In this episode of the Digication Scholars Conversations, host Jeff Yan continues the insightful discussion with Lizz Colon, Director of Learning in Public at College Unbound.
Lizz shares her journey from dealing with lead poisoning to becoming a nationally respected expert in lead poisoning prevention. The conversation emphasizes the importance of lived experiences in education, community organizing, and the development of ePortfolios.
Discover how College Unbound supports students through reflective learning and a supportive community.
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 #LivedExperience #ePortfolio #CollegeUnbound #HigherEducation #EducationalInnovation
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Jeff Yan.
In this episode, you will hear part two ofmy conversation with Lizz Colon, Director
of Learning in Public at College Unbound.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
(00:22):
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
You talked a lot aboutlived experiences, right?
I want to go back into one of the thingsthat you had mentioned as one of the first
things that you said, you know, after.
After basically, you know, 20 creditsin the, in the, Community College,
you did a lot of work around, um,"Lead Poisoning Prevention," and you
(00:46):
worked for the CDC, EPA, and so on.
Can you tell us a littlebit about that work?
I know that it's so far may not havesomething, you know, doesn't, may
not connect to, to, um, to CollegeUnbound, but I think it does.
I think that, you know, We can get asense of, for someone who struggled so
(01:08):
hard to stay in school, when something'son the line, something that matters, she
shines and she became a national respectedexpert on the, how does that happen?
Can you tell us about that workand tell us how that happened?
Well, I mean, so again, itcame from lived experience.
Um, I bought a house.
(01:28):
Um, it was built in 1896.
Um, I had gotten married.
One of my, my, my second child,um, after moving in the house
only after three months, um, washospitaLizzed with lead poisoning.
And, um, there was a whole whirlwindof things that had to happen, um, and,
(01:51):
and this happened in, in 1996, um, andthat's kind of what led me down that
path into getting involved with mycommunity and I wanted to know more, um,
there was a meeting at the Rhode IslandDepartment of Health and one of the,
the nurses Um, that, uh, was a nursingcoordinator for the childhood led o...
(02:12):
for the lead program, um, at the hospital.
Uh, was like, you should come,and you should talk to people,
and we're gonna have this meeting.
And I walked into this meeting, andhere's people from the Department
of Health, and there's lawyers,and doctors, and all this stuff.
And here I am, my teacher.
21 year old self, um, walking in andthey're talking about, you know, how
great of a campaign they're doing andI was like, I was dumbstruck because I
(02:38):
had never heard of lead poisoning beforeand I had never, you know, these people
were all, you know, professionals andcongratulating themselves about what
a great campaign and I'm like, I'venever even heard of your campaign.
Like, how is this right?
This doesn't make sense to me.
Um, and, and, I'm also aperson who's very direct.
(02:59):
And so, um, it was like, well, would youwant to be and sit on this committee?
Because we think we needmembers of the community.
And I was like, absolutely,but I can't be the only one.
You have to have more people.
Like, more people like me, in my shoes.
Because I knew it was goingto be an uphill battle.
Um, and so that's kind of whatstarted and what launched.
(03:22):
I didn't even know what communityorganizing was at the time.
Um, I didn't know that I was reallylike advocating for other people.
I was just asking questions becauseit wasn't, it explains well, and I
didn't understand why these thingswere happening and why there was such
a lack of a process or they wouldbrush it off onto something else.
(03:44):
And, um.
That's my personal inquisitiveness, iskind of what started that, um, and I
just kept rolling with it, and then Imet this woman, um, her name is Roberta
Hazen Aaronson, and she was, uh, workingas the executive director for the
(04:05):
Childhood Action Project, and she waslike, would you like to come work for me?
And I was like, uh, I don't know,I don't know who you are, I don't
know what you're doing, I, I'm likeYou know, she's like, well, I want
you to be a community organizer.
And I was like, but what is that?
And she's like, everything that you'vebeen doing, but I want to pay you for it.
(04:25):
And I was like, whoa,okay, I could do this.
And so that's kind of what started downthis advocacy path, which then turned
into, um, You know, being the leader inbuilding coalitions and it led to the next
part of, um, you know, lobbying at thestatehouse and, you know, legislation.
(04:49):
It led to, um, 10 years of litigation,um, in regards to, um, the paint companies
and the way that we had to, um, litigate,you know, cases for lead based paint.
Um, and, and I was
lucky enough to be part of all of that.
(05:09):
Um, and so because I had that backgroundand when we talk about lived experience
and I came into College Unbound, it waslike, wow, you know, you've done this.
I could build a portfolio all aroundlitigation and using, um, you know, and,
and, and, you know, building consensusand, um, and, and even legislation.
(05:33):
Right.
And the legislative actionsthat I had taken, right.
And I covered my civic engagementclasses, um, and it covered my
leadership classes, uh, when I talkedabout kind of the hierarchy of.
the organization and the organizationalstructures within the Department of
Health, or whether it was on the, the,you know, the state level or the national
(05:54):
level, or even on a local level, um, Iwas able to get, you know, credit for
organizational studies because I wasan industrial hygienist and I did a lot
around, um, you know, lead, asbestos,um, you know, all kinds of, of, um,
Environmental toxins around heavy metals.
(06:14):
I was able to get credit for science,you know Uh, and so like I there was
a there were a lot of different piecesAnd it was just an amazing journey to
be able to say yeah I've done this andthen be able to equate that to a class
and have enough information To be ableto say like I understand the context.
(06:35):
I understand the criteria I understandthe learning and so when you kind of
put those things side by side, that'show I was able to get the credit.
But I, I, this is why Ithink it's so important.
This is such an amazing story, bythe way, congratulations and thank
you for doing this amazing work.
(06:55):
Because, I really do think that millionsof people are better off because of that,
and that's, you know, it's, it's just,it's just absolutely fantastic, and, but
I, I, I do want to just kind of go backto that moment when you said, Oh, my child
got sick, and, and this is what sometimeslived experience looks like, that you
(07:21):
cannot reproduce, you cannot do, do enoughpretend projects at school to, to bring
the passion out in someone like Lizz.
I think that Lizz, there are many Lizz'sin the world where, where, The pretend
project in schools are not enough to,to get her attention, get her, get her,
(07:48):
get her to, to believe in somethingthat goes, I've got to make this back.
Like, I want to see theworld in a better place.
I'm going to do it now.
I'm not going to do a, let's writea paper about something that might
happen that no one was going to see.
Because I think that's whenyou have your problems.
That's when you're gettingred pads all over it.
(08:08):
But when you had to face the realworld, you know, the real legislation,
real, real, real issues, that'swhen you go, Whoa, hold on a minute.
