OK, I got it. I just needed to add the workbook to the vlookup explicitly

'looks up the student data from the monthly call/mailmerge spreadsheet
Private Sub DataLookup_Click()
    Dim yellow As String
    Dim purple As String
    Dim LtGreen As String
    Dim LtBlue As String
    Dim lColumn As Long
    
    'Dim wkb As Workbook
    'Set wkb = Workbooks.Open("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm")
    Set ws = Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Worksheets("#assperwk")
    'Set ws = BobMCCommentPrep.Worksheets("#assperwk")
    'Set ws = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("#assperwk")
    lColumn = ws.Cells(2, Columns.Count).End(xlToLeft).Column
   
   
 
   
   'The following vlookups pull student data from weekly monitoring or monthly call spreadsheet

   contact = Me.StudentName.Value
    Me.CurrentGrade.Value = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(contact, Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Sheets("CurrentWk").Range("A1:Bl400"), 12, False)
    Me.PercentComp.Value = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(contact, Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Sheets("CurrentWk").Range("A1:Bl400"), 10, False)
    Me.LastAss.Value = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(contact, Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Sheets("CurrentWk").Range("A1:Bl400"), 27, False)
    Me.WeeksBehind.Value = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(contact, Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Sheets("CurrentWk").Range("A1:Bl400"), 21, False)
    Me.VSAComments.Value = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(contact, Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Sheets("CurrentWk").Range("A1:Bl400"), 26, False)
    yellow = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(contact, Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Sheets("CurrentWk").Range("A1:Bl400"), 22, False)
    purple = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(contact, Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Sheets("CurrentWk").Range("A1:Bl400"), 23, False)
    LtGreen = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(contact, Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Sheets("CurrentWk").Range("A1:Bl400"), 24, False)
    LtBlue = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(contact, Workbooks("BobMCCommentPrep.xlsm").Sheets("CurrentWk").Range("A1:Bl400"), 25, False)
Thank you very much