WWU helps students from migrant families see themselves in higher education
While most students are away from their classrooms on summer break, a lecture hall at Western Washington University’s Miller Hall bustled last week with students.
That’s a message the staff leading the Dare to Dream Academy through the university’s Woodring College of Education hoped the 100 students from migrant farmworker families would take to heart as they strive to achieve their own dreams.
“For the younger students, it’s about thinking about who they are and where they come from,” said Woodring associate professor Maria Timmons Flores.
The university recently received a $174,375 grant from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to bring students from throughout the region to campus for the weeklong program, which immersed the students in college life.
It’s an opportunity to expose students to college, Timmons Flores said, since many of them may not hear about college regularly from their parents.
“I would say probably every single one of them is going to be a first-generation college student,” Timmons Flores said.