Graduate To Help Close Classroom Race Gap WSU Program Recruits Future Teachers Of Color

What graduating senior Susan Green described as the best years of her life began with a phone call from a Washington State University recruiter and a cross-state ride with nine other Seattle students in a crowded van.

At Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School, Green was involved in a program for students interested in teaching. Counselors forwarded her name to recruiters at WSU’s College of Education, who hopped in a van to bring Green and other students to Pullman for the college’s first Future Teachers of Color Program in 1994.

Green, 21, is the first student recruited through the program to graduate from WSU’s teacher preparation program. The daughter of two University of Washington alumni, Green will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in English and endorsements to teach English, journalism, speech communications and drama after completing her student teaching in the fall.

“I always had an idea I’d like teaching,” said Green. “I always liked acting and being in front of people. And I like the idea of doing something with my life that was meaningful.”

Green said she will miss WSU when she returns to Seattle to add to the ranks of minority teachers in a city that has few minority teachers but a growing minority student population.

According to Milton Lang, director of student recruitment for the education college and creator of the program that brought Green to WSU, more than half of the students but only 5 percent of teachers in some Seattle schools are from minority groups.

Since that first trip to Seattle with a single van, Lang has seen the recruitment program grow to include groups of more than 100 students who come either to a spring session in Pullman, or a session at Seattle’s Washington Athletic Club.

Last year, 23 high schools participated in Future Teachers of Color. Of the 30 seniors who participated, 15 to date have applied and been admitted to WSU for fall. Since 1994, the program has brought 22 students to Pullman.

Green said she feels lucky to have enrolled at the education college.

“This college has done a tremendous job bringing students of color up here. I know I’m fortunate, but I know I am probably the exception,” Green said, noting that some minority students feel “unsupported” at WSU.

Green said WSU should continue to recruit faculty of color. “It is so important to have faculty and staff here to help students along. Just having someone who looks like you, understands what you are going through and can provide support.”