This program offers Evergreen students the opportunity to learn together with youth incarcerated in Green Hill Academic School, a medium/maximum-security institution located in Chehalis, WA. In the Gateways program, which has been running since 1996, the learning of Evergreen students fuels and is fueled by the learning of Green Hill students. We proceed from the premise that every person has valuable experiences that can contribute to our shared learning. We flourish as co-learners in this program as we accompany and empower each other in our studies. High-stakes community-based work requires trust, and trust requires sustained commitment. This program requires that all participants be ready to commit themselves to the program for the entire academic year. The program entails approximately 8 hours a week in class on campus and 4-6 hours a week at the institution (including travel time) in Chehalis. Transportation is provided. Evergreen students will commit to either a Tuesday morning or a Tuesday afternoon class at Green Hill.
We will draw on the theories and practices of liberation education to cultivate our learning community. The content of our inquiry will accordingly be shaped collaboratively: in part by the faculty's training (creative writing, literary studies, cultural studies, environmental humanities, and contemplative practices), in part by the interests of Evergreen students, and in part by the interests of Green Hill students. The main feature of popular education is that it empowers those seeking education to shape and decide upon their own course of study, drawing from their own knowledge and curiosity. In practice this means that by the second quarter of the program, students at Green Hill are deciding upon workshop topics and co-designing these workshops with Evergreen students.
In order to do this work successfully, students will practice learning how to meet other learners where they are. Students will also develop or hone their skills in practices of healing-centered engagement, deep listening, and community building across differences. An important ethos of the program is that solidarity does not mean saving other people or solving their problems, it means creating conditions that allow each person to articulate their own problems and questions through genuine dialogue, bearing witness, and supporting each other as we develop and grow.
In the process of collectively shaping the Gateways seminars and workshops, participants will also learn collaborative ways of being and facilitation skills. In winter and spring, students primary focus, in addition to classwork at Evergreen, is to participate in designing, implementing, and assessing program workshops and seminars conceptualized by Green Hill students.
Students interested in enrolling in this program can familiarize themselves with the Gateways program before applying:http://www.evergreen.edu/gateways .
Registration
Participating students are required by the prison to pass a background check in order to work on site.
Students will be accepted to the program based on an application demonstrating relevant experience and an interview with program faculty and staff.
Please write to Miranda Mellis (faculty) at mellism@evergreen.edu with the subject line "Gateways application request" to receive the application.
Signature Required
Students will be accepted to the program based on an application demonstrating relevant experience and an interview with program faculty and staff.
Please write to Miranda Mellis (faculty) at mellism@evergreen.edu with the subject line "Gateways application request" to receive the application.
Academic Details
prison education, social work, public health, education, community work, criminal justice