Upcoming web seminar aims to help single mothers working towards a degree
The PepsiCo Uplift scholarship program will be hosting a live web seminar called “A Generation of Women in College”, on Feb. 7 from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. which aims to help guide single mothers to college success.
Keoki Mulloy, program manager for the PepsiCo Uplift scholarship, is in charge of hosting the event and wants to use this open platform as a way for single mothers to get meaningful and impactful advice on how to navigate college.
“The crux of why I’m doing this is I’m seeing a lot of women put their education on hold because of having to be a mother first,” Mulloy explained.
“Yet, there are women who’ve managed to get through it {with a} secret formula if you are able to balance those hats, and be able to get to the end and get a degree,” Mulloy stated.
Balancing those hats, which can include being a mother, a college student, and sometimes even holding a job, is extremely challenging.
According to a report done by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research , single mothers have low rates of college degree attainment.
“As of 2015,” the report states, “just 31 percent of single mothers ages 25 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher.”
The panel will host three single mothers who have graduated from college, who will share their experience going through the challenge of balancing college and motherhood.
“Two of them have their Master’s degree,” noted Mulloy, “and the other one just got her Associate’s and is now working on her Bachelor’s degree.”
These women will share their education journeys, discuss topics such as study skills and other time management techniques needed to succeed, and will end it off with a Q and A from those in attendance.
According to Mulloy, the initial response from people about the upcoming event has been very promising.
“I’ve done different student success type webinars before, and this is the first one that I have done where I’ve had an unbelievable response, just from the one email that we sent out,” Mulloy recalled.
Mulloy noted that in order to attend this webinar, you do need to link your school email account to Zoom beforehand.
Once that is completed, students will be able to join the webinar when it starts.
Although this event is targeting women, single fathers are also more than welcome to attend this event.
“There was an email I received from a dad who asked ‘Am I allowed to attend?’ Absolutely. It’s for everyone who may be trying to get a college education but can’t figure out the secret formula of how to be successful in it,” Mulloy stated.
A link to the event can be found on the MCC website here.
This story was edited on 2/6/2023 to correct an error made at the time of publication. The hosting party was corrected, and a link to where the Zoom can be found was added.