I'm going to bring out my A game.
Right?
And I think that that's, by theway, that's human nature too.
So to me, I, I actually would, youknow, would really also say, I want
(08:32):
to pitch to the educators who arelistening to this, don't underestimate
your students to think that they're tooyoung, too naive, too little knowledge,
too, too, too, whatever it is, yourexcuse are to think that They are not
good enough to do something useful.
I don't think that's true.
Don't you think that's?
I think you're absolutely right.
(08:53):
I mean, I work with students allday long and I advise students
on, um, you know, their, theirlearning and public portfolios.
And so one of the questions I askthem is, all right, so what do you do?
What did you, what did, what did you do?
How long were you involved in this?
What was your depth of work?
(09:13):
You know, kind of startwith those smaller pieces.
Um, and we've got some incrediblytalented, articulate, amazing students.
And no matter if you can come to a cohorton any Tuesday or Wednesday night, and you
can go up to any random student and say.
(09:35):
What is your projectthat you're working on?
And they will go into the spielof everything they are doing.
Um, and it's because of it'ssomething that you get to choose.
It's something that youare passionate about.
And so, I think one of the importantpieces in the way that this has been,
um, that this has been rolled out is,is that not only do you care about what
(10:01):
you're doing, you have people aroundyou who care about what you're doing.
And so, when you have a community ofpeople that are invested, and even
though they might be just doing, youknow, different tasks or have different
projects, the fact is, is that they'resupportive of what you're trying to do.
(10:22):
They are trying to Help you get deeperand learn and reflect and There's
this camaraderie That happens andwhen somebody says oh, I can't I can't
I'm just like I'm overwhelmed Andit's like it's okay to take a step
back and take a breath reevaluate,rework, refresh, revise And keep
(10:45):
going, because it's not a direct path.
There always are going to be bumps inthe road, there's going to be humps,
there's going to be um, these deepvalleys that you have to go through,
and then you come out on the otherside, and, but really embracing
the points of reflective learning.
I think is really one of the biggestpieces and that's really the key
(11:09):
to what we think of when we havelike a non traditional educational
system like College Unbound.
I have students who are, when theytalk about their projects, I have
a student, um, who, you know, They,they did a family caregiving portfolio
(11:31):
because, you know, the grandmotherhad heart problems and so the daughter
is taking care of the kids, her kids.
She's taking care of her mother.
She has to, you know, she did a tonof research on her cardiac care.
She had to do a ton of researchon meds, what meds she could use,
couldn't use, how they interact.
(11:52):
She didn't go to class for that.
She had to learn that on the job,right, in order to be, in order to be
safe and to help her mother through.
And at the same time, she'salso in school full time, works
full time, and has two kids.
And so, those things that you're learningthat, You don't even reaLizze you're
(12:14):
doing, like, taking care of somebodyelse and doing research to find out,
like, their, their whole, you know, andput a plan together of who's gonna do
what and hire a CNA and, like, thoseare not just skills people have random,
like, they, they, they have them, butit's not something like a skill set
you, you, you know or you're taught.
(12:35):
And that's where livedexperience really comes in.
Because, I mean if you'rean immigrant to the U.
S.
and you come here and you go through thewhole process of, of, of becoming a U.
S.
citizen, like that's civic engagement,and they make you jump through hoops,
right, in order for that process tohappen, and that's a big deal, and that's
(12:58):
creditworthy, but yet, unless you takea civics class, that's the only way
we're going to actually give you credit.
And by the way, theseare not easy credits.
These were actually.
Gonna be way harder.
I mean, look, the credits that you gotfor your 29 years of work could have
been several, several PhDs, right?
What's up?
What's up?
Probably!
(13:19):
Like, but, but, you know, but like, theseare not easy, but these are, you know,
you do them not because, it's becauseyou are driven by passion, you're driven
by a need that you needed to do it.
And that's, that's important.
I actually did exactly what you said,which is I talked to a couple of.
(13:39):
Graduates, um, when I came tovisit and just anyone, right,
they're like, what's your project?
And she gave me, there was one student oralum who gave this amazing, um, project.
She, I think her best friendgot, um, lost her life from
(14:03):
swimming in, uh, in the ocean.
I think it was a reptile, you know,taken her out and, and she drowned.
And, and the, so this.
Alumnus has in her first, was itlike eight weeks, six weeks when
you start to do this project, right?
To find this project?
She decided that she wanted to create,uh, provide free swim lessons to children.
(14:31):
And the little did, if you, I mean whenshe said it, I'm like, oh my god, why
wouldn't anyone have thought about this?
Because for many inner city kids, manykids of, um, you know, less privileged,
Swimming lessons does not come forfree, does not come out of nowhere.
Your kids don't just aren'tborn knowing how to swim.
(14:53):
You know, parents don't get thetime to go and take them to go swim.
It's a, it's a serious privilegeto go and, and take swim lessons.
And especially people of color, right?
And she said, what if I justprove and figure out how to
provide free swim lessons?
There would be So many more peoplewho would not be in that situation
(15:15):
where they could drown just from,you know, being in the ocean.
And by the way, being in the ocean, beingon the beach is the kind of thing that
most people, you know, if that's not yourlived experience, most people will think
about, yeah, that's just a good sunny day.
We get to enjoy ourselves.
Of course our kids know how to swimbecause they took swim lessons when
they were young, but that's a privilegethat not everyone gets to have.
(15:39):
Right.
And so for, for students at CollegeUnbound, being able to figure that
out and turn it into a project.
This is why these projects are moresuccessful than any pretend project
that we give to the students otherwise.
Absolutely.
I mean, I think that, you know, acouple of other things that I was
(16:01):
surprised just recently to know aboutCollege Unbound is that, you know,
we have a 96 percent graduation rate.
I don't know Any othercollege that has that.
And yes, we're still smalland we're still growing.
You know, we are the toddler of colleges.
We've only been aroundfor a few years, right?
We're still finding our footing.
(16:23):
To have the fact that you have90 cent, 96 percent of your
graduates are successful is crazy.
You know, it's insane.
The other, the other statisticthat I just learned and I was
floored by was that after Ourstudents graduate College Unbound.
(16:44):
Forty percent.
40 percent end up in a master'sdegree program within three years.
And these are mostly students who didnot succeed in traditional education,
had in fact probably dropped out once,twice, three times, and then come back.
(17:06):
And I mean, we have just, justthinking about just kind of the
populations of people that, that, thatwe have here right now at Unbound.
Um, um, We have a high percentagethat probably over 80%, um, are women.
We have, um, women of color, um, Latinas,uh, right now kind of at the, the
(17:31):
highest, um, bracket, um, in regardsto, you know, men, women, um, race.
