Before the year comes to a close, University of Washington teams reflected on how they made a difference this year in our state — whether engaging with young readers, supporting prospective students or assisting families in need. UW employees’ commitment to our community truly knows no bounds!
Karin Mellskog, from UW Trademarks and Licensing, shares the history and purpose of the program behind this month’s winning photo. “Spearheaded by Trademarks & Licensing’s Senior Director Kathy Hoggan in 2015, Real Dawgs Read is in its fourth year. The goal of the program is to instill a habit of reading during the summer, so that students can continue to learn when school is not in session,” said Karin. This year, T&L partnered with 188 Title I, K-8 schools in Washington and shipped 73,000 reading journals and 272 teacher toolkits to help educators roll out the program in their schools. They then mailed a Husky hat and reading certificate to each of the 2,150 students who completed and returned the postage-paid reading journal. Middle school students who completed their journals were also given the opportunity to write an essay about why they want to attend the UW. Talk about inspiring future Dawgs!
Barbara Owens, from academic affairs in the College of the Environment, spoke about her team’s day-long Future Student Day, inspiring prospective students as they learn about the opportunities the College has to offer. “This year was another great success with a total of 120 guests in attendance,” said Barbara. Students from five different states, 36 different Washington state high schools and six different community colleges/4-year institutions attended the event.
The Transportation and Administration team from UW Facilities also knows how to give back. Sara Brydges and her team organized a food drive for the UW Food Pantry. “[Our] team is like a family and we try to give back to the UW community every chance we get,” said Sara, “[We deliver] the donations with a smile and warm hearts knowing they’ll benefit numerous members of the UW community.”