February 2020
Graduate Strong: News You Can Use!
We hope you'll find this edition of "news you can use" helpful to your work with or in support of children and youth in our region and provide you an opportunity to engage with the collective work of the Graduate Strong Network.
Upcoming Events
When Communities Unite: A “village” of support and opportunity is sometimes needed to ensure the success of all youth in a community whether the challenges are academic success, prevention of substance use, or college and career readiness.

Join us for food, fellowship, connection and fun as we explore strengthening our youth through coordinated community supports and research-based resources.

Whether you are a WASFA novice or a FAFSA pro, this scenario-based workshop is designed for you. Participants will:
  • Develop skills to guide students & families to and through their correct financial aid application: the FAFSA or the WASFA.
  • Practice scenarios of common obstacles to filing for financial aid.
  • Discover resources in your own community to support you, as the Navigator, and your students.
  • Explore local FAFSA filing data & help set FAFSA/WASFA Goals for our community!
  • Clock hours available for educators. 

Future Bound Spotlight
There's a unique opportunity to engage middle school youth to begin thinking about how to pay for post-secondary education. The College Bound Scholarship is a "need-based" award that 7th and 8th grade students sign up for. Actual eligibility for the award is determined in the senior year when they apply for financial aid. Our region is doing fairly well with 66% signed up but there's room for improvement!

FAFSA/WASFA filing is a priority focus for the Graduate Strong Network. Many efforts are underway in the region with a goal to increase filing rates.

  • Plus5Push encouragement of our local school districts.
  • Navigator Workshops to increase the local capacity of caring adults with financial aid knowledge.
  • FAFSA/WASFA "pop up" sessions in local schools and in community.

Visit the Graduate Strong online calendar for a complete listing of all financial aid events that we are hosting or participating in!

The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) has released a new data dashboard to track current FAFSA filing rates by county, district and school building.
There are many pieces of the "funding puzzle" to pay for post-secondary education regardless of whether the journey takes one onward to an apprenticeship program, a certificate, a 2 year or 4 year credential.

An often over-looked piece of the puzzle- scholarships! There are scholarships available from local, state and national businesses and organizations in addition to scholarships offered by the college or university a student plans to attend.

A great place to begin looking for scholarships is www.thewashboard.org. Students create profiles to see matches based upon intended major, academic achievement, financial need and/or affiliation with organizations/businesses.
Get your 2020 summer plans in order!
The Core Plus Aerospace summer internship, hosted by Boeing, is coming!

There are nearly 300,000 manufacturing jobs in Washington state with an average wage of $87,000 per year, and the door is open to the next generation of workers. The Core Plus Aerospace Summer Internship at Boeing is a great way for students to build on their classroom knowledge, learn directly from Boeing trainers, and develop a foundation for successful entry into manufacturing careers and college and training programs in fields like avionics, applied science, engineering, mechatronics, and more. The five-week, paid summer internship program is open to students at Core Plus Aerospace partner schools (find a location here). The application window is now open and you have until February 29, 2020 to apply. The internship program will run July 10 through August 14, 2020.

Brain Architecture Game
This tabletop game experience was designed to engage policymakers, community and business leaders, health and education service providers, and government officials in understanding the science of early brain development—what promotes it, what derails it, and what are the consequences for society. Kitsap Strong utliized the game at the 2nd Annual Elected Officials Luncheon September 2019.

Originally developed in 2009 through a partnership of the Center on the Developing Child and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, the game has been play-tested by more than 12,000 people in teams at small workshops and large conferences.

Why are the early years of a child’s life so important for brain development? How are connections built in the brain, and how can early brain development affect a child’s future health? This episode of The Brain Architects dives into all these questions and more.

Equity in Education
"Young men of color do not see their own lives and backgrounds reflected in positive ways in the authentic text they read in their classrooms. Comprised of two copies of 25 titles per grade level from K-5 for a total of 300 books, each of them an inspiring narrative featuring a protagonist who is a man or a young man of color, Rising Voices is a landmark in the movement for culturally relevant curricula.

The void of representation begins as early as kindergarten and continues through high school, when students are writing term papers about novels in which protagonists of color are absent. The status quo marginalizes these students, resulting all too often in their disengagement. Unable to recognize themselves in their curriculum, disengaged students are climbing an uphill battle."

An Indigenous Peoples’ History offers a needed, yet often unheard perspective on United States history. As a former US history teacher it was always concerning that content standards rarely mention Indigenous people and therefore, most are misinformed. Not only does this work expel ignorance of Indigenous society, but provides valuable resources, activities, and discussions for the classroom. It is the antithesis of textbook whitewashing.

“Resilience is about thriving and not just surviving,” 
"Here is my theory of action: If we boost our individual resilience, then we will have more energy to address organizational and systemic conditions -- to elect officials who will fund public education, organize against policies that dehumanize educators, and push back on punitive assessment policies and scripted curriculum that turn teachers into robots and students into depositories to be filled. With more energy and more resilience, we can build and strengthen the kinds of communities in which we can thrive, where we can engage in professional development that allows us to reflect on our own biases, and where we can observe and learn from each other."

Trauma Informed Educators Network Podcast: Connecting educators throughout the world around trauma-informed practices.

Episode 7 released with Dr. Bruce Perry discussing the Neurosequential Model amongst many other things! 

Are you following us on social media?
This is a great way to know what's going on within the Network, cross-promote partner community events, share information and learn about the broad topics within our Cradle to Career local partnership.