When UWM began to address the concerns and needs of the student body at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, two faculty members created a focus group with student-parents to see what their new challenges were. The focus group turned into an active student organization.
The student-parent population was faced with many new challenges due to COVID-19. On top of being students, they were teaching their children from home, working (if they hadn’t lost their jobs) and maintaining a household.
Rachel Kubczak of Life Impact and Justice Johnson, previous director of the UWM Women’s Resource Center, started a focus group to poll student-parents and see what their needs were as student-parents.
“It is hard being a student parent, and I find comfort in connecting with others going through the same thing,” Jacquelynn Parmley, a member of the focus group, said.
The group came up with suggestions, including many virtual family activities for the students, like Netflix movie nights for families and parent support talk groups.
They made a student-parent infographic about how to support student-parents during this time and distributed it to UWM faculty and staff. The infographic was also posted on the website and Life Impact and other organizational social media accounts.
Michael Levandoski, another member of the focus group, and Parmley decided to turn the focus group into a student organization with the faculty support of Kubczak and Johnson.
Levandoski and Parmley, with the help of Katie Maedke-Hall and Nala Paulson, created the Student Parent Advocacy Committee (SPAC).
“I participate in the SPAC because I believe in voicing the experiences and needs of people/groups who are underrepresented,” said Levandoski. “I appreciate this opportunity to learn and practice collaborating with others for positive actions and social growth.”
SPAC is currently wrapping up the diaper drive that started at the start of the spring semester. They were able to raise close to $500, diapers, and service over 20 families with this diaper drive, according to Kubczak. The extra supplies will be donated to the UWM Food Center & Pantry.
“Giving this population of students some support is a sure way to see success on our campus,” Kubczak said.
For more information or to join SPAC, students can email the Women’s Resource Center at wmncntr@uwm.edu.
Awesome article, Shayla! Thank you for representing all of us student-parents and the SPAC! Everyone reading this: come get involved!