The Stories Blog

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,...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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,...

Read More
1 2 3 Next