Two Adult Learners, One Journey to Capitol Hill
There was a time when Nicole and I were simply two single moms working at Steak ’n Shake, raising our kids, paying bills, working our shifts, and trying to figure out what came next. We weren’t talking about public policy or imagining ourselves at national conferences. We certainly weren’t sitting around after a shift saying, “Someday, we should go to Capitol Hill.”
We were trying to make life work.
I can still picture those years—the tired conversations, the laughter that somehow found its way into long days, the stories about our kids, and all the ordinary worries that come with trying to build a life while raising a family. At the time, we had no idea how many turns our lives would take or how much education would eventually change both of us.
That is why it feels a little surreal to write this now: this September, Nicole and I are preparing to travel to Washington, D.C., together to advocate for adult education on Capitol Hill.
When I think about the distance between Steak ’n Shake and Washington, I don’t really think about miles. I think about all the people, opportunities, setbacks, classrooms, teachers, friendships, and moments of courage that filled the space between those two places.
Nicole and I didn’t follow the same path, and that is part of what makes our story meaningful. There is no single kind of adult learner and no one definition of what success after adult education is supposed to look like.
Nicole’s journey took her from adult learner to COABE Student Ambassador, volunteer, tutor, and the 2026 Iowa Literacy Council Learner of the Year. Those titles are wonderful, but they aren’t what I think of first when I think about Nicole. I think about how naturally she helps people. She has spent years helping students find their classrooms, figure out who to ask for help, navigate unfamiliar systems, and simply feel a little less alone. Sometimes a person doesn’t need someone to take over or solve everything for them. They just need someone patient enough to say, “Come on, I’ll help you figure out the next step.” Nicole has always been that kind of person.
My own journey took me from adult learner to the 2017 COABE National Outstanding Student of the Year. That recognition opened doors I didn’t even know existed, and over time my path grew into advocacy, speaking, leadership, and professional work in adult education. Along the way, though, one question kept getting louder for me: Where are the learners in this conversation?
I have been fortunate to have people tell my story and celebrate what adult education made possible in my life, and I will always be grateful for that. But at some point, I realized I wanted more than an opportunity to stand on a stage and talk about what adult education had done for me. I wanted adult learners to have a seat at the table when we talk about what adult education should become next. That belief is a big part of why I created Voice With Megan.
Why We’re Going to Capitol Hill
On September 16–17, Nicole and I will join other adult education advocates in Washington, D.C., for NAFTAE’s Flood the Hill. We aren’t going simply to visit Washington or take a picture in front of the Capitol—although, knowing us, I’m sure there will be a few pictures.
We are going there to work.
We will spend time preparing to advocate effectively, participating in briefings, learning alongside other adult education leaders and advocates, and meeting directly with legislative offices. We will talk about adult education funding, literacy, workforce development, opportunity, and the role adult education plays in strengthening families and communities.
Most importantly, we will have an opportunity to help connect the decisions being made in Washington with the people who ultimately live with those decisions.
When Congress talks about adult education, the conversation can quickly become appropriations, programs, outcomes, workforce numbers, and funding levels. All of those things matter, but there are human beings behind every one of those numbers.
There is a mother finishing a shift somewhere who wants more for herself and her children but doesn’t know where to begin. There is someone learning English because they want to talk with their child’s teacher, participate more fully in their community, or qualify for a better job. There is an adult who has spent years believing they weren’t smart enough for school. There is someone studying for a high school equivalency credential after decades away from a classroom, wondering whether they have waited too long.
And there is someone walking into an adult education classroom right now who has absolutely no idea how much that one decision may change the direction of their life.
Nicole and I know something about that person because we have been that person.
That lived experience is part of what we will carry into those legislative offices. Educators, administrators, researchers, policymakers, and national organizations all bring important expertise to conversations about adult education. Adult learners bring another kind of expertise: the knowledge that comes from actually navigating the systems being discussed.
I believe we need both.
Learner voice should not be something we add at the end of a presentation because we need an inspiring story. Learners should have opportunities to help shape the conversations from the beginning. Through organizations like COABE and NAFTAE, more adult learners are beginning to see that advocacy and leadership can be part of their journey too, and I want Nicole and me to help strengthen that bridge between lived experience and policy.
I Keep Thinking About Those Two Moms
As this trip gets closer, I find myself thinking more and more about those two women at Steak ’n Shake. We were working, raising kids, worrying about money, laughing when we could, and doing our best with whatever life put in front of us.
I don’t think I would tell them everything that was coming. They probably wouldn’t believe half of it anyway. I think I would simply tell them to keep going, because the road ahead would be longer and stranger than they imagined. There would be hard seasons and closed doors, but there would also be people who believed in them and opportunities they couldn’t yet see.
Most of all, I would tell them that some of the experiences they wished had been easier would someday give them the ability to understand and help someone else.
Maybe that is what makes this trip mean so much to me.
Nicole and I aren’t going to Capitol Hill because our stories turned us into extraordinary people. We are going because we are examples of what can happen when ordinary people are given access to education, opportunity, encouragement, and eventually the chance to use their voices.
Adult education did that for us.
Now we have an opportunity to turn around and use what we have learned for the people coming behind us.
When Nicole and I walk into legislative offices in Washington, we will carry our own stories, of course, but I hope we carry much more than that. I hope we carry the experiences of the student who hasn’t found her voice yet, the parent studying after the kids go to bed, the teacher who refuses to give up on a learner, the programs doing extraordinary work with limited resources, and the adults who are still wondering whether it is too late to begin again.
And somewhere, maybe there is another single mom finishing a shift tonight who cannot begin to imagine where her life might take her.
We couldn’t imagine it either.
Once, Nicole and I were two single moms working together at Steak ’n Shake and trying to build better lives for our children and ourselves.
This September, we are going to Capitol Hill.
And when we get there, we plan to make sure adult learners are part of the conversation.