Perhaps you remember way back in 2010, when Matt Grant, principal of Olympia High School (OHS) approached GRuB with a challenge—“I have 200 kids not reaching their full potential. I want to build a school within a school built on the GRuB’s model to reach disengaged students.” And so began the GRuB-in-the-Schools Initiative where the ultimate goal was to not only create a new school-based program model, but to see such a model flourish across Thurston County, reaching more youth than GRuB could ever do alone.
We thought y’all might want to know how it all turned out! GRuB, in partnership with the Olympia School District (OSD), successfully evolved the best of our after-school youth development model into an embedded school program that combines Career Technical Education, dropout prevention, and summer job training. The GRuB School model is now serving six high schools in three different school districts (Olympia, Tumwater, and Eatonville) and has impacted the lives of 490 youth over the last eight years. The additional benefits of this model is the 170,000 pounds of food that have been grown by youth and enriched the nutrition of students and community members, as well as the 3,100 young children who’ve been mentored by these teens as they learn where their food comes from.
We could not have done this important work without the love and financial investments of the GRuB community. Some of you sat at those tables in 2010 and helped us hone this plan and then put down your cash to make it happen. We hope you can feel a real sense of satisfaction in knowing that your donations set the foundation for eight years of community change.
Having successfully embedded this model in our home school districts, GRuB has two goals over the next few years to further impact youthin our community and beyond.
1) Increase the number of schools/districts using the GRuB School model through technical assistance partnerships, teacher trainings, and improved curricular resources. We’re especially excited that leaders of the North Thurston School District are bringing this innovative model to their own schools and students over the next few years.
2) Evolve our on-site home programming to support youth who’ve dropped out of school in obtaining their GED (Graduation Equivalency Degree), 21st century job skills, connections to post-high school educational opportunities, and most importantly to the self-confidence,camaraderie, and sense of purpose essential for re-engaging in their lives and education. We are currently engaged in inspiring talks with GRAVITY High School to create a new innovative program that will launch in the Spring of 2019.
We hope you'll join us on this journey! Please consider making a donation today and help create the world in which we want to live.
