Blog
#ThisIsFamilyScholarHouse
Nobody is prepared for a pandemic. The world has experienced that firsthand over the past six months, and Family Scholar House (FSH) has been no different. When all this began in March, our leadership team gathered together to brainstorm for the worst-case scenarios, the supplies we would need, and how we would continue to deliver…
Virtual Strategy Session: Securing Mental Health for Parents
Supporting student parent mental health is an integral component of increasing postsecondary completion. Ascend and the Jed Foundation (JED) are partnering to advance the academic persistence and completion of students who are parents by addressing mental health. This partnership will develop a comprehensive mental health framework for postsecondary institutions to improve their mental health supports…
Pivoting at PelotonU: How One Higher Ed Nonprofit’s Response to COVID has Facilitated Student Success
“Not even this COVID-19 is going to stop me.” That’s what Monisha texted back to her PelotonU coach in mid-March just days after we’d updated our new cohort that their promised in-person coaching and study spaces would need to be virtual for the foreseeable future. We gave each of the 30 students set to join…
We Can and Must Do More
These last few months have been painful and emotional for all of us. We watched as another Black man was killed, a Black woman’s murder continues to be ignored, peaceful protests were disrupted, and rights were infringed upon. It has been a fearful and frustrating time during which we’ve all wondered if we’ll finally see…
Using Technology and Design Thinking to Meet Every Learner Wherever They Are
Although today’s circumstances are abnormally challenging, students’ lives have always been complex, even more so for students who are parents. At Arizona State University, we are focusing on technology-enhanced, human-centered education to ensure that no matter how complicated the world gets, we can meet all learners wherever they are and however they choose to study.…
Making Student Parents the Norm Requires Facing Systemic Racism
When I was attending the College of William & Mary as a teen mother, I was an anomaly. Not only because I was one of a very small group of Black students at the institution but also because I was raising my young daughter while putting myself through school. I saw more people who looked…