When she was in fifth grade, someone let Kay Emerson in on a secret that set the course for her life: Knowledge is power.

“I’ve been on that kick ever since,” said Emerson, an admissions officer for Art Institutes International in Lenexa, who is volunteering for the United Way of Douglas County to make sure that students today have the same opportunity she did to succeed in school.

Every other month, Emerson huddles with education and social service experts in Douglas County to develop and implement collaborative solutions to some of the greatest challenges that prevent students from thriving in school and in life.

She and Ann Gardner, editorial page editor for the Journal-World, co-facilitate the United Way’s education workgroup, which includes United Way community partners the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence, Girl Scouts, Ballard Community Services, Child Care Aware, Douglas County Child Development Association, Success by Six, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Communities in Schools and Harvesters Community Food Network.

The team is tasked with working together to ensure preschoolers enter kindergarten ready to learn and that fourth and fifth grade students are proficient in math and reading, so that more students graduate and land jobs.

One of the challenges the workgroup is tackling is how social services can support students transitioning when they change schools, whether it is moving from preschool to kindergarten, elementary school to middle school, or middle school to high school.

“These are risky times,” said Erika Dvorske, president and CEO of United Way of Douglas County. “That’s when you see drop offs in students’ attendance and lags in students’ educational performance because the students’ support systems change whenever they change schools. We want to assure that social services are consistent through these transitions.”

Emerson’s job is to lead the workgroup in developing concrete strategies for working together to provide wraparound services to students, set measurable outcomes to the team and assess its progress toward meeting the goals.

She is passionate about helping the workgroup succeed because she’s seen what a difference education has made in her own life.

“Education really helped with my own development. I come from low socio-economic background growing up, and if I had not had the opportunity to go to college, I wouldn’t have all the opportunities I have now,” she said.

Emerson earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Kansas University. Now she is pursuing her master’s degree in human services from Argosy University.

As part of her master’s work, Emerson said the students were challenged to make a difference in their local communities. As she scrolled through the dozens of volunteer opportunities listed on the United Way Roger Hill Volunteer Center’s website, www.volunteerdouglascounty.org, she happened upon an opening for United Way education workgroup facilitators.

She remembered thinking to herself: “How awesome is that? Not only is it a group that values education and is figuring out supportive ways to help the community, it’s exactly what I wanted to do. I have some experience as a facilitator, but this is a great opportunity to grow,” she said.

She also has personal reasons for seeing that Douglas County students have the supports they need to reach their potential at school. Her 5-year-old daughter just started at Woodlawn Elementary this fall. Emerson plans to be fully engaged in her daughter’s education, something she urges all parents to do.

“I just had my first PTO meeting last night,” Emerson said. “When it comes to getting involved in the community, it’s knowing where you can have an impact. Then you just have to get out there.”