High School Kids Get College Preview

Some high school students dismiss the possibility of ever going to college. A partnership project between Whitworth College and Spokane School District 81, however, might give them cause to reconsider.

Four years ago, Whitworth history professor Dale Soden hatched the idea for Project Get Ready. The program offers six students from each Spokane high school the opportunity to visit the Whitworth campus five times during spring semester.

Teens pair up with college students to learn about classes, dormitories and extracurricular activities. They find out about financial aid, and professors offer hands-on lessons in subjects such as computer technology and natural sciences.

Soden conceived Project Get Ready to particularly encourage at-risk minority students to pursue higher education. “These are people who have the ability to go to college, but for social, cultural or economic reasons are discouraged from doing so,” he says.

Soden also hopes that enrolling more students of color in colleges and universities will eventually produce more minority professors.

“Like most private, liberal arts colleges, Whitworth struggles to become more accessible to students of color,” he says. “It’s also hard to attract faculty of color, especially in Spokane.”

Tracy Poindexter participated in Project Get Ready last spring. A sophomore at Lewis and Clark High School, she agrees many teens reject the idea of continuing their education after high school.

“Some people don’t think about going to college because they don’t have the money,” she says, “or they think it’s really hard to get in, so they don’t even try.”

Poindexter says visiting Whitworth through Project Get Ready “was really neat,” adding that it’s a good program to learn more about college.

If you know a young person who is discouraged about going to college and would like some advice, call Dale Soden at 466-3222.

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