Contemporary Student Services

Patriot Profile: Valeria Fernandez

Rebecca Kobayashi — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 18:21:51 +0000

Patriot Profile: Valeria Fernandez Rebecca Kobayashi Tue, 04/09/2024 - 14:21

Valeria Fernandez
Year: Senior
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Woodbridge, Virginia

Valeria Fernandez’s journey as a fellow with Generation Hope’s FamilyU* began even before she arrived on campus. The mother of a three-year-old, Fernandez realized when applying to Mason that the housing application did not account for the needs of student-parents, so she raised the issue and potential solutions in a FamilyU interview. Fernandez, who had just finished an associate’s degree in psychology at Northern Virginia Community College, was selected as Mason’s FamilyU fellow for the 2022–23 cohort.

Valeria Fernandez and her daughter in the child-friendly Contemporary Student Lounge on the Fairfax Campus. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Growing into Leadership: Each FamilyU fellow develops an advocacy project during the year. To help address the gap in student-parent mental health care at Mason, Fernandez created a child-friendly support group that focused on mindfulness activities. “Even when I encountered people who would admit to having zero concept of what it’s like to be a student-parent, [Mason] was still a safe, welcoming environment.” She now has greater pride and confidence as a student-parent because of the peers and others she met at Mason who were willing to listen. For Fernandez, it was also encouraging to meet other parents who were pursuing personal dreams alongside raising children.

Advocating for a New Normal: Fernandez says some problems, like how difficult it is for student-parents to meet each other, have simple remedies, like highlighting child-friendly campus activities; but others require long-term solutions, such as changing assumptions about the typical college student. For example, inflexible online tests or assignments present challenges to student-parents with limited child care who may need to schedule an alternate time. Faculty members should recognize that students, whether parenting or working, “have lives outside of being students,” explains Fernandez. “And that doesn't mean that they have less respect for your course.”

Building Momentum: Fernandez currently works as a student-parent ambassador with Mason’s Contemporary Student Services. The mindfulness group she created grew into Student Parent Community Spaces, where student-parents can connect with each other and learn about university services. She is also working to increase student-parent visibility at Mason for potential transfer students. Sometimes her daughter even accompanies her to campus, which Fernandez says she feels comfortable doing because of relationships she is building with colleagues. She has applied to graduate programs at Mason and elsewhere with the goal of someday working in forensic psychology or perhaps pursuing teaching.

* Mason alum Nicole Lynn Lewis, MPP ’06, founded the nonprofit Generation Hope to support young parents and their children as parents pursue further education. Read more about her.

Learn about FamilyU Cohorts

Mason honored for an innovative approach to serving contemporary students

Lauren Reuscher — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 20:50:17 +0000

Mason honored for an innovative approach to serving contemporary students Lauren Reuscher Wed, 01/31/2024 - 15:50

More about Contemporary Student Services

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Contemporary Student Services

��ӽ紫ý’s Contemporary Student Services has been recognized by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), a leading voice for student affairs, for its innovative approach to serving post-traditional and off-campus students.

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Contemporary Student Services (CSS), part of University Life, earned the Bronze Excellence Award for supporting success in "Commuter, Off Campus, Military-Affiliated, Non-Traditional, and Other" student populations. Mason’s approach to serving these students sets it apart from other institutions of higher education. The CSS office launched in 2019 as a first-of-its-kind unit dedicated to serving the multifaceted identities of contemporary students at Mason.

The choice to include a variety of post-traditional student populations under one umbrella was intentional. At Mason, “contemporary students” include those who are adult learners (25 and older), living off-campus, transfer students, married/widowed/divorced, veteran or military-affiliated, returning to college after taking three or more years off, pregnant or parenting, or previously in the foster-care system. The definition is flexible and may continue to grow.

“Contemporary Student Services provides the latitude to evolve alongside our student population and remain flexible and inclusive,” said Joisanne Rodgers, director of Contemporary Student Services. “Mason didn't take the path of creating individual units to serve specific contemporary populations, because most contemporary students hold more than one of those identities—for example, they're a military-affiliated student parent living off-campus. The Venn diagram of contemporary student identities has a lot of intersections.”

