By: Stephanie Stone
A key part of supporting student parents & saving preborn babies is making sure young parents in school are aware of the resources around them on campus. That’s where the Standing With You Scholars Fund comes in!
The goal of this initiative is to provide a pathway to success for every pregnant and parenting student. In addition to launching our Standing With Her Scholarship this year, the Scholars Fund was proud to host our first of many Pregnant and Parenting Student Resource Symposiums to work toward our goal of providing a pathway to success for every pregnant and parent students.
What a Pregnant and Parenting Resource Symposium Looks Like
The Pregnant and Parenting Student Resource Symposium brings together administration, students, and local organizations to share the resources they offer students who choose to parent. The event begins with a brief training on pregnant and parenting students’ rights, followed by a panel of campus and local relevant resources, and ends with an open discussion for students to discuss what the school does well and what they could be doing better to support parenting students.
Students from Marymount University (MU) and University of Maryland – College Park (UMD) helped to organize the first of these events on their campuses.
Marymount University Hosts First Pregnant and Parenting Student Resource Symposium
Marymount University’s Campus Ministry Pro-Life group hosted the first event on Wednesday, April 9th, 2025. The Pregnant and Parenting Student Symposium was a great success! Over 20 students attended, including a handful who are parenting students at Marymount.
Representatives from the local family housing, a representative from the school Counseling Services, and a representative from Marymount’s Accessibility Services joined together for a panel on what resources exist already. From there, a great discussion ensued. Parenting students at Marymount greatly appreciate the school’s support, but they would love to see more childcare options on campus or resources to find better options in the community.
One of the parenting students, Taylor Barnes, said, “I came to the pregnancy and parenting seminar, and I really enjoyed it! There is a lot of opportunity for growth for our university, but also a lot of good strengths. It was a very good experience, and I hope we get to see some change soon.”
University of Maryland – College Park hosts the Second Symposium
The second event took place at University of Maryland – College Park (UMD) on Wednesday, April 21st. UMD Students for Life partnered with Standing With You to host their Symposium and assist student parents on their campus!
The Title IX Office and Campus Security at UMD joined the event to provide resources to students who need them. The event began with a discussion of pregnant and parenting students’ rights and resources on campus, followed by a townhall-style open discussion on what the school does well and could do better to support this student population.
This event was particularly unique because both pro-life and pro-choice students attended. No matter where anyone in the audience fell on the issue of abortion, they were able to come together to create a better plan for parenting students at UMD. Students talked about better equipping Resident Assistants with resources and creating an accessible webpage with local childcare options.
Host a Pregnant and Parenting Resource Symposium at your School
We have wrapped up our Spring 2025 symposiums for the year, but we will be back in the Fall. The first Pregnant and Parenting Resource Symposiums were a great success.
Following the event, Molly Flure, Pro-Life Coordinator at Marymount University’s Campus Ministry said, `
“I think it was a really successful event and perfect for our campus. We were able to talk to parents and hear what they want and need from Marymount along with connecting with our offices so we can start implementing some necessary changes on our campus to help our students”.
If you would be interested in hosting a Pregnant and Parenting Student Resource Symposium at your school, please email [email protected] .