South Bend, Washington...not Indiana

Two weeks after my trip to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to speak to high school students and families about scholarships, I am now in South Bend, Washington, for another scholarship trip. South Bend is a small town about three hours southwest of Seattle and about two hours north of my hometown, Portland, Oregon.

The GEAR UP coordinator for South Bend Schools emailed me back in May to find out info about bringing me down from Seattle. A few months later, we finalized the details, and now, here I am in South Bend. I'm staying at a local motel that recently renovated their rooms, so it looks really nice.

I talked with Doug, the owner of the motel, who was one of the friendliest people I've met. He is in his mid-fifties and, as he gave me the password for the wireless network, shared with me the massive technological changes that have occured in the past six years.

He told me some great stories about when he first heard of a thing called the "internet," to which he responded, "What is an internet?" He talked about the day when he first saw a computer mouse, and how all his co-workers were playing with this mouse connected to a large fax machine.

It was pretty fun to just chat with him and hear how he grew up in Montana, then worked at SeaTac Airport in Seattle, and then finally moved to South Bend eight years ago and bought the motel two years later.

South Bend, it seems, is a nice place. At first glance, it's a quaint, picturesque town nestled on Willapa Bay. The people are friendly and hoping for their kids to do well in school.

On a deeper level though, I learned that, beyond the scenic serenity of South Bend, the economic depression in the Willapa Bay area makes it difficult for some of the parents with whom I spoke to find reasons to stay in this area. They are hopeful that their children will take advantage of education because it's, as they say, their best chance to "get out" of South Bend.

The high school students themselves did not have the tools to maximize their scholarship resources other than a packet of 50 local scholarships they receive during the spring of their senior year--a few months too late, if you ask me.

I spoke with the ASB President of South Bend High School, a senior who hopes to attend Western Washington University, Eastern Washington University, or Lewis and Clark College next fall. Her experience of seeing her older sister, now a college freshman, receive the scholarship packet so late in the year has inspired her to push for getting the packets distributed earlier in the year.

I am looking forward to speaking to all the high school students tomorrow. I'll speak at 8:30 AM and then drive back to Seattle after that. I'll have two midterms to look forward to on Friday as well as a short paper. Can't wait till the weekend...

My next scholarship trip will not require an overnight stay as I'll be going to Covington, Washington, just south of Seattle. That'll be next Wednesday, but before then, I'll add my pictures from this trip. Time for bed!