Marymount University's program that turns unpaid family caregivers into IT professionals is the kind of story that makes you stop scrolling. It takes people who have spent years building skills most employers don't know how to count, and gives them a ladder instead of a pat on the head. For anyone who's ever tried to explain a gap on a resume, this hits different. It's not about charity. It's about recognizing that showing up for someone else at 2 a.m. involves logistics, patience, and problem-solving that a lot of office work never touches.
Here's what I actually appreciate: the program doesn't pretend the caregiver experience is a cute bonus. It treats it like the asset it is, then pairs it with real training and a community of people who get it. That's the part that feels transferable to our own corners of campus. We talk a lot about building "community" at WSU, but too often that means a club fair and a group chat that goes quiet. This is community as infrastructure. People showing up for each other in a way that changes their actual trajectory. It makes me think about the WSU Can Learn From Cornell: Rebuilding Trust Through Purpose piece, which argued that institutions rebuild trust when they get specific about purpose. This program is that, but at a human scale. It answers the question of what a university is actually for.
Our take? This is a blueprint worth stealing. Not every program needs to be a national model, but the principle applies everywhere: look at what people already do, then give them credit and a skill path for it. At WSU, we have students working jobs, raising kids, or caring for relatives while juggling a full course load. We're not looking for a participation trophy. We're looking for a system that doesn't make us choose between our responsibilities and our future. This program suggests that's possible. It also suggests that the people who've been through real chaos are often the most ready for the real world, which is a perspective that gets lost in a lot of career-prep talk.
If you're a student who's been a caregiver, or you know one, the takeaway is simple: your time wasn't wasted, and you're not behind. Programs like this are proof that experience, even the unpaid, exhausting kind, can be reframed into a career. And if you're involved in anything at WSU, from a club to a department, the question to ask is whether you're building something that actually lets people bring their whole selves through the door. That's the standard. Programs like this one show that when institutions meet people where they are, and build a path from there, everyone gets more than a certificate. They get a way forward. The real test is whether we can build those paths on our own campus, and who's willing to start.
