COVID-19
Let's Offer College Credit for National Service
Thanks to the pandemic, college as we knew it has been seriously disrupted. This year could be the biggest gap year ever for recent high school graduates delaying starting college. At the same time,...
Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama Is on a Mission to Get Students Everywhere to Dream Big
The feeling inside UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion was electrifying. There was close to 10,000 high school seniors and transfer students proudly wearing their college shirts and screaming as celebrities and...
student success
I’m Celebrating First-Gens Because I Am One
We all know the journey to—and through—college isn’t easy. It can be especially difficult for first-generation students who are the first in their family to attend college. I know this because I am a...
student success
Black Girls Need More Than Michelle Obama
There's danger in the singular Michelle Obama Black girl role-model narrative. There has been a beautiful picture circulating of a young African-American girl looking up in awe at Michelle Obama’s...
Undocumented Immigrants
So You Want to Go to College? Send a Text.
In 2013, then-First Lady Michelle Obama approached then-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan with the goal of inspiring more young people to attend and graduate from college. As a first-generation...
Chicago
While Feds Loosen School Nutrition Standards, My Child’s School Won’t Back Down
While my husband dug in the freezer on a recent Monday morning, my second-grader informed me of the day’s breakfast menu: “I’m having a waffle and chocolate pudding.” “Have some school breakfast,...