October 2024: Supporting WA’s Latino students
Director’s Note
As Hispanic Heritage Month wrapped up last week, I found myself reflecting on our team’s mission here at the Gates Foundation. Nearly 90% of high schoolers in Washington state say in surveys that they want to pursue additional education after graduation. That is why our Washington State team focuses on helping young people pursue their postsecondary dreams and design the future they want.
And here’s an important thing I want to emphasize about the students in our state: they all have big dreams and aspirations for themselves. They want to be able to give back to their families and their communities.
But the reality is that as a state, we are doing a lot, but are we doing the right things to help Latino students in our state reach their postsecondary goals? As the Education Research and Data Center highlights, 43% of Latino students who graduated high school in 2022 enrolled in a postsecondary program during the first year after graduation. That is 9 percentage points lower than the state average.
This data tells me that we must continue to ask Latino students, families, and communities what they need from us to help more students take that next step—because we know they want to. What barriers are they facing that we can deconstruct? What questions do they have that are still unanswered?
I believe we can do that. And we must. Thank you to all our partners who continue to ask and act on these questions.
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Get inspired by La Cima, a bilingual leadership camp in WA
“I don't remember ever having the conversation about going to college until I came to La Cima.” That’s the first message you’ll hear in a new video about La Cima, a bilingual leadership camp for Latino high school students in Washington state organized by the Association of Washington Student Leaders.
- La Cima focuses on experiential learning, and as founder and co-director Vincent Perez shares, that helps students tell stories that are authentic to them.
- There are so many ways for young people to express what these opportunities are through their own lived experience, and they are telling stories about their families and what higher education means to them.”
- Members of our Washington State team were invited to the camp, held at Central Washington University this summer, to witness this magic in action.
Why it matters: We know that Latino youth in Washington state have big dreams for themselves and their families. For many, that dream includes going to college. But it can also seem out of reach—43% of Latino students who graduated high school in 2022 enrolled in a postsecondary program compared to the state average of 52%.
- La Cima is doing work to close that gap by helping young people connect to their cultural heritage, foster pride in their identity, and visualize a path to college.
- Hosting a camp in Spanish and English creates a supportive environment and connects students to peers across the state with similar experiences.
- That’s an empowering feeling. Students also go back and tell their friends and family about their experience, spreading the impact beyond those who attended the camp.
Watch the video: La Cima bilingual leadership camp
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Somos Mujeres Latinas is empowering Latinas across Washington
Meet Somos Mujeres Latinas, a grantee of our Community Engagement team that aims to connect, educate, and empower Latinas across Washington.
- Somos Mujeres Latinas offers a wide range of free workshops designed to meet the specific needs of Latinas in our community.
- Their programs include exercise classes focusing on health improvement, seminars on financial literacy, guidance on acquiring scholarships, civic engagement opportunities, and sessions on understanding your legal rights in Washington state.
- That includes an annual Latina Symposium, which gathers over 300 Latinas yearly to connect, learn, and grow.
If you’d like to support Somos Mujeres Latinas, head to their Masquerade Ball on November 16 at the Highline Heritage Museum.
- This fundraising event supports their scholarship program, which provides vital financial assistance to Latinas pursuing higher education, vocational training, or career development.
- It's an evening of celebration, unity, and empowerment—all for a meaningful cause!
Learn more: Somos Mujeres Latinas
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Meet a comic book writer whose superheroes are college students
As the saying goes, you can’t be what you can’t see—and books, comics, theater, and other art forms help students see themselves going to college.
- That was a core theme in a recent event hosted by the Gates Foundation’s Latinos in Philanthropy employee resource group featuring acclaimed writer, artist, and philanthropist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez.
- Washington State team member Isabel Muñoz-Colón introduced Miranda-Rodriguez at this event held at the Gates Foundation Discovery Center.
He believes that representation in media is important because it can be passed down by generations.
- “Comic books are a great way to introduce real world issues into these narratives because that's how I was raised, reading X-Men and reading Spider-Man.”
Miranda-Rodriguez writes superheroes as college students. There’s a reason for that.
- First, it’s a very transitional age, marking a progression from youth into adulthood.
- Second, Miranda-Rodriguez knows that college students have led many social movements historically.
- "When you understand Puerto Rican culture, you know that the most powerful population in Puerto Rico historically for generations have always been students.”
Watch the conversation: An Evening with Graphic Novelist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez
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Get ready for the FAFSA rollout
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid—better known as the FAFSA—won't open this year until December 1. Still, as the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) recently highlighted, there are several things that schools, counselors, families, and students can do now to prepare.
- Schools can host a Financial Aid Advising Day, and WSAC has several templates and lesson plans available to support your efforts.
- Students can create a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID now on the Federal Student Aid website, making it easier to log in and complete the form when it’s live. The U.S. Department of Education estimates only 8% of Washington’s high school seniors have created an FSA ID.
- Families can explore the financial aid options available to them, including the Washington College Grant.
Explore more: Financial Aid Toolkit
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What we’re reading
- YSD, YVC and CWU collaborate to simplify college transition for high school students, Apple Valley News Now
- High school math: Why and how to modernize it, District Administration
- The postsecondary outcomes of high school dual enrollment students: A national and state-by-state analysis, Community College Research Center
- Stress testing the FAFSA, Inside Higher Ed