We have, uh, the second highest is, um,the African American population for women.
here at College Unbound, which is huge.
Um, most of our students dropped out,stopped out, started college, you
(17:54):
know, um, more than 60 percent startedcollege at some point, never finished.
That's crazy.
Like 60 percent of our students,like, never, and, and our average,
so yes, we have students that havecome straight from high school.
Um, they're far and few between.
A lot of CalKIDS want to just go rightinto the traditional, which is fine.
(18:15):
Then there are some, um, a lot of ourhigh school students from the Met,
hidden under the big picture, tend to belike, I want to go right into something
that I'm already familiar with andthat's where College Unbound comes in.
Um, because they've already hadthose experiences in some different
ways, and they want to be ableto continue on that journey.
But on average, our average age is 37.
(18:38):
You know, I mean, we have studentsthat are, you know, go from anywhere
from, you know, 18 and up through,through somebody that we have student
right now is in her mid 70s, you know,and, and for her, College Unboun...,
college was never an opportunity.
And she raised her kids and she raisedher family and she's raising grandkids.
(18:59):
And she said, I never had the opportunity.
Now is my time.
And so, you know, she'sgot to figure out a career.
She was a housewife, you know, andshe took care of her kids and her
family and never really had theopportunity to work outside the home.
And now she has to work outsidethe home because that's the
only way she has that income.
(19:21):
And so from going from one thing toanother and not having, you know, some
of those skills in regards and becauseshe doesn't have a bachelor's degree,
you know, jobs are just, it's thiswhole, you know, system that is, is.
It's set up and it's not set upin a way that you feel like you
(19:44):
can, um, really be proactive orthat you can really get there.
Like if the system is almost in away to set you up to fail, right?
Unless you jump throughthese particular hoops.
And I think College Unbound istrying to Take down those barriers.
You have a transportation problem?
Let us help you figure it out.
(20:04):
You want to come to school in the evening?
Let's buy you, let's give you food.
Right?
You need childcare?
We're gonna supply that.
And so, we, we set peopleup to be successful.
If someone doesn't show up to classtwo times in a row, they get a text,
they get phone calls, what you doing,where you going, are you good, what
(20:25):
do you need, um, we need to know that.
You know, we also have, um, fundsthat we try to utiLizze in regards
to what if someone has a fire?
What if, um, someone is on theverge of becoming homeless?
Someone lost their apartment,someone needs help.
You know, rental assistance.
Someone doesn't have heat.
We also have set up ways andprocesses to help our students.
(20:50):
Someone's in need of a bed, right?
Let's put a call out to everybody to say,Anybody know where to get anything, right?
That's how you build your community.
We want to build it up.
Not tear it down.
And so when people step up, wow,do they step up, do they come out?
It's amazing.
And the support for other students aroundeven not only just their academics,
(21:14):
but like the peer to peer conversationsthat happen around academics, um, and
the people that show up to support,you know, when you, when we say you
enter College Unbound and you've got,you know, 400 students at your back,
you know, it really is something.
It's not something that isjust said, like you could feel
(21:34):
it because they will show up.
It's amazing.
It's, it's like, to me, it's like, youknow, seeing, you know, how like sometimes
massive colleges, you know, have theirsports teams, they show up for sports
teams, but this is like, this is for you.
And that, you know, everyone'sshowing up for you, right?
(21:56):
It's amazing.
And I, I, I also, um, I think it's,it's important to say that, especially
with, um, you know, learning in public,you know, College Unbound's version
of call, you know, give Credit forPrior Learning, especially for people
like yourself who, you know, hadsuch, such a, such an amazing lift
(22:20):
experience, Wonderful career already.
A lot of that get translatedinto real credit set.
That really means that you can finish,um, your bachelor's degree in a
fraction of the time that it wouldtake in a traditional institution.
Is that right?
I mean, we, we.
Traditionally, our four yearinstitution, we have a four
(22:43):
year bachelor's degree program.
On average, someone coming in withabsolutely no credit can usually get
their degree in about three years.
Um, if you are coming in with a little bitof credit, Um, or you're coming in with
your associate's degree, which is at least60 credits, and so you need up to 120.
(23:06):
You're looking at probably a yearand a half to two years at the most.
Um, then you have unique people, um,who are coming in with a ton of credits.
And they are in and out in one year.
Um, and so it really, you know,there's a combination of it's not
a, it's not a one size fits all.
(23:26):
There's a combination of, you know,how much credit are you bringing in?
What classes do you need?
You know, what was able to transfer?
And we're very generouswhen it comes to transfer.
We take just about everything.
We can't take, um, You know, thereare some classes that we can't take
if they're remedial or things isjust, you know, certain ways and
certain rules that we have to follow.
(23:47):
Um, but having those and then beingable to say, okay, on top of my transfer
credit that I'm bringing in with me.
But I also have this livedexperience, and how do I build
these portfolios to get them?
Um, and then those are assessed by, uh,my office, and we have a team of people,
of, um, assessors who have a Master'sDegree or higher, or, uh, have very, uh,
(24:13):
specific expertise in a particular field.
And those are the folks who do theassessments for us and are able to, you
know, say it was at, um, you know, thismany credits at this level and they're
also given feedback in ways, uh, notonly, um, about their portfolio, but
ways they could also take it to the nextstep and make those portfolios deeper.
(24:38):
You mentioned portfolios a few timesand one of the things that, I mean, I
feel like it's pretty clear that yes,people have done their work, they put
it together in a portfolio and youget to assess it and it's good, you
know, I think that's pretty clear.
One thing that I sort of wonder,I mean, I think you've done this,
so maybe you can tell us too.
When you put together a portfolio,you've got 29 years of experience,
(25:00):
you put together a portfolio,what does that feel like for you?
And do you, I, you know, are youlearning anything about yourself,
you know, through that process?
Or what's the process like as in it ofitself an education learning experience?
I think, um, I thinkit's a great experience.
(25:21):
I mean, I think like one of theways that I usually coach students
is to say like, okay, um, youhave all this lived experience.
Like I've had all thislived experience in my life.
How do you start todeconstruct what goes where?
Right?
So, make three columns, right?
So, here's your column and yourtitle, your first one, Leadership,
(25:42):
or your title, your, your next one,Family Caregiving, and your title,
your next one, Civic Engagement, andthen just make a lot, nobody's going
to see it, but the student, right?
So, then you make a laundry list ofall the things that you've done that
fall under Leadership, all the thingsthat you've done that fall under Civic
Engagement or Family Caregiving, andyou start to think about not only,
(26:05):
As you have this list and you startto think about how did I get there?
And so for leadership, how did Ibecome a leader in my community?
