Partner Spotlight: Life University

We’ve been blessed by the students and staff of Life University over the years.  They’ve mobilized groups to paint our spaces, help our youth turn the soil of their community garden, and serve during all types of community days and special projects.  We’ve been blown away by how supportive the team at Life University has been.  Ever since Rebecca Koch, Director of Service Initiatives, learned about YELLS in our early years, she’s connected us with just about every department and club to keep volunteers and groups of students serving in our Franklin Gateway community.  One Life University student shared, “It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a community to make a village.”  We’re fortunate to have Life U in our village!

 

 

Over the past several years, Life University has expanded our village and helped to grow the YELLS family by providing us with some of the very best college students to help support our scholars through the Federal Work Study program. The Federal Work Study program provides part-time work for undergraduate students with financial need, removing the burden of finding an off-campus job as they complete their degree. While these are often thought of as only on-campus jobs, Life University has partnered with YELLS to provide off-campus job opportunities for students to work in our programs.

 

One of those amazing Federal Work Study students, Morgan Pierce, has been a dedicated, talented, and hardworking member of the YELLS family since November 2016. Although her title at YELLS is “Youth Tutor” her role here is so much more than that. She supports every aspect of our K-5th grade Afterschool Program, earning the additional titles of music, art, and outdoor choice club leader, homework room manager, summer camp counselor, and overall program assistant, to name a few. She takes on every opportunity and challenge she’s given with a tremendously positive and uplifting attitude, always being a perfect role model of core values at YELLS.  Morgan says “it’s the Ah-ha moments and the big hugs when the kids run off the school bus to greet me each day” that keep her eager to come back. You can often hear the kids loudly yelling her name, “Hi Miss Morgan!” as they excitedly meet her to share about their day.

Recently, Morgan has helped to grow our YELLS family even more by recruiting her roommate, Gillian Seibert, to join us as the newest member to the team.  Life University has embraced YELLS, and their students truly make our work a family endeavor.  Other amazing Federal Work Study students like Franchescia Conyers-Cole, or “Mama Freska,” have brought their own families into the fold – her twin daughters served as camp counselors this summer!  Netherland Joiner, another amazing FWS student, has mobilized her friends and network to connect with us as well.  Thank you, Life University, for your undying dedication and support!