Meet CCSD students who spent part of their summer on the UNLV campus for the Young Rebels Program “Starting the School Year Full STEAM Ahead Day Camp."

Thousands of students have returned to campus at UNLV this week in preparation for classes that start on Monday. The fall semester will see record-breaking enrollment numbers for the university with 32,000 students expected to attend classes this fall. Around one-third of those students are new students coming to campus for the first time.

Campus connection is the key to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’s “Young Rebels” summer program, officials say, which allows young people to envision themselves participating in college life. “We call them our future rebels,” said Devan Harris, Early Outreach Coordinator. “They would have those opportunities to interact with faculty and current students at a really young age.”

For higher education, one of the biggest challenges leftover from the pandemic years is getting students to sign up. In recent years enrollment at many Nevada higher education institutions — like higher education institutions nationally — has plateaued compared to pre-pandemic levels. But at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas the tide has finally turned.

This year, freshmen participating in 'Rebel Ready Week' will move into campus housing earlier than usual, getting a head start on their introduction to college life. Rebel Ready Week will take place from Monday, Aug. 21, to Friday, Aug. 25.

We know that teenagers who experience foster care face adverse experiences across multiple domains, such as housing, juvenile incarceration and in schooling. Throughout history, we can see that they are more likely to experience adverse outcomes indicative of economic hardship: adult poverty, homelessness, unemployment and underemployment, and low rates of educational attainment. To combat these outcomes, many seek higher education.