I showed up, I went to some trainings,I testified on a piece of legislation
at the state house, I talked to senatorsand representatives within the state, you
(26:32):
know, I had meetings with the coalition,I started to like, and so then you can
see, you know what I mean, so you canreally like articulate and then you can
say, oh, and I remember like going upto the state house on this day and there
were 25 people that were going to testifyin front of, you know, um, The Finance
Committee, and the Finance Committee ismade up of these people, and, you know,
(26:54):
I think one of the things, like, I foundwith, with legislative work is, is that,
you know, when you go to the legislature,there's always these people at, like,
the legis, the legislators having sideconversations as, like, they're doing
this, and I don't know how they can keepup all these conversations as they're
going, um, and then they're going throughthe legislation, and when people testify.
(27:14):
And I always found that when A parent,a student, or somebody who's out of
the realm of politics shows up totestify at a legislative hearing,
that person is listened to more thananybody else in the room because
(27:34):
you're not the "you know" regular,who shows up to lobby on stuff.
And that makes a huge difference.
Um, And I think that was one of thethings that I found out was really
profound, Because I can go up to thestatehouse and lobby all the time, right?
That was kind of in my roleas a community organizer.
(27:58):
And After a while, theygot sick of my testimony.
I had to bring a freshface, a new story, right?
So I always bring somebody new.
And I think one of the things thatwhen we, when we think about our lived
experience and we think about just how wewould organize these buckets of criteria
to build a portfolio, you also have tothink about the stories of impact, right?
(28:21):
And so I could tell you about myleadership role going up to the state
house, but I think a bigger impactis when I brought these three moms.
And they went up there to testifyfor the first time, and they were
nervous, and they were scared.
But you could hear a pin drop in that roombecause the side conversation stopped.
Right?
Because really, they had something to say.
(28:41):
And that was like a profoundlearning experience.
And I think we don't, some, a lot oftimes we are so, On the go and moving
from one thing to a next that we justwe don't sit in in the way we should
just ponder and think and reflect andthen one of the things that you learn at
(29:08):
College Unbound is is that in every wayshape or form whether it's in a class
whether it is doing a portfolio whetherit is, um, In your project, there's
a piece of reflection that happens.
There's what is going on right now,so I'm taking stock in my learning.
How do I look backward at whatI've done and where I've been
(29:32):
and how I got to this point.
And then now I'm going to reflect forwardon where I am and where I want to go.
And because you have that taking stock,reflecting backward and reflecting
forward in almost every area of CollegeUnbound, um, sometimes people feel like,
oh my gosh, I'm reflecting all the time.
(29:53):
That's all I do is reflect.
But when you put that on paper, And yousee what you've done in the classes you've
taken or the lip credit that you're ableto get, it becomes extremely profound
because not only is this, it's not likea transcript, it almost turns into your
resume or like a CV of all of the thingsthat you'd like, you know what I mean?
(30:17):
It, it, and people will lookback on it and go, wow, I didn't
reaLizze I did that much stuff.
Oh, wow.
Like, that's cool.
I can't, I really did all that?
Like, it's, it's, because we don't,I think, first of all, as people,
we're very humble, um, and we don'tgive ourselves the extra credit.
(30:38):
And I'm guilty of that myself.
I do it all the time.
But at the same time, we are alsonot, we don't want to be boisterous.
We don't want to, um, we don't wantto put ourselves on a pedestal.
But yet, I think we need to.
And so one of the things I alwaystell students when they're building a
(30:59):
portfolio is, this is your time to shine.
This is your chance to get up ona pedestal and dance and twirl
and, you know, give everybodyeverything that you've got and
everything that you've done.
And you should be able to celebratethat and be proud of that, right?
And, and be able to, tobe confident in that.
(31:22):
That's why you got the credit, right?
Because it was really good stuff andit was really something profound.
But most of the time we're justwalking by ourselves and, you
know, pat yourself on the back.
And when somebody says,Oh, you did a good job.
You don't really be like, butreally, did I do a good job?
What did I do a good job for?
Like, we don't, we justkept like, Oh, thanks.
And keep going.
Right?
And this is a chance to reallytake a deep dive into self
(31:46):
reflection, into your skills.
into your commitment to yourself, toyour community as a student and being
with like minded folks who also kind ofwant to be in that space of community
and be like, we can make impact, wecan make things happen and it works.
(32:14):
Yeah, it's, it's, it really is amazing.
I, I'm, uh, I am, uh, I'm so gratefulthat you're able to share all this, Lizz.
Um, I think that Lizz, we'veOur time has pretty much come to
an end here for today, for now.
I am so amazed by all the, all of thethings that you and Adam Bush and your
(32:40):
colleagues at College Unbound have beenable to accomplish, and I have little
doubt that, um, you know, in time weare going to see College Unbound being
a model that will be highly soughtafter in a lot of places, because, s...
we are, there are, you know.
(33:03):
There are universities that arewilling to spend more than the
entire budget of College Unboundto improve their model today.
And they couldn't figure out,you know, how to do it, right?
And you all have figured out how to do it.
And I think some of it is alsothrough this lived experience.
So it actually modeled itself, you know,at the institutional level as well.
(33:25):
You know, it's a, it'sa really cool thing.
Um, uh, well, Lizz, thank you again.
Again, congratulationson all your success.
And, um, I, uh, look forward to, um,further, um, you know, um, uh, lot more
interactions with you all, you know,in, in the coming months and years.
(33:47):
And, uh, meanwhile, Um, for anyonewho's interested in checking out College
Unbound, go to collegeunbound.eduand um, uh, we'll post to Lizz,
uh, Lizz's, um, social media, etcetera, um, along with this episode
(34:07):
so you can follow her and also to,uh, get in, get in touch with her.
Um, do you want to learn more about,um, uh, Learning in Public, um, You
know, if you're at another institution,you're struggling with college for prior
learning, this is the place, this is the,this is the place to go on and check out.
Lizz, am I right to say thatyou also have a paper that was
(34:29):
published recently, am I right?
Well, yes, I was, uh, actually involvedin two, um, one that was, uh, one
that was published in regards to, um,establishing the, the, the, uh, LIP
program, um, when we first initiatedthat, and then, um, the second one is we
(34:50):
just did a white paper all on, uh, CPL.
So, yeah.
Yeah, we will put put those as linksinto the into into the show notes
so people can go and check it outLizz again, thank you so much, and
I hope to talk to you again soon.
Okay.
Thank you for having me This is wonderful.
All right.
Take care coming up next.
(35:12):
We'll be chatting with Jose RodriguezAssistant Vice Presidents of Community
and Belonging at College Unbound.
