Upstate Medical University and its partner institutions are being recognized at the White House for their work on behalf of the National Partnership for Student Success, a national call to help K-12 schools address the critical educational and mental health challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Danielle Emeny, senior financial aid advisor in Upstate’s Office of Finance Aid, represented Upstate at the White House Thursday, Oct.10 in a ceremony honoring those involved with the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS).

The NPSS—a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Education, AmeriCorps, and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University—works in collaboration with a coalition of more than 100 organizations to address the impacts of lost instructional time and help close opportunity gaps as part of a holistic response to pandemic recovery. The NPSS launched in July 2022 alongside a call to action from President Joe Biden for an additional 250,000 Americans to become tutors, mentors, student success coaches, post-secondary transition coaches, and wraparound or integrated student support coordinators to support students and youth.

Upstate and partners Onondaga Community College and SUNY ESF answered that call by providing tutoring, mentoring, financial aid instructions and wrap-around services to students in the Syracuse City School District. Upstate students who qualify for federal work-study grants previously did their hours in the hospital. Now, 60 percent of work study-funded positions are in community service such as the city school district’s Book Buddies program, the Rise Against Poverty Reading Clinic, one-on-one tutoring and mentoring, as well as guiding families of high school students through the process to apply for financial aid for college, volunteering at food pantries, refugee health screenings and more.

For example, Upstate employed 20 reading tutors in the school year 2023-2024, up 14 from the previous year. Almost 80 Upstate students participate in the community work, said Danielle Emeny, senior financial aid advisor, the Office of Financial Aid, who oversees the program. Twenty-one percent of Upstate’s work-study students were in NPSS-aligned positions in 2023-24, far exceeding Upstate’s goal of 15 percent.

“I hear from my students all the time, that this is the best thing they’ve ever done,” she said. “That’s how we have so many volunteers. One of them will go, they will make a real connection with a young student, they’ll tell their friends about it, and I get inundated with applications.”

Key champions and collaborators of the NPSS initiative from across the country were invited to the event, which will feature remarks from U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, White House Domestic Policy Council Director and Advisor to the President, Neera Tanden, and AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith about the reach and impact to date of the National Partnership for Student Success, a discussion on the report’s key findings and their implications, and a celebration of practitioners and leaders who have made this work possible thus far.

At the White House, Emeny represented Upstate as well as OCC and SUNY ESF. The three schools work together to plan and strategize but run separate programs. Emeny said she is proud of the work that Upstate, OCC and ESF and all the students have done, and she looks forward to the recognition of furthering Upstate’s mission in this area.

“It’s nice to get the word out,” Emeny said. It puts more spotlight on what we are doing to get into more schools,” Emeny said. “I am representing our sister colleges ESF and OCC, they have done amazing work alongside us.”

Caption: Upstate's Danielle Emeny, senior financial aid advisor, represented Upstate at the White House Oct. 10 in recognition of Upstate's work with the National Partnership for Student Success.