Stand’s summer volunteer intern Aseela Galeeb has made her mark on the team. Aseela has written content explaining and demystifying the school district policymaking process, interviewing students and professionals about their experiences in dual credit, and auditing school district websites to see if they have accessible public information about available dual credit programming. At the core of her work for Stand has been a rooted understanding of how these issues are relevant to students. Drawing on her own experiences and those of her peers, Aseela has helped us think more intentionally about why equity in dual credit programming matters to students and families.Aseela is heading off to college where she will deepen her policy and communications chops. We are grateful for her time with Stand and excited to follow her work in the future. Aseela leaves us with some parting reflections below:
” My time working with Stand has been very meaningful. I have been able to build my writing and blogging skills which I know will serve me well in the future, and I have had the opportunity to learn about an important aspect of educational policy- dual credit equity. In doing so, I have reflected on my own experience with dual credit opportunities, which contrasts with the stories I have read and written about, both this year and last year.
The small 6-12th grade school I attended in the lakeside suburbs of Kirkland wrapped my classmates and I in a bubble. Within my graduating class of 29 students, only two are not attending a 4-year university. Many of us, including myself, come from privileged backgrounds and families that consider attending college as a fact of life.
Given this background, it will be no surprise that the primary dual credit option in my school was the AP curriculum. It was almost expected of us, and it was rare to encounter a senior who hadn’t taken any APs. The other dual credit option that was floated around was Running Start. Due to the small size of the school and therefore its limited curriculum, many students chose to do Running Start. Only one student in my year chose to do full-time Running Start, but there were four or five students that did it part-time, in order to gain credits from classes that weren’t offered by my school.
All of this is to say that when I started with Stand last year, I hadn’t heard of CTE or College in the High School (the latter is offered by my district but not at my school). Being given the opportunity to learn about these options (and more), to speak to students whose experiences have differed from mine, and to look back on my high school experience with a different perspective, has been a valuable benefit of working with Stand that I couldn’t have foreseen.
I am extremely grateful to the Stand team for giving me this opportunity and hope to stay in touch in the future.”
Thank you, Aseela, for lending your talents and personal experiences to the Stand team. We are inspired by your passion for education policy and communications, and excited to follow your continued impact!
