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PHOTOS BY CLARE JENSEN

COLLEGE BOUND. Students at Gault Middle School wear donated college T-shirts as a way to perpetuate the American dream of going to school and getting a good job. Even future students, such as Rachel Cropper’s 7-month old niece Emma Hixson, were cloaked in college shirts. Hixson is wearing one of 50 pint-sized Pacific Lutheran University shirts donated by the college with the hope of inspiring youth to plan for success in their futures.

College campaign takes root at middle school

By Clare Jensen

Six months ago, college might have been the last thing on the minds of various middle school students at Gault.

Today, higher education is the buzz on the minds and the backs of nearly every student at the East Side school.

In January, faculty at Gault Middle School launched their “Gault is College Bound” campaign, in hopes of instilling the vision in students of not just graduating, but of furthering their education in some way after high school.

In a district where a third of the students don’t graduate, and in a neighborhood where poverty and crime rates are high, planning for college could be on the back-burner for students in general, let alone middle-schoolers.

But that’s not the case at Gault today. Eighty percent of the eighth-grade students at the school have started their journey to college by signing the college bound pledge – a piece of paper that says if a student maintains decent grades and stays out of trouble, their college is paid for.

“The younger we can get them to understand that 12th grade is not that far away…the better,” said Assistant Principal Tracy Allen.

And so far, it seems to be working.

Seventh-grader Miriam Salgado said she had never given college much thought until this year. She signed the pledge because her mother knew it was a good opportunity, and she knew she wanted to be the first one in her family to go to college. Salgado, who was wearing a bright red Washington State University T-shirt June 3, said she can see the value of education in America and she plans to attend college to pursue a degree.

Salgado was not the only Gault student wearing a college shirt that day. She was surrounded by her peers all representing different avenues of higher education – something that instructional facilitator Rachel Smith-Mosel was aiming for back in January when she sought donations of college gear.

Gault now has enough college shirts to outfit every student in the school, and even some of their younger siblings.

Tiny higher-ed T’s were given out to Gault little ones at a recent school family night to drive the reality of post-high school home even harder.

Gault student Abraham Mercer got his shirt for exemplifying citizenship and respect.

He is one of 85 percent of Gault students who got their college shirts as a reward for being caught doing something good in the halls of their school.

Mercer said he sees the value of Gault’s multi-faceted College Bound campaign.

“College is an opportunity in life that basically determines your future,” he said. “I want my future to be bright.”

Mercer has an older brother who attends University of Puget Sound, and a father who gave him some good advice, which Mercer said he has just recently realized.

“What you do affects your peers too. You can inspire them, you can change their lives too.”

Alberto Gutierrez doesn’t have anyone in his family who has attended college, but he is surrounded with signs of college and ambition nearly everywhere he turns at Gault.

“I want to go to college. This year has really opened up that door for me,” he said.

That is exactly what Smith-Mosel and faculty at Gault aspired to do six months ago – they wanted to plant the seeds for higher education in the minds of students who might never consider it as an option, and it is clear those seeds have already developed strong roots.

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