In this interview, Shannon McDonald talks about her experiences and motivations as a ReUp Success Coach and the importance of making students feel seen, heard, and supported.   How do you apply your own experiences and challenges with college to support your students?  I use a lot of my past and personal experience to support students. I’m a first-generation college graduate. I hold two degrees; I obtained my MA while also delivering a baby without taking time off, so having a traditional and nontraditional success story helps with perspective. Also, my father is a true educational inspiration that I draw

ReUp Success Coach Miguel Olivera shares his experiences with academic struggle and explains the importance of authenticity. by Meilee D. Bridges Miguel Olivera is no stranger to the proverbial concept of best-laid plans going awry. As a new Success Coach at ReUp Education, Miguel has found his niche helping students explore strategies for achieving their goals. But his journey to his current destination has certainly included some twists and turns, hills and valleys. “I know the struggles I had with returning to school,” he says. “So when I talk to a student and they leave our communication feeling like, OK,

When I coach students, one of the main things I focus on is their why, or their motivation behind finishing their degree. I do this because in my own experience, my why was what kept me going from an early age toward my goal of being the first person in my family to graduate from college. My why was my older brother Jeffry. Throughout my youngest years, my mom worked hard to provide for my brother and I but struggled to make ends meet as a single parent despite the long hours she put in. She instilled a strong work

My college journey is atypical. It started off when I was living in Memphis. I had applied and been accepted to several universities. I was offered an academic scholarship to Rhodes College, but I turned it down because they were a D III football program and I thought I could get better offers. (Ha. Youth.) But because I waited so long to accept any offers, there was no money for me to go to school. I knew I didn’t want to completely give up on school. My then- girlfriend’s mom worked in Admissions at a local community college and she

A teacher once told Stephanie, “If you do not learn something new every day, you’ve wasted your day.” Stephanie took this to heart and pushes herself every day to challenge the way she thinks and how she interprets the world. But this wasn’t always the case. Growing up in small town Missouri, going to college seemed like a pipe-dream. No one in her family had graduated from college, and, looming large, was an expectation of joining the workforce immediately following high school graduation. Stephanie knew in order to go to college, she had to get a scholarship; and to get

It took me eight years to finish my undergraduate degree. Three different schools, two states, two kids, one marriage, and multiple degree changes later, I finally had my degree. I was one of those people who “life” happened to throughout my undergraduate experience. I never planned it to be that way, which makes my academic journey so fitting for a person like me. Growing up in a single parent household with my mother and sister, I internalized at a very early age that I needed to have firm control of my life in order to not feel like I was