Here's a quick preview.
Just because I mispronounce a word, itisn't because I don't know the meaning
of the word, or I don't know how tosay the word, but for anyone who speaks
multiple languages, sometimes it, thatthe words just get mixed up and, you
(35:35):
know, lost in translation as they say.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Jeff Yan.
In this episode, you will hear part two ofmy conversation with Lizz Colon, Director
of Learning in Public at College Unbound.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
(00:22):
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
You talked a lot aboutlived experiences, right?
I want to go back into one of the thingsthat you had mentioned as one of the first
things that you said, you know, after.
After basically, you know, 20 creditsin the, in the, Community College,
you did a lot of work around, um,"Lead Poisoning Prevention," and you
(00:46):
worked for the CDC, EPA, and so on.
Can you tell us a littlebit about that work?
I know that it's so far may not havesomething, you know, doesn't, may
not connect to, to, um, to CollegeUnbound, but I think it does.
I think that, you know, We can get asense of, for someone who struggled so
(01:08):
hard to stay in school, when something'son the line, something that matters, she
shines and she became a national respectedexpert on the, how does that happen?
Can you tell us about that workand tell us how that happened?
Well, I mean, so again, itcame from lived experience.
Um, I bought a house.
(01:28):
Um, it was built in 1896.
Um, I had gotten married.
One of my, my, my second child,um, after moving in the house
only after three months, um, washospitaLizzed with lead poisoning.
And, um, there was a whole whirlwindof things that had to happen, um, and,
(01:51):
and this happened in, in 1996, um, andthat's kind of what led me down that
path into getting involved with mycommunity and I wanted to know more, um,
there was a meeting at the Rhode IslandDepartment of Health and one of the,
the nurses Um, that, uh, was a nursingcoordinator for the childhood led o...
(02:12):
for the lead program, um, at the hospital.
Uh, was like, you should come,and you should talk to people,
and we're gonna have this meeting.
And I walked into this meeting, andhere's people from the Department
of Health, and there's lawyers,and doctors, and all this stuff.
And here I am, my teacher.
21 year old self, um, walking in andthey're talking about, you know, how
great of a campaign they're doing andI was like, I was dumbstruck because I
(02:38):
had never heard of lead poisoning beforeand I had never, you know, these people
were all, you know, professionals andcongratulating themselves about what
a great campaign and I'm like, I'venever even heard of your campaign.
Like, how is this right?
This doesn't make sense to me.
Um, and, and, I'm also aperson who's very direct.
(02:59):
And so, um, it was like, well, would youwant to be and sit on this committee?
Because we think we needmembers of the community.
And I was like, absolutely,but I can't be the only one.
You have to have more people.
Like, more people like me, in my shoes.
Because I knew it was goingto be an uphill battle.
Um, and so that's kind of whatstarted and what launched.
(03:22):
I didn't even know what communityorganizing was at the time.
Um, I didn't know that I was reallylike advocating for other people.
I was just asking questions becauseit wasn't, it explains well, and I
didn't understand why these thingswere happening and why there was such
a lack of a process or they wouldbrush it off onto something else.
(03:44):
And, um.
That's my personal inquisitiveness, iskind of what started that, um, and I
just kept rolling with it, and then Imet this woman, um, her name is Roberta
Hazen Aaronson, and she was, uh, workingas the executive director for the
(04:05):
Childhood Action Project, and she waslike, would you like to come work for me?
And I was like, uh, I don't know,I don't know who you are, I don't
know what you're doing, I, I'm likeYou know, she's like, well, I want
you to be a community organizer.
And I was like, but what is that?
And she's like, everything that you'vebeen doing, but I want to pay you for it.
(04:25):
And I was like, whoa,okay, I could do this.
And so that's kind of what started downthis advocacy path, which then turned
into, um, You know, being the leader inbuilding coalitions and it led to the next
part of, um, you know, lobbying at thestatehouse and, you know, legislation.
(04:49):
It led to, um, 10 years of litigation,um, in regards to, um, the paint companies
and the way that we had to, um, litigate,you know, cases for lead based paint.
Um, and, and I was
lucky enough to be part of all of that.
(05:09):
Um, and so because I had that backgroundand when we talk about lived experience
and I came into College Unbound, it waslike, wow, you know, you've done this.
I could build a portfolio all aroundlitigation and using, um, you know, and,
and, and, you know, building consensusand, um, and, and even legislation.
(05:33):
Right.
And the legislative actionsthat I had taken, right.
And I covered my civic engagementclasses, um, and it covered my
leadership classes, uh, when I talkedabout kind of the hierarchy of.
the organization and the organizationalstructures within the Department of
Health, or whether it was on the, the,you know, the state level or the national
(05:54):
level, or even on a local level, um, Iwas able to get, you know, credit for
organizational studies because I wasan industrial hygienist and I did a lot
around, um, you know, lead, asbestos,um, you know, all kinds of, of, um,
Environmental toxins around heavy metals.
(06:14):
I was able to get credit for science,you know Uh, and so like I there was
a there were a lot of different piecesAnd it was just an amazing journey to
be able to say yeah I've done this andthen be able to equate that to a class
and have enough information To be ableto say like I understand the context.
(06:35):
I understand the criteria I understandthe learning and so when you kind of
put those things side by side, that'show I was able to get the credit.
But I, I, this is why Ithink it's so important.
This is such an amazing story, bythe way, congratulations and thank
you for doing this amazing work.
(06:55):
Because, I really do think that millionsof people are better off because of that,
and that's, you know, it's, it's just,it's just absolutely fantastic, and, but
I, I, I do want to just kind of go backto that moment when you said, Oh, my child
got sick, and, and this is what sometimeslived experience looks like, that you
(07:21):
cannot reproduce, you cannot do, do enoughpretend projects at school to, to bring
the passion out in someone like Lizz.
I think that Lizz, there are many Lizz'sin the world where, where, The pretend
project in schools are not enough to,to get her attention, get her, get her,
(07:48):
get her to, to believe in somethingthat goes, I've got to make this back.
Like, I want to see theworld in a better place.
I'm going to do it now.
I'm not going to do a, let's writea paper about something that might
happen that no one was going to see.
Because I think that's whenyou have your problems.
That's when you're gettingred pads all over it.
(08:08):
But when you had to face the realworld, you know, the real legislation,
real, real, real issues, that'swhen you go, Whoa, hold on a minute.
I'm going to bring out my A game.
Right?
And I think that that's, by theway, that's human nature too.
So to me, I, I actually would, youknow, would really also say, I want
(08:32):
to pitch to the educators who arelistening to this, don't underestimate
your students to think that they're tooyoung, too naive, too little knowledge,
too, too, too, whatever it is, yourexcuse are to think that They are not
good enough to do something useful.
