Whatever impression you have of the “typical” college student can be thrown out the window when you meet Javelia Morrison-Galimore. Since arriving at St. Cloud State University in 2024, she’s taken activism to the next level. Her latest efforts include drafting and championing a student parent bill that passed the 94th Minnesota State Legislature in May.
But her story starts back in 2019, when she was in Jamaica. It was then that she began building something that many told her was too big. She founded a nonprofit focused on supporting teenage mothers and survivors of sexual abuse and childhood trauma. Working alongside clinical psychologists and community partners, she helped create a network of mentorship, mental health support, housing resources, and stability for women navigating some of life’s most difficult circumstances.
That work shaped more than her advocacy; it shaped her purpose.
“I wanted to help women rebuild,” she said. “Not just survive, but find stability again.”
In 2024, she brought that same drive with her to the United States, enrolling at SCSU as a double major in cybersecurity and political science, with minors in honors and computer science.
But as both a student and a mother, she quickly saw something missing.
“There wasn’t a centralized space that affirmed the dual identity of being both a student and a parent,” she said.
Student parents, she noticed, were carrying some of the heaviest burdens on campus —balancing full course loads, employment, financial pressure, and caregiving responsibilities— yet often went unseen in broader conversations about student success.
That gap inspired her to act.
She founded Navigate N.E.X.T. , a student support network dedicated to strengthening educational access, normalizing the lived realities of student parents and nontraditional women students, and connecting them to the resources, community, and institutional support needed to successfully navigate higher education. The work started by figuring out which resources were already available on campus, who the student parents were, and which resources they needed. Morrison-Galimore came across a significant challenge when she realized there was no centralized data identifying student parents. She had to go out and find them.
She connected with campus offices, including the childcare center and the Title IX office, and built a comprehensive resource guide that brought together everything from childcare access and lactation rooms to food assistance, academic support, and community partners.
Some of the barriers she encountered were small but meaningful, like desks too narrow for growing pregnant bellies or existing resources that no one knew about.
Others were more systemic. She recalls a classmate who ultimately had to withdraw because the pace of the course was unsustainable. Morrison-Galimore watched her struggle to keep up, even arriving late for an exam and being turned away by the professor.
“I spoke up and said, ‘Do you know she’s a student parent?’” she recalled.
The professor reconsidered, but for Morrison-Galimore, the moment highlighted a larger issue: the system wasn’t built with student parents in mind.
Through her work with Students United, where she now serves as acting vice chair, her advocacy expanded beyond campus. She began engaging in statewide efforts, working with legislators, higher education leaders, and organizations like the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.
Her work took her to all seven Minnesota State universities, where she observed firsthand how support varied widely.
“The issue wasn’t a lack of resources,” she said. “It was the inconsistency and the awareness.”
That realization shifted her focus from campus-level solutions to system-wide change.
As part of that effort, she helped draft legislation (Parent Priority Registration (HF 4730, SF 4738)) aimed at better supporting student parents across Minnesota. The bill focuses on establishing protections for parenting students, improving academic flexibility, and beginning statewide data collection to better understand and support parents at all of Minnesota’s universities. The bill currently sits on Governor Tim Walz’s desk, but once it’s passed into law, pregnant and parenting students will receive priority registration.
“Parenting students, for too long, have struggled to juggle work, classes, and the needs of their children. This ensures pregnant and parenting students face one less burden by allowing them time to create a schedule that works for their families,” Morrison-Galimore said. “For many students, this isn’t just policy—it’s the difference between finishing a degree or not,” she said.
She shared her ideas during advocacy days at the State Capitol, meeting directly with legislators and building support through conversations, letters, and community partnerships. The bill gained traction with support from legislators who understood the issue personally—including one senator who was balancing her own role as a new mother.
“It took a community,” she said. “But people showed up. I’m grateful to the legislators who worked assiduously to help advance this effort and whose willingness to listen, collaborate, and engage helped move student parent priorities from lived experience into policy.”
Today, Minnesota is among the first states in the nation to take steps toward formal protections and support systems for student parents.
Even as she advocates at the state level, Morrison-Galimore continues building support on campus—securing donations like books and toys for student parents through community partners and creating spaces where students feel seen and supported.
Still, the work is deeply personal.
“As a student parent, if my daughter gets sick, I have to leave class immediately,” she said. “There’s no backup plan. You have to build your own system of support.”
Despite the challenges, she continues to excel academically—recently completing a 26-credit semester with all A’s—while leading, organizing, and advocating for others.
“It hasn’t been easy,” she said. “But it’s worth it.”
Looking ahead, she plans to continue working at the intersection of cybersecurity, public policy, and social equity, with a long-term goal of becoming a cyber diplomacy officer.
But no matter where her path leads, her mission remains clear.
“I want to level the playing field,” she said, “so access to support isn’t determined by where you are or whether you happen to know it exists.”
Because for Morrison-Galimore, this work has never been about recognition. It’s about reshaping the system so student parents are supported from the start.
