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Rainier Scholarsby Sarah Smith
The mission of Rainier Scholars is to cultivate the academic potential of talented and motivated young people from ethnic minority backgrounds by providing academic support, instilling leadership skills and offering access to positive educational opportunities. For far too long, young students of color with average and above-average academic abilities have not been pushed to develop those gifts to their true and full potential. Too often, a bright and engaged student in elementary school is off the college-prep track by the beginning of 9th grade for reasons still unclear enough as to prompt numerous research studies regarding how to "close the achievement gap." By offering rigorous and comprehensive intervention and enrichment beginning in 5th grade and continuing through college, Rainier Scholars aims to significantly impact the number of students of color entering and graduating from four-year colleges and universities, thus impacting the leadership pools from which all of our major institutions draw. Thus, at its core, Rainier Scholars is an intensive academic and leadership development program, aimed at reaching those vital young members of society who go overlooked in the traditional processes of identifying "high achievers and future leaders."
A child's journey within Rainier Scholars begins in the summer following 5th grade. After an extensive application and interview process similar to those used in independent schools and colleges, 50-75 young scholars from throughout Seattle Public Schools are invited into the program. Those who accept the challenge are making a formidable commitment to their own education. For two consecutive seven week summer sessions, Rainier Scholars students spend five days per week in "extra school", with a schedule of History and Research, Science, Math, Literature and Writing and Ethics filling their days. In addition, students attend classes two days per week during their 6th grade school year (on top of attendance at their regular Seattle Public schools). Each child completes anywhere from 2-4 hours of homework per night in order to prepare for the following day's class discussions. Many students sacrifice basketball, soccer or music groups for 14 months of reading, writing and thinking, all in hopes that the investment in education can lead them "to places they have only heard about but never seen."
Classes at Rainier Scholars are conducted seminar style, with 13-15 students per class sitting in a circle setting and dissecting themes in literature, causes and effects of historical patterns and chemistry concepts such as bonding and reactions. Students are led by expert, veteran teachers, some of whom have won state teaching awards and others who teach at the University of Washington. Our intent is to surround these young people with the best conditions that can exist in education: small, personalized classes; rigorous and intense expectations; caring, professional, committed teachers; a program that encourages (almost demands) high levels of parental and family involvement and an engaging, pedagogically sound curriculum. So rare is the opportunity in large public school settings for students to receive such focused attention, and we are discovering that such nurturing is critical for many of these students to blossom and grow as students and citizens in this community.
As our students grow, mature and gain skills and confidence in the classroom (as evidenced by their successful reading of Homer's Odyssey in Literature/Writing class and their mastery of genetics and DNA in Science class), we work vigilantly to assist their families in gaining access to Seattle area independent schools and/or placement in Seattle Public School's Advanced Learning programs. As we are now halfway through our second year, our outcomes are beginning to speak for themselves. Seventeen of the 52 graduates of Cohort I are currently attending local independent schools such as Lakeside, University Prep, Seattle Academy and Bush, most on full scholarships. Another nineteen of our scholars in Cohort 1 are enrolled in either APP or Spectrum programs within various Seattle Public middle schools. Two student profiles from Cohort I (Nam Ngo and Tequila Logan) illustrate the type of impact Rainier Scholars is having on the number of students of color enrolled in high-achieving programs throughout the Seattle area. Navigate to student profiles.
Students such as Nam and Tequila are examples to all of us. They both made conscious decisions at a young age to be serious about their educations and seized a rare opportunity to improve it. This determination and commitment on the part of our scholars is what fuels the staff and community of Rainier Scholars. Nam and Tequila have completed the difficult part of the program in terms of the rigorous 14 months of enrichment. By doing so, they earned access to the next major phase of the program: the Academic Counseling and Support Services. Over the coming years, they will be offered academic mentoring and counseling, as well as extensive cultural enrichment and leadership development opportunities through Rainier Scholars. All of these services are supports to augment the enormous leap into the unknown (i.e. the high-achieving settings in which they are usually the only or one of a few students of color; remember the earlier reference to the "achievement gap") that these students are taking.
Rainier Scholars is a new program in Seattle encouraging the success of students whose potential has too often gone unrecognized and underdeveloped. While we collectively believe that, in the big picture, massive reform of public education is needed to ensure all young people a high quality and equal educational opportunity, we know that until that occurs, we must ensure that students from all backgrounds gain access to the already outstanding opportunities that do exist. Hence the need and the call for a program like Rainier Scholars!
Sarah Smith is the Academic Director of Rainier Scholars. Prior to launching Rainier Scholars, Sarah taught at Nathan Hale High School and Rainier Beach High School. While at Nathan Hale, she co-founded the 9th and 10th grade academy programs, widely recognized both locally and nationally for effective, urban school reform. Sarah has implemented many of the strategies and philosophies from the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) used at Nathan Hale into the Rainier Scholars program. Sarah also authored curriculum for TeachFirst, an online teacher development company and taught youth leadership classes at the Center for Ethical Leadership. Sarah holds a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia and a Master's in Education from Stanford University. To visit the Rainier Scholars program, please contact Bruno Casolari at 206-228-8260.
© December 2003 New Horizons for Learning
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