From Nest to Wings helps students fly into higher education

One day in 2012, a group of moms got together for lunch. All of them had gone to college, and all were part of PEO International, which seeks to help women with their higher education goals. With children of their own, many of whom would soon graduate high school, these mothers wondered how they would best be able to help them.

Inspired, they began an annual Q&A event that included counselors, parents of students who had graduated, students who were now in college, and there was one aim–how did they do it.

By 2018, the event grew significantly. "We had hundreds of people come to the event," said Niwot resident Margaret Meek, who was involved with the event. But, the event was sponsored by the local PEO chapter, and the event organizers realized that they needed to grow more. They needed to diversify their resources; they wanted to welcome young men to these events.

From Nest to Wings was born.

At its core, From Nest to Wings seeks to provide as much information as possible to both students and their parents. The organization wants students to be able to maximize these two educational experiences and help students in such a way that the transition between the two is easy.

"We want the student to move forward with education after high school in the way that's best for them," said Meek, a co-founder of From Nest to Wings.

This idea of "way that's best for them" is critical–Meek and the rest of the From Nest to Wings team recognizes that traditional, four-year colleges aren't the best fit for every student. So, they create content that also caters to information about community colleges and trade schools.

But it's also important to educate the parents, many of whom are left somewhat in the dark, especially due to rulings such as the Family Rights Education and Privacy Act (FERPA). Each school has its own way of handling FERPA, but because of it, many parents are limited to knowing only what their student tells them. Students can be overwhelmed with the transition between high school and higher education. From Nest to Wings hopes to provide enough education beforehand to limit that confusion.

"We want to do what we can to inform parents. We knew if we had the parents and the students in the same room, it'd be better for everybody," said Meek. "One of the things we do spend a lot of time telling parents is 'communicate to your student and your student communicates with the school.'"

In light of the pandemic, From Nest to Wings, like many organizations, has had to adapt. They've moved away from their in-person events and instead focus on their online presence. The organization posts to its YouTube channel weekly, with a longer educational video and a one-minute definition video.

"We're hoping to get back to in-person education and are planning on it. We typically work with Front Range Community College, it's a nice way to get students into a college classroom," Meek said. "When we were face to face, you'd see the questions, you'd see their eyes light up when things made sense, it was very very helpful to us. [Recently] we've been relying on the comments on our YouTube videos."

Meek says that From Nest to Wings is important because they "don't have any agenda other than to help students." Instead, they focus on an inclusive environment in which the team can collect, create and distribute information to students so that they can choose their own path.

Given that, From Nest to Wings is looking for help. Meek and the team welcome feedback and volunteers who want to contribute to the organization. She explained that if someone has a perspective into higher education, or simply wants to help–whether that's with the future in-person events, social media presence, or other ways, she hopes they reach out.

"We really are trying to do as much as we can to help students and families make the transition from high school to college and we have fun doing it. We're always welcome to have volunteers come in," she said.

You can keep up with From Nest to Wings online through their website and various social media channels:

Website: https://nesttowings.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FromNestToWings

TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@nest2wings

Instagram - https://instagram.com/nest2wings/

Facebook - https://facebook.com/nest2wings/

Video – How From Nest to Wings Can Help You! - https://youtu.be/peo45JtPpsw