University of Washington Dream Project
Empowering High School Students to Pursue HIgher Education
Auburn High School mentors Winter Quarter 2015
My Freshman year of college, I signed up for a class through University of Washington’s Dream Project which I ended up participating in for four quarters. This opportunity gave me the chance to learn about social justice and oppressive systems, which are not distant thoughts but are happening right in our communities. Dream Project focused on assisting low-income first-generation high school students in pursuing higher education while also raising awareness within our university of the issues around educational opportunity and social mobility. We would have a lecture that focused a specific topic, such as applying to community college, that was then followed by a breakout session so each high school mentor group could connect and plan for the week’s upcoming visit. My second quarter in Dream Project I had the honor of becoming one of the High School Leads for Auburn High School, where I worked with a co-lead to facilitate our group’s breakout session and coordinate with the Auburn administration and students.
This experience helped me to strengthen my value for justice by dedicating my work in the program to support our high school mentees in chasing their dreams. I am a first-generation college student and trying to navigate the application process and figuring out what does and doesn’t look good on a college application can be incredibly overwhelming. I used this opportunity to support students who, similar to myself, never considered higher education to be a possibility and how to get there. Dream Project helped me open my eyes to the systematic barriers that make it significantly more difficult for low-income and first-generation college students to reach higher education. This program helped me realize how important education is and the privilege it is to be able to pursue higher education. Education is a tool that can help break the poverty cycle. The average income for a high school graduate is $33,000, but with a Bachelor’s Degree that nearly doubles where the average income moves up to $60,000. Simply just by pursuing higher education, a student could almost double their income through the upward social mobility that accompanies higher education. I have a strong value for social justice and I strongly believe that oppressed populations deserve an equal right to pursue higher education which will eventually work to end the vicious cycle of poverty.
Tasks Accomplished
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Assisted high school students throughout their college application process either through researching possible colleges that would be a good fit or working to support the student in perfecting their personal statement.
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Act as a High School Lead for three quarters where I helped facilitate our weekly break out session with the other Auburn mentors. Through these breakout sessions. Myself and my co-lead would prepare various materials and activities to help our mentors gain a better understanding of privilege, systematic oppression, and the importance and opportunities that higher education can bring.
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Attended weekly High School Lead Meetings to educate ourselves on the relevant information and resources that could be used to better support the students in our high schools.
Two generations of Auburn High School Leads
Competencies Gained
Mentoring
This experience helped me to better understand what a mentor should and should not embody. Throughout Dream Project, we talked about this common idea of the “savior complex” where we go into a less privileged arena and essentially save the people implying that they do not have the skills to do so themselves. This was a framework we tried to avoid in our mentorship because it does not lead to a productive mentor-mentee relationship. As a mentor, I do not want to be someone who is praised for doing what should be done. I do not want to “help” or “save” anyone, because that’s not what they need- most of the time the students we worked with just needed someone who believed in them that they could do it. This mentality is also helped me with my social work training where I have learned that the mentee is the expert of their own lives. They know what has worked in that past, what hasn’t, what needs to change, and have a better understanding of the stakes of the situation. As a mentor, I want to push my mentees to pursue self-determination and support them in realizing everything they are capable.
Facilitation
Throughout my work in Dream Project, I had the opportunity to attend lecture with our mentors and then work with my co-lead to facilitate our breakout sessions afterwards. I valued this experience because it helped me gain confidence in my skills of preparing activities and information then presenting it in front of other people. In these sessions, through the presented materials and the planned activities, as a group we were able to have more in depth conversations about the lecture topics and any concerns someone might have with their experience as a mentor. I believe that being receptive to the needs of those you are serving is an important aspect of group facilitation. As a leader in this setting, I would make sure that if anyone was facing a challenge in their work with their mentees that their concern was heard and is valid. Then, I would spend time to find out how either I could personally help this person in overcoming their obstacle or I would use my resources as a High School Lead and connect them to someone else who may have a better understanding and perspective of the concern and possible solutions.
Group Development
Dream Project is not a single person effort but requires the hard work and dedication of all participants in order to ensure the highest amount of success. However, this takes time because before working in a group it is important to develop a sense of community. Through that, the members of the group can feel that they can trust, rely on, and support their colleagues. We start the quarter with a new batch of mentors, where some may have returned from previous quarters or others may have joined Dream Project for the first time, and work together as a group to brainstorm how we can best support our mentees at Auburn High School and challenge the systems and ideologies that reinforces the idea that public education is not attainable for everyone.
Empowerment
A large portion of what Dream Project is about is empowering our students in achieving their goals and pursuing their passions. It was heartbreaking that at first, a lot of the students had never thought they would be able to go to college because of either financial restrictions or never even thinking they could make it. A lot of my work as a mentor and a High School Lead was to empower our mentees to chase their dreams and connect them to the proper resources to help them succeed. For example, a lot of students were unaware that financial aid can cover most, if not all, or their college tuition and that they could apply for different scholarships to help get money to pay for their education. When the mentees knew that pursing higher education was a possibility, and that there are different resources like work study or financial aid to help make it a reality, our mentees were much more motivated to apply for college and work on their applications.
Social Justice
Through my work in Dream Project, I was educated on the different forms of oppression faced by low-income populations and People of Color in our very own communities. Prior to this class, I was unaware of the School to Prison Pipeline where students of color receive more disciplinary action than their white peers causing them to be suspended or even expelled, which often leads to becoming involved in the criminal justice system. Dream Project was my first opportunity to understand privilege and how the intersectionality of different identities can either empower or oppress people further. With this new knowledge on different identities and the oppression and discrimination that can be associated with simply an identity, I felt incredibly motivated to pursue a major in Social Welfare in order to continue my journey of educating myself about different oppressions and learning important skills that will help me become a better and more effective ally.
Top: UW Dream Project "Live The Dream" ceremony 2015
Bottom: Representing the Huskies while at Auburn High School
Looking Forward
Dream Project was an eye-opening experience and I cherish my time in the program and appreciate the skills that I was able to develop. This opportunity helped open my eyes to the oppression faced by marginalized populations and how great of an impact that race/ethnicity or Socio-Economic Status can have on a person’s ability to pursue higher education. Through that, I gained a better appreciation for social justice and felt more motivated to continue my work in becoming an ally and building a more equitable world for everyone, not just select groups. These passions helped encourage me to apply to the Social Welfare major here at the University of Washington, which I never would have thought possible or as important without my experiences in Dream Project. Throughout my ongoing education, I will sue what I learned in Dream Project and will challenge the systems that benefit some but oppress the majority and will continue to fight for a world that truly appreciates difference and diversity.