I don't think that's true.
Don't you think that's?
I think you're absolutely right.
(08:53):
I mean, I work with students allday long and I advise students
on, um, you know, their, theirlearning and public portfolios.
And so one of the questions I askthem is, all right, so what do you do?
What did you, what did, what did you do?
How long were you involved in this?
What was your depth of work?
(09:13):
You know, kind of startwith those smaller pieces.
Um, and we've got some incrediblytalented, articulate, amazing students.
And no matter if you can come to a cohorton any Tuesday or Wednesday night, and you
can go up to any random student and say.
(09:35):
What is your projectthat you're working on?
And they will go into the spielof everything they are doing.
Um, and it's because of it'ssomething that you get to choose.
It's something that youare passionate about.
And so, I think one of the importantpieces in the way that this has been,
um, that this has been rolled out is,is that not only do you care about what
(10:01):
you're doing, you have people aroundyou who care about what you're doing.
And so, when you have a community ofpeople that are invested, and even
though they might be just doing, youknow, different tasks or have different
projects, the fact is, is that they'resupportive of what you're trying to do.
(10:22):
They are trying to Help you get deeperand learn and reflect and There's
this camaraderie That happens andwhen somebody says oh, I can't I can't
I'm just like I'm overwhelmed Andit's like it's okay to take a step
back and take a breath reevaluate,rework, refresh, revise And keep
(10:45):
going, because it's not a direct path.
There always are going to be bumps inthe road, there's going to be humps,
there's going to be um, these deepvalleys that you have to go through,
and then you come out on the otherside, and, but really embracing
the points of reflective learning.
I think is really one of the biggestpieces and that's really the key
(11:09):
to what we think of when we havelike a non traditional educational
system like College Unbound.
I have students who are, when theytalk about their projects, I have
a student, um, who, you know, They,they did a family caregiving portfolio
(11:31):
because, you know, the grandmotherhad heart problems and so the daughter
is taking care of the kids, her kids.
She's taking care of her mother.
She has to, you know, she did a tonof research on her cardiac care.
She had to do a ton of researchon meds, what meds she could use,
couldn't use, how they interact.
(11:52):
She didn't go to class for that.
She had to learn that on the job,right, in order to be, in order to be
safe and to help her mother through.
And at the same time, she'salso in school full time, works
full time, and has two kids.
And so, those things that you're learningthat, You don't even reaLizze you're
(12:14):
doing, like, taking care of somebodyelse and doing research to find out,
like, their, their whole, you know, andput a plan together of who's gonna do
what and hire a CNA and, like, thoseare not just skills people have random,
like, they, they, they have them, butit's not something like a skill set
you, you, you know or you're taught.
(12:35):
And that's where livedexperience really comes in.
Because, I mean if you'rean immigrant to the U.
S.
and you come here and you go through thewhole process of, of, of becoming a U.
S.
citizen, like that's civic engagement,and they make you jump through hoops,
right, in order for that process tohappen, and that's a big deal, and that's
(12:58):
creditworthy, but yet, unless you takea civics class, that's the only way
we're going to actually give you credit.
And by the way, theseare not easy credits.
These were actually.
Gonna be way harder.
I mean, look, the credits that you gotfor your 29 years of work could have
been several, several PhDs, right?
What's up?
What's up?
Probably!
(13:19):
Like, but, but, you know, but like, theseare not easy, but these are, you know,
you do them not because, it's becauseyou are driven by passion, you're driven
by a need that you needed to do it.
And that's, that's important.
I actually did exactly what you said,which is I talked to a couple of.
(13:39):
Graduates, um, when I came tovisit and just anyone, right,
they're like, what's your project?
And she gave me, there was one student oralum who gave this amazing, um, project.
She, I think her best friendgot, um, lost her life from
(14:03):
swimming in, uh, in the ocean.
I think it was a reptile, you know,taken her out and, and she drowned.
And, and the, so this.
Alumnus has in her first, was itlike eight weeks, six weeks when
you start to do this project, right?
To find this project?
She decided that she wanted to create,uh, provide free swim lessons to children.
(14:31):
And the little did, if you, I mean whenshe said it, I'm like, oh my god, why
wouldn't anyone have thought about this?
Because for many inner city kids, manykids of, um, you know, less privileged,
Swimming lessons does not come forfree, does not come out of nowhere.
Your kids don't just aren'tborn knowing how to swim.
(14:53):
You know, parents don't get thetime to go and take them to go swim.
It's a, it's a serious privilegeto go and, and take swim lessons.
And especially people of color, right?
And she said, what if I justprove and figure out how to
provide free swim lessons?
There would be So many more peoplewho would not be in that situation
(15:15):
where they could drown just from,you know, being in the ocean.
And by the way, being in the ocean, beingon the beach is the kind of thing that
most people, you know, if that's not yourlived experience, most people will think
about, yeah, that's just a good sunny day.
We get to enjoy ourselves.
Of course our kids know how to swimbecause they took swim lessons when
they were young, but that's a privilegethat not everyone gets to have.
(15:39):
Right.
And so for, for students at CollegeUnbound, being able to figure that
out and turn it into a project.
This is why these projects are moresuccessful than any pretend project
that we give to the students otherwise.
Absolutely.
I mean, I think that, you know, acouple of other things that I was
(16:01):
surprised just recently to know aboutCollege Unbound is that, you know,
we have a 96 percent graduation rate.
I don't know Any othercollege that has that.
And yes, we're still smalland we're still growing.
You know, we are the toddler of colleges.
We've only been aroundfor a few years, right?
We're still finding our footing.
(16:23):
To have the fact that you have90 cent, 96 percent of your
graduates are successful is crazy.
You know, it's insane.
The other, the other statisticthat I just learned and I was
floored by was that after Ourstudents graduate College Unbound.
(16:44):
Forty percent.
40 percent end up in a master'sdegree program within three years.
And these are mostly students who didnot succeed in traditional education,
had in fact probably dropped out once,twice, three times, and then come back.
(17:06):
And I mean, we have just, justthinking about just kind of the
populations of people that, that, thatwe have here right now at Unbound.
Um, um, We have a high percentagethat probably over 80%, um, are women.
We have, um, women of color, um, Latinas,uh, right now kind of at the, the
(17:31):
highest, um, bracket, um, in regardsto, you know, men, women, um, race.
We have, uh, the second highest is, um,the African American population for women.
here at College Unbound, which is huge.
Um, most of our students dropped out,stopped out, started college, you
(17:54):
know, um, more than 60 percent startedcollege at some point, never finished.
That's crazy.
