Partnerships Renewed and Deepened with Local School Districts
Washington College signed a memorandum of understanding with Kent County and Queen Anne’s County school districts to continue to build opportunities that benefit current teachers, teachers in training, and public school students.
The leaders of Kent County Public Schools, Washington College, and Queen Anne’s County Public Schools sign the new memorandum of understanding.
Washington College education students have been doing their teaching internships at Kent and Queen Anne’s county public schools since 1978. And some high school students in both systems have had opportunities for dual enrollment classes and summer internships at the College for several years as well.
But at the end of July, the College and the two school districts signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that acknowledges the many ways Washington College and local public schools reinforce and support each other’s work and seeks to deepen teacher education and dual enrollment programs while continuing to create new opportunities for collaboration, especially around civic engagement.
“It was time for a renaissance,” said Mary McComas, superintendent of Kent County Public Schools. “What I really find exciting about the partnership is the dual enrollment aspect, expanding local students’ opportunities to take courses near their home on a college campus.”
This fall, Washington College will welcome 16 high school seniors from Kent and Queen Anne’s counties for dual enrollment classes, continuing several years of double-digit participation in a program that only attracted a handful of students as recently as 2022. In a brainstorming session prior to the official signing ceremony for the MOU, there was universal agreement on the value of getting high school students on to a college campus.
Queen Anne’s County Public Schools Superintendent Matt Kibler ’05 also named dual enrollment as one of the most exciting aspects of the agreement, along with the creation of additional opportunities for high school students to interact with the College. As a first-generation college student himself, Kibler noted the value in helping students of all ages learn about college and opportunities after graduation, whether through classes, sporting events, or internship opportunities.
Washington College Department of Education Chair Sara Clarke-De Reza led the process to create the MOU and at the beginning of this month became the associate dean of pathways and partnerships. She opened the brainstorming session, meant to be a first step in moving from an MOU that establishes a framework to developing concrete plans and programs.
"While the Education Department has long tended our public school relationships, it's time for Washington College to take on, at an institutional level, the stewardship of these mission critical partnerships,” Clarke-De Reza said. “This new agreement formally acknowledges the many ways our institutions support and strengthen one another and provides an opportunity to bring new energy to our future work."
In addition to teacher preparation of Washington students in Kent and Queen Anne’s schools and continued growth of the dual enrollment program, possibly by offering new courses, the memorandum of understanding had one other primary area of focus: civic engagement opportunities for students.
As an example of civic engagement involving students from both districts and the College, Thomas V. Mike Miller Director of Civic Engagement Pat Nugent highlighted the Hip Hop Time Capsule internships at the Innovation Plant, where high school students learned skills while Washington College students helped run the program.
President Bryan Matthews ’75 M’86 P’12 noted that college students can be very effective mentors for high schoolers, and before the signing ceremony he shared his view of the enhanced MOU.
“This kind of a partnership is just critical. It is so important because of the impact we have on each other,” Matthews said. “It is just a really exciting way to not just talk about it, but after a lot of hard work, have a real partnership taking existing programs to the next level.”
— Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven