Every community in the world faces certain challenges or needs to be addressed, regardless of the saying, “the grass is always greener on the other side.” The more you spend time in that other side, the more you realize it is not as green as you thought it was.
Coming from my home country to the United States, everything seems better, more beautiful and more advanced. However, as a participant of the Community College Initiative program, we have been given a task to identify the needs in our host community and address it through the Community Impact Project. In the beginning I thought “what challenges could there be?” Everything seems perfect and better from the city I came from.
After living here for some months and observing, I realized that it was not the case. Cedar Rapids, my host community, also has its own challenges and needs. There were many needs that I discovered, but in the end I chose one that resonated with me the most: the problems Kirkwood student parents face.
Inspired by fellow student, an adult learner just like myself, I realized that the Kirkwood student population is not made up of just fresh high school graduates. There are also adult learners, in particular students who are parents, just like some of my classmates.
One day last semester, one of them had to bring her son to campus because no one could take care of her while she was in class. My initial idea was to reinstate the child care service that Kirkwood used to have called Kirkwood Kids.
However, after interviewing faculty, staff and fellow students, I realized how complex it is to execute the project, and to reinstate a child care service. I also realized my own limited capacities, knowledge and time constraints.
After spending some more time observing, I noticed that most adult learners or parenting students leave right after classes to either work or to attend other responsibilities off campus.
After consulting with my program coordinator, Elizabeth O’Brien, I found another way to help: by creating a flyer that contains information about resources available for parenting students.
This idea led me to the Dean of Student’s Office, where I met Caitlyn Miller. From her, I learned that apparently the 6.4% of student population at Kirkwood was made up of single parents in the last academic year, according to Kirkwood Community College Institutional Research data. Kirkwood has ways to help parenting students through resources available on campus and in Linn County.
Kirkwood provides privacy rooms students can use for lactation or other purposes, family-friendly workstations at the library, a food pantry where students can receive grocery items at no cost and counseling services as a safe space for them to maintain their mental health.
When a student who is a parent needs further support, the Dean of Students Office will refer them to resources available in Linn County. Some offered resources include Child Care Assistance which helps pay for child care service, Young Parents Network who provides services for the parents and children and Hawkeye Area Community Action Program which provides food assistance, housing programs, and other needs. More information can be found on the flyer below.
By learning about those resources through this community impact project, I was able understand more how important it is to share information to those who need it.
I hope the current parenting students and future students know that they are supported on their path of success by coming to study at Kirkwood. After all, borrowing a quote from B.B. King, “the beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”
Categories: Contributed, Opinion
