Head Start Awareness Month: How Kids on Campus Keeps Evelyn's Family Moving Forward
This October, we're celebrating Head Start Awareness Month by sharing how Head Start partnerships on community college campuses help parents pursue their education while their children learn and grow nearby.
When Evelyn Vasquez’s son was born in 2023, she was already partway through her studies at Palo Alto College in San Antonio, Texas. She spent the next year at home to raise her son, and when she was ready to return to her coursework, she knew she wanted him on campus with her.
Through Kids on Campus, a national initiative of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and the National Head Start Association (NHSA) that was possible. Evelyn enrolled her son in the AVANCE – San Antonio early learning program at Palo Alto College’s Ray Ellison Family Center in 2025. From the first conversations with the staff, Evelyn and her son felt welcomed. “They were very supportive, very positive,” she shared. “A truly positive team.”
The Ray Ellison Family Center brings together the strengths of both partners: Palo Alto College employs the classroom teachers and center director, while AVANCE – San Antonio provides family advocates, curriculum, and meals. For families like Evelyn's, that means high-quality early learning and wraparound in the same place where parents are earning their degrees.
Evelyn had registered for the rest of her architecture degree plan when she learned she was expecting her second child, a daughter, who was born this summer. She attended a parenting student meeting on campus, where other mothers shared how they had paused their studies and come back. With that encouragement, Evelyn met with an advisor and adjusted her degree plan so she could spend time with her newborn. Today, she is on track to graduate sooner than expected, and her son remains enrolled at the Ray Ellison Family Center while she finishes. Her plan gives her time with her children in their earliest years without closing the door on the career she's working toward.
Evelyn's path reflects one of the greatest strengths parenting students bring to campus: persistence. Parenting students earn high GPAs and re-enroll to complete a degree or certificate after stopping out at more than double the rate of their non-parenting peers (Child Trends, 2021; Urban Institute, 2024).
Learn more about Evelyn’s story in her own words:
Evelyn’s advice to other parents who are starting or returning to school is to be less hard on themselves and to reach out for support. "There are actually other people that can relate. So you're not alone," she said. For Evelyn, that sense of connection is at the heart of Kids on Campus and has been integral to her success.
About Kids on Campus
Kids on Campus is a national initiative led by ACCT and NHSA that connects community colleges and Head Start programs to expand access to on-campus early childhood education for parenting students. The initiative aims to establish 50 partnerships by 2030. Learn more at kidsoncampus.org.