Like 60 percent of our students,like, never, and, and our average,
so yes, we have students that havecome straight from high school.
Um, they're far and few between.
A lot of CalKIDS want to just go rightinto the traditional, which is fine.
(18:15):
Then there are some, um, a lot of ourhigh school students from the Met,
hidden under the big picture, tend to belike, I want to go right into something
that I'm already familiar with andthat's where College Unbound comes in.
Um, because they've already hadthose experiences in some different
ways, and they want to be ableto continue on that journey.
But on average, our average age is 37.
(18:38):
You know, I mean, we have studentsthat are, you know, go from anywhere
from, you know, 18 and up through,through somebody that we have student
right now is in her mid 70s, you know,and, and for her, College Unboun...,
college was never an opportunity.
And she raised her kids and she raisedher family and she's raising grandkids.
(18:59):
And she said, I never had the opportunity.
Now is my time.
And so, you know, she'sgot to figure out a career.
She was a housewife, you know, andshe took care of her kids and her
family and never really had theopportunity to work outside the home.
And now she has to work outsidethe home because that's the
only way she has that income.
(19:21):
And so from going from one thing toanother and not having, you know, some
of those skills in regards and becauseshe doesn't have a bachelor's degree,
you know, jobs are just, it's thiswhole, you know, system that is, is.
It's set up and it's not set upin a way that you feel like you
(19:44):
can, um, really be proactive orthat you can really get there.
Like if the system is almost in away to set you up to fail, right?
Unless you jump throughthese particular hoops.
And I think College Unbound istrying to Take down those barriers.
You have a transportation problem?
Let us help you figure it out.
(20:04):
You want to come to school in the evening?
Let's buy you, let's give you food.
Right?
You need childcare?
We're gonna supply that.
And so, we, we set peopleup to be successful.
If someone doesn't show up to classtwo times in a row, they get a text,
they get phone calls, what you doing,where you going, are you good, what
(20:25):
do you need, um, we need to know that.
You know, we also have, um, fundsthat we try to utiLizze in regards
to what if someone has a fire?
What if, um, someone is on theverge of becoming homeless?
Someone lost their apartment,someone needs help.
You know, rental assistance.
Someone doesn't have heat.
We also have set up ways andprocesses to help our students.
(20:50):
Someone's in need of a bed, right?
Let's put a call out to everybody to say,Anybody know where to get anything, right?
That's how you build your community.
We want to build it up.
Not tear it down.
And so when people step up, wow,do they step up, do they come out?
It's amazing.
And the support for other students aroundeven not only just their academics,
(21:14):
but like the peer to peer conversationsthat happen around academics, um, and
the people that show up to support,you know, when you, when we say you
enter College Unbound and you've got,you know, 400 students at your back,
you know, it really is something.
It's not something that isjust said, like you could feel
(21:34):
it because they will show up.
It's amazing.
It's, it's like, to me, it's like, youknow, seeing, you know, how like sometimes
massive colleges, you know, have theirsports teams, they show up for sports
teams, but this is like, this is for you.
And that, you know, everyone'sshowing up for you, right?
(21:56):
It's amazing.
And I, I, I also, um, I think it's,it's important to say that, especially
with, um, you know, learning in public,you know, College Unbound's version
of call, you know, give Credit forPrior Learning, especially for people
like yourself who, you know, hadsuch, such a, such an amazing lift
(22:20):
experience, Wonderful career already.
A lot of that get translatedinto real credit set.
That really means that you can finish,um, your bachelor's degree in a
fraction of the time that it wouldtake in a traditional institution.
Is that right?
I mean, we, we.
Traditionally, our four yearinstitution, we have a four
(22:43):
year bachelor's degree program.
On average, someone coming in withabsolutely no credit can usually get
their degree in about three years.
Um, if you are coming in with a little bitof credit, Um, or you're coming in with
your associate's degree, which is at least60 credits, and so you need up to 120.
(23:06):
You're looking at probably a yearand a half to two years at the most.
Um, then you have unique people, um,who are coming in with a ton of credits.
And they are in and out in one year.
Um, and so it really, you know,there's a combination of it's not
a, it's not a one size fits all.
(23:26):
There's a combination of, you know,how much credit are you bringing in?
What classes do you need?
You know, what was able to transfer?
And we're very generouswhen it comes to transfer.
We take just about everything.
We can't take, um, You know, thereare some classes that we can't take
if they're remedial or things isjust, you know, certain ways and
certain rules that we have to follow.
(23:47):
Um, but having those and then beingable to say, okay, on top of my transfer
credit that I'm bringing in with me.
But I also have this livedexperience, and how do I build
these portfolios to get them?
Um, and then those are assessed by, uh,my office, and we have a team of people,
of, um, assessors who have a Master'sDegree or higher, or, uh, have very, uh,
(24:13):
specific expertise in a particular field.
And those are the folks who do theassessments for us and are able to, you
know, say it was at, um, you know, thismany credits at this level and they're
also given feedback in ways, uh, notonly, um, about their portfolio, but
ways they could also take it to the nextstep and make those portfolios deeper.
(24:38):
You mentioned portfolios a few timesand one of the things that, I mean, I
feel like it's pretty clear that yes,people have done their work, they put
it together in a portfolio and youget to assess it and it's good, you
know, I think that's pretty clear.
One thing that I sort of wonder,I mean, I think you've done this,
so maybe you can tell us too.
When you put together a portfolio,you've got 29 years of experience,
(25:00):
you put together a portfolio,what does that feel like for you?
And do you, I, you know, are youlearning anything about yourself,
you know, through that process?
Or what's the process like as in it ofitself an education learning experience?
I think, um, I thinkit's a great experience.
(25:21):
I mean, I think like one of theways that I usually coach students
is to say like, okay, um, youhave all this lived experience.
Like I've had all thislived experience in my life.
How do you start todeconstruct what goes where?
Right?
So, make three columns, right?
So, here's your column and yourtitle, your first one, Leadership,
(25:42):
or your title, your, your next one,Family Caregiving, and your title,
your next one, Civic Engagement, andthen just make a lot, nobody's going
to see it, but the student, right?
So, then you make a laundry list ofall the things that you've done that
fall under Leadership, all the thingsthat you've done that fall under Civic
Engagement or Family Caregiving, andyou start to think about not only,
(26:05):
As you have this list and you startto think about how did I get there?
And so for leadership, how did Ibecome a leader in my community?
