Schools

Edmonds School District and UW Kick Off New Latino Mentoring Program

160 Edmonds Woodway High School students will receive mentoring and college advice from UW engineering students.

Edmonds-Woodway Latino students will enter a new mentoring and tutoring program this Friday.

Roughly 160 E-W students, all with Latino heritage, will team up with University of Washington Hispanic engineering students for weekly tutoring and events geared around helping them prepare for college. The weekly sessions will include academic work and lessons on organization, time management, and good study habits.

E-W students will work with the UW students on short and long term projects, attend conferences and college workshops, visit the UW campus, go on field trips, and job shadow professionals in the science and engineering fields.

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The program comes to E-W via the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, a national organization that supports Latinos in the fields of engineering, math and science. The SHPE has a presence in high schools around the country.

E-W students, their parents, Edmonds School District staff, and UW students kick off the local SHPE initiative with a dinner this Friday. The event takes place from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm in the Great Hall at Edmonds-Woodway High School. The presentation will be in Spanish with English translation available. Free childcare is provided.

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Maria Garcia, Latina Outreach Specialist for the Edmonds School District, said she wants families to be involved in the effort, as their support will help Latino students reach their academic goals.

β€œThe most important thing is letting our Latino community know their engagement in the schools is critical to student accountability,” Garcia said.

Eventually, the mentoring program will expand to younger students in the Edmonds School District. Garcia envisions the high school students sharing what they’ve learned with Latino middle school students, and then the middle school students doing the same with elementary school students.


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