Parent Voice During a Pandemic: Ascend PSP Parent Advisors Share Their Quarantine Stories

Students who are parents are all too familiar with unpredictability. Whether they have to bring their kid to class because their child care fell through or need to stay late at the library to use free WiFi because they lost access at home, student parents are shapeshifters who find a way when it seems like there isn’t one. However, no one could have predicted the seismic shift the COVID-19 pandemic would cause, especially students completing their spring semester of college.

To gain a better understanding of what it’s been like for student parents to transition from in-person classes to online courses, teach their own children, seek mental health services, and more, Ascend published a series of blog posts authored by some of the Ascend PSP Parent Advisors to elevate their perspectives on life in quarantine.

The Parent Advisors are a group of 11 students who are parents who share the challenges they face during their postsecondary journey with children. Their experiences inform the Aspen Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) Initiative.

Follow the links below to learn how student parents from across the country have navigated these uncertain times.

• I Will Not be Deterred from My Goals as a Parent in 2020 by Waukecha Wilkerson
• A Philosopher’s Perspective on Parenting During a Pandemic by Jesus Benitez
• 1L of a Year by Michaela Martin
• A working parent in college takes on remote learning for himself and his kids, says ‘something has to give’ by Ariel Ventura-Lazo
• One Student Parent Shares the Impact of the Crisis by Lesley Del Rio
• An Unfinished Thought: My Life in Quarantine by Savannah Steiger
• I am a Mom, Intern, and Student – the Pandemic Made Me a Teacher and Speech Language Pathologist Too by Yoslin Amaya Hernandez
• What ‘New Normal?’ This is My Life by Drayton Jackson

Photo of Generation Hope Scholar and son on the playground. Generation Hope is a nonprofit based in Washington, DC, providing wraparound, two-generation support to young parents in college and their pre-kindergarten little ones, and promoting student parents’ college completion through national advocacy and direct technical assistance to colleges and universities.