By Rhonda Smith (story from Viewpoint Magazine)
Vincent Wallace and Beatriz Pascual-Wallace may have spent their childhoods on different continents, but both had the experiences of growing up in diverse communities and pursuing good public educations. Today, the pair have the same desire: that future generations will have similar opportunities.
Vincent was an Army kid who spent most of his early childhood on military bases in Europe. Beatriz grew up in a multicultural neighborhood in the heart of Seattle. When they were young, neither was very aware of racial tension.
Beatriz, ’87, saw diversity all around her as she was growing up in Seattle’s Rainier Valley, which the Census Bureau lists as one of the nation’s most ethnically diverse zip codes. Her friends and neighbors spoke Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Khmer. The experience lasted into college. “I was comfortable at the UW because the student population reflected how I grew up,” she says.
When Vincent was a pre-teen, his family moved stateside to Fort Lewis in Tacoma. A contrast to his experiences abroad, it was the first time he heard children say negative things about others because of their race.
Today Vincent, who is in systems design at Boeing, and Beatriz, a children’s librarian, make their home near Seattle. They have turned their energies to supporting students and fostering diverse communities.
The UW’s Office of Planned Giving is helping them do that by guiding their donations to two programs in the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity (OMA&D). wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House is a longhouse-style facility that supports the success of American Indian and Alaska Native students, while the Instructional Center provides academic tutoring and mentoring to underrepresented minority, first-generation and economically disadvantaged students.
“Sometimes you need a little help so you can pick up the knowledge and support you will need to be successful,” says Beatriz. “Our hope is that students who benefit will pass it on for others behind them to benefit.”