights like the spin moves, the impossible throws, and the Ravens crowd going crazy. Jackson was raised in Pompano Beach’s Golden Acres public housing development. When he was eight years old, his father passed away on the same day as his grandmother. This kind of loss would crush most adults, much less a child. Felicia Jones,…