Kids Zone in the Contemporary Student Lounge. Photo by Joisanne Rodgers/Contemporary Student Services

The Contemporary Student Lounge, in The Hub on the Fairfax Campus, is a place of refuge and support for these students. The space includes a well-equipped Kid’s Zone with age-appropriate furnishings, books, and activities. The lounge is staffed with contemporary student employees and peer mentors who help serve these students and connect them to the broader Mason community. The space has proven to be a vital resource. Last year, the lounge relocated to a larger space to accommodate the growing number of students using it.

"It's a great privilege to work with a team of innovators who not only put our students first, but also work incredibly hard to ensure we're seeing and recognizing the unique students in front of us,” Rodgers said. “The contemporary student population at Mason keeps growing, and we're honored to be part of the support network and village that advocates, celebrates, educates, and serves our contemporary students.”

Mason will be formally recognized for its work in Contemporary Student Services at the NASPA annual conference in March. View the complete list of awardees.

A graduation walk in the clouds for this first-gen student

Colleen Rich — Mon, 01 May 2023 14:17:03 +0000

A graduation walk in the clouds for this first-gen student Colleen Rich Mon, 05/01/2023 - 10:17

Angelo Collington has been waiting to walk across a graduation stage for about 12 years.

Angelo Collington with his wife, Shinikal Dean, and with daughters Mya, 5, and Kennedy, 2. Photo provided

First, a paperwork snafu, in which he said his high school erroneously claimed he never earned a diploma, kept him home during the graduation ceremony. Then, COVID shut down Northern Virginia Community College’s 2021 ceremony.

So when Collington, a senior psychology major at ��ӽ紫ý, walks across the graduation stage in May, it will be something special.

“Finally,” he said. “Being able to walk across the stage will be a very happy experience.”

Collington, 31, of Ashburn, Virginia, already had a graduation celebration at Mason’s event for “contemporary students,” those in nontraditional categories such as adult learners, transfer students, parenting students, students who are married, students with military affiliations, and students who were previously in foster care.

Collington, married to Mason alum Shinikal Dean, BA Sociology ’13, and with daughters Mya, 5, and Kennedy, 2, checks many of those boxes.

He is also a first-generation student and was part of the first cohort of students in the ADVANCE Program, the groundbreaking partnership between Mason and Northern Virginia Community College that provides a streamlined path toward a bachelor’s degree.

Between juggling his studies and his job as an IT specialist for CACI, it took Collington nearly five years to complete his degree. But his impact was clear, even becoming a peer leader in ADVANCE, a member of the Contemporary Student Services Advisory Board, and contributing to a panel with Mason President Gregory Washington about helping students who are parents.

“Being a student-parent, the dedication he’s had and the commitment to balance both, he does embody the spirit of ADVANCE,” said Rita Snyder-Furr, associate director in Mason’s Office of Community College Partnerships. “Anytime there was an opportunity to collaborate and improve the program, he was always there to support it.”

“He was reliable, and I knew he was someone I could count on,” said Caroline Simpson, coordinator for contemporary students in the office of Contemporary Student Services. “For many students, graduation highlights the next step in their life. But for contemporary students, they were already balancing life with being a student. Finishing their degree shows a lot of perseverance.”

Collington made an impression in the classroom, too, especially in PSYCH 461, a thoughtful special topics class that looks at the rehabilitation of children who commit serious crimes.

“It’s a very serious forensics area,” said Sybil Smith-Gray, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology who taught the class. “He was very focused and asked great questions. You could tell he’s not just dialing it in.”

“��ӽ紫ý is a great university,” Collington said. “It’s so diverse, you never know who you’re going to run into. The professors truly care about you and, then, just an overall great environment.”

Collington, whose concentration is in developmental psychology, said he wants to earn his master’s degree and do community work in the areas of mental health and health disparities.

For now, though, he will turn his attention to his family—in particular watching the kids to allow Dean, his wife, to pursue her master’s in either business administration or public administration, perhaps even back at Mason.

“The fact that she has been the backbone to let me pursue my education while she watched the children is very supportive,” Collington said. “It’s not an individual effort. We’re a team.”

“We’re both equally involved with our children,” Dean said. “We don’t look at it like this is a ‘mom’ role and a ‘dad’ role. This is a parent role.”

Collington’s family was with him when he celebrated with Mason’s other contemporary students. They will be with him at a big family cookout to celebrate his graduation. And they certainly will be there when he finally walks across the graduation stage.

Just thinking about it, Collington said, “I’m on cloud nine.”