I’m working with the Diversity Recruitment & Outreach team at UW Bothell again, this time to document a special project at McKnight Middle School in Renton, Washington. UW Bothell student volunteers are spending time with the middle school students each week to build leadership and communication skills as well as self and cultural awareness. The volunteers are also facilitating conversations about how McKnight Middle School can better serve these students and set them up for success in college and beyond. The middle school student group consists of mostly African American and Latino young men, which are largely underrepresented groups on college campuses. Programs like this one can hopefully change that. It really is a remarkable program.

At the end of the year we will be producing a short documentary film that explains what we were able to accomplish. In the meantime, you can watch the first video installment of a series of updates about this outreach work. I am doing some of the filming, taking photographs, and most importantly mentoring a UW Bothell senior, Amen Mengesha, who is the director of the project. He is a media production star of the future, so be sure to watch that first video installment here, or below, to see what he created. I’ve included some of my photographs from week two below.