Blue shares message of advocating for students

Lynn "Chick" McNamara Blue told an audience of faculty and staff members September 17 that advocating for students will help increase retention rates.

Blue, vice president for Enrollment Development, was the keynote speaker at the Women's Commission fall welcome held in the Kirkhof Center. 

Blue talked about a program she established a decade ago for students from Detroit's University Preparatory Academy and its impact. Persistence Pals provides support and resources for students at risk of not completing a degree. For Blue, it was much simpler.

"Ten years ago, I began meeting and working with students from a high school," she said. "I thought a little bit of encouragement and an occasional solid nudge would go a long way. I wanted to make a difference."

Her mentorship has helped the first cohort of Persistence Pals see a 73 percent graduation rate.

 "I wanted to make a difference," she said. "To see people graduate who otherwise might not have completed college has been so fulfilling."

Blue weaved stories of her childhood into her presentation. She is among the oldest of 17 children. "We were enrolling one a year," she quipped. When a high school guidance counselor said she wasn't fit for college, Blue believed that for a while. "It took some time for me to understand that maybe that counselor was wrong and I could go to college," she said. "We put kids in boxes that we shouldn't put them in. I was once in that box."