Brenda Sweeten, one of the founders of the PUSH program at UNT, and Ryan McLendon, graduate of UNT and the PUSH program, highlighted the purpose and value of this program to the community.
La Donna Womochel
PUSH is a marvelous support program for students with lived experience in foster care at the University of North Texas. During the monthly club meeting, the members of Voices United were privileged to hear the details of what this program does for students who have aged out of the foster care system from Brenda Sweeten, Clinical Professor and Director of Field Education, Department of Social Work at the University of North Texas, and Ryan McLendon, a UNT graduate who used the PUSH program to help him through the rough spots of going to college. This campus support program is geared specifically toward improving the successful education outcomes of students who have aged out of the foster care system.
Ms. Sweeten, who is also the UNT Foster Care Liaison Officer, explained that many foster children are coming from an environment where they had few opportunities to make their own decisions. Many of these students lacked mentors who gave them sound advice on issues that we might take for granted, such as housing, money management, and development of healthy relationships. The program works with students who have been in the foster care system in Texas and qualify for tuition and fee waivers at public universities and community colleges. Currently, there are more than 300 students at UNT who are part of this program. Mr. McLendon spoke about his experiences in the PUSH Bridge Summer Program, which is a summer program that focuses on helping these first-year students start their educational experience in the most positive way. This program provides housing, meals, and mentors during the summer prior to the fall semester for these students. It also has mandatory study hours and curfews to help the students form the right habits to become successful in a college environment.
The point of both the PUSH and the Bridge Summer Program is to eliminate barriers to success for these young adults by identifying, recruiting, engaging, supporting, retaining, and graduating these students.
The presentation was inspiring; about what can be accomplished for others whose lives have had a difficult beginning.
Voices United is a non-partisan group of Robson Ranch women who share progressive values, perform community outreach, provide civic awareness and social contact for members, and have a good time! We’re a 501(c)(3) group. Our annual dues are $20.