Our Stories

You probably wouldn’t know it, but I’ve been in a movie. My non-existent IMDb page will be no use for you, and I never appeared in a Hollywood blockbuster. What I did star in was Stand’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) recipe video that we released last fall. See if you can spot me in my starring […]

As a mentor and education advocate, I can say that a year ago, much of the content that’s in Stand’s “Stop Illinois Brain Drain” report was over my head. I didn’t really understand much of it, but I was interested in learning more and finding ways to fix the educational problems in our state. The 2017-2018 Policy […]

I don’t know about you, but when I was a junior in high school, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do for a career. I was focused on my classes and graduating – not really focused on what I would do for a living. Growing up in southern Illinois, a lot of my […]

Every now and then, there’s an issue that speaks to everyone on some level. Preparing our students for a future close to home is one of them. Today, Stand released its report detailing the issue, “STOP ILLINOIS BRAIN DRAIN: Building Pathways to Prosperity for High School Students.” The report proposes policy changes and practices that […]

Sometimes I feel like my work life and home life are totally disconnected, competing elements in my world. But that certainly wasn’t the case the day I was at work drumming up info on how early childhood programs were being defunded and I received a text that the program for the 3-year old of my […]

As a former teacher who recently left the classroom, I know I will never leave behind the education issues I care about. So when I began to explore my role as an advocate outside of the classroom, one program that jumped out at me was Stand’s Policy Fellowship. The detailed policy discussions, the conversations with […]