What a Thing Chronicles: Chapter 16

PelotonU familia, it’s Erika – long time reader and first time writer of the What a Thing Chronicles! We have been busy planning for our upcoming Degree Celebration which will be held on Thursday, August 29th at 6:30 p.m. at the Central site. We look forward to celebrating 15 degree earners which surpasses our last degree celebration as the biggest one yet! We’ve still got plenty of time to add another couple of names to the list! 

Erika leading Orientation at our new East Site

Speaking of events, Pelotonians recently beat the heat at our Summer Social Gathering on Saturday, July 27th at our Central site. Students and their families cooled off with snow cones, water guns, and water balloons – many of which were used to soak the College Completion Coaches, including our two most recent additions, Silvio Delgado and Cynthia Suarez. A big shoutout to Kat Moreno, our AmeriCorps Vista, and the first Student Ambassador Committee who helped plan such a fun afternoon – and a warm welcome to our new Student Ambassador Committee – Katyeonsha, Harolyn and Marisol!

The family fun doesn’t stop there. Last Monday, August 5th, we officially launched our third site and pilot program thanks to 2 generous grants from United Way and ACF’s Women’s Fund. Located inside the Open Door Preschool M Station location, this pilot program utilizes a two-generation approach to serve parent and kiddo simultaneously. By providing students with affordable, high quality child care, and their children with early learning, we aim to create and improve opportunities for the whole family. For more information on 2-Gen programming, check out Ascend at the Aspen Institute

Karla C has surpassed 75% and earned a scholarship this month!

Last, but certainly not least, it’s time for some long-overdue shoutouts:

  • Karen earned her BA in time for her 21st birthday! Talk about a reason to celebrate!
  • Ranferi earned is AA in 144 days with a final pace of .39 years, making him the third fastest AA degree earner in PU history
  • Valeria, Miriam and Hugo also earned their AA’s
  • Rodolfo was featured in the June edition of Tribeza and hit 50% of his AA
  • Cecilia, Dalia Vannesa M., Clay and Katherine H. all reached the 50% milestone in their degree
  • Valeria W. and Alica P. hit 25%
  • Gemma G. reached 25% before the end of AO Week 8
  • Shannon J. mastered the Informational Interview project on the first submission
  • Karla C. surpassed 75% by submitting 6 of her remaining 11 AA projects within 24 hours. She also recently received Austin Pathways’ HACA Resident Scholarship AND did an interview for Jobs Plus to share her experience as a PelotonU student!

What a thing.

As always, we’re cheering for you.

-Erika + the PU Team