Blog

I graduated from Rainier Prep in 2018 after attending Rainier Prep for its first three years. I now attend Phillips Exeter in New Hampshire. Rainier Prep has a very friendly environment where student voices are heard. One way of this happening is through Student...

Before I came to Summit Olympus, I didn’t really care about school. I was just doing the bare minimum to get by. My 8th grade year, I transferred from one district to another because I was getting into trouble. Then my mom’s friend told her about this charter high...

I’m a founding student and eighth grader at Rainier Prep. I live in Burien with my brother and our parents, who immigrated from Vietnam. My parents are constantly pushing me to be something better, to become the independent man they believe I can be one day. I learned...

Shauna Edwards, Founder, Lumen High School "We need to shift away from the expectation of failure to seeing teen parents as the amazing hard-working, strong adults that they are capable of becoming." As a 22-year old, I mentored a teen parent, and was confronted with...

Chastity Catchings, Founding Operations Director, Green Dot Rainier Valley Leadership Academy My role makes it possible for my school to serve the whole student, the whole family. As Director of Operations, my role covers everything outside of academics—the facility,...

Ayanna Gore, Vice Principal of Instruction and Culture, Summit Sierra To me, being a leader is all about activating the leadership in others. I’ve been working in public education for eleven years, first as a high school science teacher, and then as a STEM teacher...

Jessica Baumer, Founding Kindergarten Teacher, Impact Public Schools: Puget Sound Elementary This is my seventh year teaching, and my third time being part of a founding team at a charter public school. My heart just goes to where the work is—where there is the...