Student News

In a phenomena known as “summer melt,” many high school graduates plan to pursue higher education, but something derails them over the summer.

“They get confused, they don’t know how to fill something out, and then they don’t show up to their first day, and don’t show up for the rest of the year,” Natalia Esquivel - Silva (BA '18) explained.

It’s a chain of events that throws off the plans of many young people, with lifelong consequences.

As a student at Tacoma's Lincoln High School, Dylan Tran expected his Advanced Placement World History course to provide him with multiple stories and perspectives of human history. But from the first page of the textbook, he felt like something critical was missing.

After looking over the list of authors, Tran noticed the ten authors were all white and seven were male. And, over the course of the year, Tran remembers that most of the course topics were focused on the experiences of whites in Europe and the United States.

In his first year as a teacher in Arizona, University of Washington PhD student Lin Wu struggled to make genuine connections with his Mexican American students.

As a first-generation immigrant from China, Wu had personally experienced the challenges that accompany being accepted by U.S. mainstream culture. Unaware of the historical struggles that Chinese immigrants faced in the U.S., Wu found that he had suddenly become the “other.” It was this othering experience that initially prevented Wu from seeing beyond his own struggles.

More than 700 new teachers, researchers, leaders, policymakers and early childhood professionals were honored during the University of Washington College of Education’s graduation ceremonies on June 5.

The festivities featured two members of the College’s Class of 2018 discussing their role as educator-activists in ensuring access to high-quality education for all students.

Adaurennaya Onyewuenyi, who graduated with her doctorate in learning sciences and human development, called on her classmates to engage daily in work to create a more equitable educational system.

When she was a sophomore in high school, University of Washington senior Ali Cho remembers the first time she connected with one of her teachers on a personal level.

It was Mrs. Lee, a high school biology teacher. While Cho had felt supported by other teachers, her relationship with Mrs. Lee—the first female, Asian American teacher she’d had—went far beyond what happened in the classroom.

The University of Washington College of Education will celebrate the graduation of more than 700 teachers, researchers, leaders, policymakers, early childhood professionals and other educators on June 5.

Student speakers at the event are Adaurennaya Onyewuenyi, a doctoral student in learning sciences and human development, and Riddhi Divanji, an undergraduate major in Education, Communities and Organizations.

At Alaska Airlines, all new company leaders participate in a variety of training simulations, regardless of their role in the company. In one such simulation, new employees are placed in the airline’s operations center during a major storm and tasked with rerouting and canceling flights.

Facing an overwhelming amount of data, employees must make informed decisions in a crisis situation. It’s an experience designed to help all employees develop strong skills in data analytics, regardless of their specific job.

As a high schooler in California, first-generation college student Diana Aguilar was a volunteer in her younger sister’s kindergarten classroom. Through this experience, she discovered her desire to work toward achieving educational equity for students of all backgrounds.

As she started to increase the number of hours she spent at her sister’s school, Aguilar noticed that Spanish-speaking parents were approaching her to learn about how their children were progressing at school. At first, she was perplexed by their inquiries.