Learning from the Ground Up: Growing education pathways in Washington state

Welcome to Learning from the Ground Up, a video series that highlights some of the partners we work with to create opportunities for students, families, and communities to learn, grow, and thrive. In these conversations, Gates Foundation leaders get the unique opportunity to engage with on-the-ground experts to explore our shared vision while discovering something new together.

Angela Jones and Barb Richey have been best friends for 25 years, dating back to their time working together at Eastern Washington University (EWU) in Cheney, Washington—just outside of Spokane. Barb still works at EWU as the vice president of university advancement and executive director of the EWU Foundation, while Angela has continued her mission to advance education in the state by serving as director of the Gates Foundation’s Washington State team for the last three years.

On a crisp autumn day, Angela and Barb reconnected at an apple orchard in Spokane to make cider while discussing their shared efforts to ensure that young people have access to the opportunities they need to design the future they want. Why an apple orchard? Apples are a source of pride in the state, as Washington grows over half of the country’s apples, and the two friends thought it was the perfect stop to chat about preparing students for jobs in agricultural and other in-demand fields in Washington state.

“Education is in my DNA,” Barb said when Angela asked her why she continues to show up for students in our state. “My grandma, my mom, me, [we all worked in education] and it's my mission to help people and support people in their dreams.”

As the two wandered through the orchard paths, Angela found parallels to their collective work to help students explore the paths that are available to them.

“It’s kind of cool how these orchards have their paths through it, and I was thinking about our work where we're so focused on: How do we make sure students have pathways? We do such a great job as a state at making sure students graduate from high school, but what comes next? We can't just be like, ‘Good luck and get on that freeway.’ There's no signage, there's no on-ramp, off-ramp.”

Nearly 90% of Washington’s high schoolers say they want to enroll in a postsecondary program after graduation, but only 50% of students take that next step today. Ensuring that more students in Washington reach this goal and succeed in college is personal for Barb and her team at EWU. As she told Angela, 50% of the students that attend Eastern are first-generation college students. “So, we try to find those merge lanes on the freeway and opportunities for students to be successful in those pathways."

The conversation naturally shifted to the Limitless Learning Network, a Gates Foundation-supported initiative that brings 26 local partnerships across Washington state together to share information, explore new ideas, and develop best practices to help more students enroll in a postsecondary program that puts them on a path to the future they want.

Eastern Washington University, the College Success Foundation, and Spokane Public Schools make up one of those 26 local partnerships. Together, they are working on EWU Aspire, a program that connects EWU undergraduate students with high school students who have shared passions. EWU students mentor local high schoolers, making sure they see college as an option for them and feel confident when they take that next step. These peer-to-peer relationships can be life-changing.

Connecting and learning from students is a significant priority for the Gates Foundation and partnerships like EWU Aspire in the Limitless Learning Network. And according to Barb, “Eastern students right now need access to food pantries. They need access to other students that are like them. They need to be in classrooms that are supportive, that take their needs into account around mental health and being there to support them.”

Throughout the years, Angela and Barb have been that kind of support for one another. Their day at the orchard was a reminder of the power of community and collaboration to drive meaningful change for today’s students and the generations that will come after them in the next 25 years.

As Angela concluded, “As we get to this point in our careers, we're not putting our foot on the brake, we're putting our foot on the gas, and I'm glad that you're still riding with me.”