Schuyler Pruis - Data For a Better Future

When I stepped into an AmeriCorps VISTA role with MCAN (Michigan College Access Network), I had no idea what to expect. I graduated from Calvin University in 2019 with a degree in secondary education focused on history and social studies and here I was taking on a role in data and technology. Until I began this role, most of my experience with data came from a childhood full of playing multiple sports. Now I was jumping into a role where the cornerstone of my work revolved around collecting and using data to help my host site better understand what was and is happening in the field of college access. It was a pretty significant change.
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Very quickly upon beginning to serve at MCAN, I was introduced to the impact map, which the previous VISTA had rebuilt and launched during her term of service. For those unfamiliar with the impact map, I would highly recommend checking it out. The map pulls in education data from multiple partners across the state in areas such as college completion, persistence, FAFSA completion, and many other metrics and then the impact map organizes the data by areas such as the county, region, and legislative district (among many other uses). My role has been the upkeep of the map, which I quickly learned is not an easy task.

But it is an important one. Keeping the impact map updated with the most recent data allows others, such as school counselors, administrators, and state legislators, to see an accurate measure of where their students are at and areas they can improve. By building and sustaining data systems such as the impact map for others to see, I know that I am contributing towards MCAN and Governor Whitmer’s goal of Sixty by 30 (sixty percent attainment by 2030), and COVID-19 has only made this more of an urgent goal.  In doing this, I know I am helping to build a future that is data-driven, but also better for those who otherwise would not have gone on to college.