Amanda Johnson knows what it’s like to be a student-parent. Before she became the coordinator of the Office of Parents Attending College (PAC) at Northern Kentucky University, she participated in its program as an undergraduate.
Amanda Johnson
PAC helps student-parents navigate the challenges of balancing work, school and parenthood.
Johnson began her career with NKU as a student worker through the Early Childhood Center in 2003 and later received her undergraduate degree in elementary education. She enjoys the opportunity to assist student-parents, especially during the holidays.
“As I sit here staring at the blockade of gifts that have taken over my office, I am overwhelmed with emotion. It takes me back to being an 18-year-old single mother attending NKU, struggling to provide for my child but knowing that an education was the best way I could ultimately pull us out of poverty,” she says.
“Each holiday season, Parents Attending College (then called the KTAP program) was there to help me through generous donations from faculty and staff across the university. While it may have not seemed like much to those giving, it truly meant the world to my son and me. It was then that NKU began to feel like family, where I was accepted for all I was—including a single mother.”
Now, as PAC’s coordinator, Johnson gets to make a difference for struggling student-parents.
“I feel so thankful to be able to serve in my current position where I am now able to give back to those students walking the same path I once did. You do not get to see the emotion on the student-parents’ faces as they enter my office door to collect their gifts, but I can tell you they are extremely grateful,” she says.
“I always make sure to have a box of tissues out, because there are usually tears followed by kind words of appreciation. You have truly made a difference in their holiday season.”
PAC was able to sponsor 36 student-parent families — a total of 42 adults and 69 children — thanks to 21 departments/offices, three student organizations and 11 individuals.
In addition, four offices volunteered to donate items to PAC’s birthday closet, which assists student-parents with a gift on their child’s birthday.
“I have been amazed with the large-heartedness of this university,” she says.
