Members of Literacy and Independence for Family Education (LIFE), a program through the Center for Adult and Veteran Services (CAVS) office, will have the opportunity to reconnect with other members this coming June.

The CAVS office will be hosting their first single parent’s reunion to bring together all former and current members of the LIFE program.

The program is based on acknowledging that single parent students have a smaller community on college campuses and providing them with the resources to excel, said Scott Crawford, the CAVS program coordinator and Veterans Affairs certifying official.

“The purpose is to kind of bring them back to celebrate the successes of those who have graduated, to empower them for further success and for the folks that may be thinking about going back to college, to help them make that decision of maybe reconnecting with the university,” said Joshua Rider, the director of the CAVS office.

The LIFE program first started in 2006 to help student parents with their college experience. It is targeted toward men and women, with one or multiple children, who have the desire to get their degree.

The program offers services dedicated toward helping adult learners concentrate on understanding the needs of single parent students, Crawford said.

“We have people anywhere from 18 years old up to probably 40 or so,” Crawford said. “We want to let people know we’re still thinking about them, and we’re still thinking about a community of single parents.”

Through this reunion, the office hopes to reconnect with former and current students and see how they are doing. Both Rider and Crawford would like the opportunity to reach out to anyone who may have taken a break from school and is considering going back.

“We’re hoping that people who are in the program spread the words to others as well so that other people can benefit from it,” Crawford said.

The reunion will be a two-day event. There will be a dinner Friday, June 8 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

It will take place in Room 306 of the Kent Student Center. There will be a picnic at Swan Creek Park from noon to 4 p.m. the following Saturday.

The dinner is specifically for LIFE members and selected guests, but the picnic invites all members as well as their family and friends.

“This will be a rejuvenating evening where folks of the last 11 years of cohorts can get together,” Rider said, “to re-engage the alumni … to energize and empower the students that stopped out.”

Mariah Hicks is the military and veterans reporter. Contact her at [email protected].