I showed up, I went to some trainings,I testified on a piece of legislation
at the state house, I talked to senatorsand representatives within the state, you
(26:32):
know, I had meetings with the coalition,I started to like, and so then you can
see, you know what I mean, so you canreally like articulate and then you can
say, oh, and I remember like going upto the state house on this day and there
were 25 people that were going to testifyin front of, you know, um, The Finance
Committee, and the Finance Committee ismade up of these people, and, you know,
(26:54):
I think one of the things, like, I foundwith, with legislative work is, is that,
you know, when you go to the legislature,there's always these people at, like,
the legis, the legislators having sideconversations as, like, they're doing
this, and I don't know how they can keepup all these conversations as they're
going, um, and then they're going throughthe legislation, and when people testify.
(27:14):
And I always found that when A parent,a student, or somebody who's out of
the realm of politics shows up totestify at a legislative hearing,
that person is listened to more thananybody else in the room because
(27:34):
you're not the "you know" regular,who shows up to lobby on stuff.
And that makes a huge difference.
Um, And I think that was one of thethings that I found out was really
profound, Because I can go up to thestatehouse and lobby all the time, right?
That was kind of in my roleas a community organizer.
(27:58):
And After a while, theygot sick of my testimony.
I had to bring a freshface, a new story, right?
So I always bring somebody new.
And I think one of the things thatwhen we, when we think about our lived
experience and we think about just how wewould organize these buckets of criteria
to build a portfolio, you also have tothink about the stories of impact, right?
(28:21):
And so I could tell you about myleadership role going up to the state
house, but I think a bigger impactis when I brought these three moms.
And they went up there to testifyfor the first time, and they were
nervous, and they were scared.
But you could hear a pin drop in that roombecause the side conversation stopped.
Right?
Because really, they had something to say.
(28:41):
And that was like a profoundlearning experience.
And I think we don't, some, a lot oftimes we are so, On the go and moving
from one thing to a next that we justwe don't sit in in the way we should
just ponder and think and reflect andthen one of the things that you learn at
(29:08):
College Unbound is is that in every wayshape or form whether it's in a class
whether it is doing a portfolio whetherit is, um, In your project, there's
a piece of reflection that happens.
There's what is going on right now,so I'm taking stock in my learning.
How do I look backward at whatI've done and where I've been
(29:32):
and how I got to this point.
And then now I'm going to reflect forwardon where I am and where I want to go.
And because you have that taking stock,reflecting backward and reflecting
forward in almost every area of CollegeUnbound, um, sometimes people feel like,
oh my gosh, I'm reflecting all the time.
(29:53):
That's all I do is reflect.
But when you put that on paper, And yousee what you've done in the classes you've
taken or the lip credit that you're ableto get, it becomes extremely profound
because not only is this, it's not likea transcript, it almost turns into your
resume or like a CV of all of the thingsthat you'd like, you know what I mean?
(30:17):
It, it, and people will lookback on it and go, wow, I didn't
reaLizze I did that much stuff.
Oh, wow.
Like, that's cool.
I can't, I really did all that?
Like, it's, it's, because we don't,I think, first of all, as people,
we're very humble, um, and we don'tgive ourselves the extra credit.
(30:38):
And I'm guilty of that myself.
I do it all the time.
But at the same time, we are alsonot, we don't want to be boisterous.
We don't want to, um, we don't wantto put ourselves on a pedestal.
But yet, I think we need to.
And so one of the things I alwaystell students when they're building a
(30:59):
portfolio is, this is your time to shine.
This is your chance to get up ona pedestal and dance and twirl
and, you know, give everybodyeverything that you've got and
everything that you've done.
And you should be able to celebratethat and be proud of that, right?
And, and be able to, tobe confident in that.
(31:22):
That's why you got the credit, right?
Because it was really good stuff andit was really something profound.
But most of the time we're justwalking by ourselves and, you
know, pat yourself on the back.
And when somebody says,Oh, you did a good job.
You don't really be like, butreally, did I do a good job?
What did I do a good job for?
Like, we don't, we justkept like, Oh, thanks.
And keep going.
Right?
And this is a chance to reallytake a deep dive into self
(31:46):
reflection, into your skills.
into your commitment to yourself, toyour community as a student and being
with like minded folks who also kind ofwant to be in that space of community
and be like, we can make impact, wecan make things happen and it works.
(32:14):
Yeah, it's, it's, it really is amazing.
I, I'm, uh, I am, uh, I'm so gratefulthat you're able to share all this, Lizz.
Um, I think that Lizz, we'veOur time has pretty much come to
an end here for today, for now.
I am so amazed by all the, all of thethings that you and Adam Bush and your
(32:40):
colleagues at College Unbound have beenable to accomplish, and I have little
doubt that, um, you know, in time weare going to see College Unbound being
a model that will be highly soughtafter in a lot of places, because, s...
we are, there are, you know.
(33:03):
There are universities that arewilling to spend more than the
entire budget of College Unboundto improve their model today.
And they couldn't figure out,you know, how to do it, right?
And you all have figured out how to do it.
And I think some of it is alsothrough this lived experience.
So it actually modeled itself, you know,at the institutional level as well.
(33:25):
You know, it's a, it'sa really cool thing.
Um, uh, well, Lizz, thank you again.
Again, congratulationson all your success.
And, um, I, uh, look forward to, um,further, um, you know, um, uh, lot more
interactions with you all, you know,in, in the coming months and years.
(33:47):
And, uh, meanwhile, Um, for anyonewho's interested in checking out College
Unbound, go to collegeunbound.eduand um, uh, we'll post to Lizz,
uh, Lizz's, um, social media, etcetera, um, along with this episode
(34:07):
so you can follow her and also to,uh, get in, get in touch with her.
Um, do you want to learn more about,um, uh, Learning in Public, um, You
know, if you're at another institution,you're struggling with college for prior
learning, this is the place, this is the,this is the place to go on and check out.
Lizz, am I right to say thatyou also have a paper that was
(34:29):
published recently, am I right?
Well, yes, I was, uh, actually involvedin two, um, one that was, uh, one
that was published in regards to, um,establishing the, the, the, uh, LIP
program, um, when we first initiatedthat, and then, um, the second one is we
(34:50):
just did a white paper all on, uh, CPL.
So, yeah.
Yeah, we will put put those as linksinto the into into the show notes
so people can go and check it outLizz again, thank you so much, and
I hope to talk to you again soon.
Okay.
Thank you for having me This is wonderful.
All right.
Take care coming up next.
(35:12):
We'll be chatting with Jose RodriguezAssistant Vice Presidents of Community
and Belonging at College Unbound.
Here's a quick preview.
Just because I mispronounce a word, itisn't because I don't know the meaning
of the word, or I don't know how tosay the word, but for anyone who speaks
multiple languages, sometimes it, thatthe words just get mixed up and, you
(35:35):
know, lost in translation as they say.
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