January 20, 2026

Strong partnership bridges the distance

Since its founding, the University of Washington’s Robinson Center for Young Scholars has served academically advanced students across the region. Yet for many Auburn School District families, those opportunities remained out of reach. The barrier was never a lack of talent or curiosity. It was access.

In Auburn, where more than 60 percent of students come from low-income households, reaching the UW campus posed an obstacle for families. “Some of our students rarely leave the Auburn area,” said Adam Ladage, director of student learning for the Auburn School District. “The University of Washington was largely unfamiliar to many of our students, and few pictured themselves as future UW students.”

Dr. Cristina Valensisi, director of Enrichment Programs and Professional Development at the Robinson Center, recognized the pattern. “Families from low-income and underrepresented communities often think our programs aren’t for them,” she said. “If they hear about us, the response is often, ‘That’s not for us.’”

In fall 2023, the Robinson Center’s Summer Program and the Auburn School District began asking a different question: What would it take to remove the barriers entirely?

Making 30 miles away much, much closer

The Robinson Center’s Summer Program is an immersive multi-week academic experience that brings highly-capable students to the UW campus for full days of learning. Students enroll in a single course and spend their days engaged in lessons, hands-on activities, labs and field trips. Younger students emphasize exploration, while older students may complete homework and receive academic records they can submit to their schools when requesting credit. The Summer Program does not offer grades or certificates; its value lies in sustained exposure to advanced learning and helping students imagine themselves in academic spaces they may not yet have encountered.

From the outset, Valensisi and Ladage recognized that barriers to participation were interconnected. Financial, procedural and cultural obstacles compounded one another, limiting access even for students with strong academic potential.

For many families, participation wasn’t just a matter of interest or ability; it came down to logistics and cost. The program’s tuition and registration fee made enrollment difficult without scholarships and waivers. Transportation added another barrier.

Although the UW campus is only 30 miles away, getting there from Auburn each day often wasn’t feasible for families. Multiple bus transfers, long commutes and time away from work made attendance out of reach. “We had one summer a few years ago when a student rode public transit up here every day,” Ladage said. “Most families aren’t comfortable sending middle school students on public transit from Auburn to the University.”

As the partnership took shape, additional needs came into focus. Some students arrived without backpacks or water bottles. Some faced food insecurity during the summer. “These are things we hadn’t had to plan for in the same way before,” said Valensisi.

Registration posed another challenge. Because the program is in high demand, enrollment fills quickly. “Registration opens, the website sees a surge in traffic, and within minutes some courses are full, especially STEM,” Valensisi said. “We realized we needed to make the process clearer and more supportive for families who were newer to it.”

Behind those hurdles lay deeper questions of belonging. Some Auburn students identified as highly capable still questioned whether advanced learning spaces were meant for them — doubts that could derail participation before students ever set foot on campus.

Each barrier reinforced the next. A student who could afford tuition still couldn’t attend without transportation. Transportation without guaranteed enrollment made busing financially unworkable. Fee waivers without a clear pathway left families stuck in a system that filled before they could act. Meaningful access required dismantling all barriers at the same time.

The work to make it work

The partnership began as a single conversation — a meeting meant to better understand the Robinson Center’s Summer Program. But as Ladage and Valensisi talked through the barriers Auburn students faced, the question shifted from What is this program? to What would it take to get Auburn students here — and make it work?

The partnership moved quickly from identifying gaps to redesigning access. One of the most consequential shifts was reserving space in the program specifically for Auburn students. The Summer Program committed to funding scholarships, ensuring cost would not determine who could participate. Guaranteed seats allowed the district to commit resources with confidence, particularly around transportation.

“If only 10 students could come, it wouldn’t make sense to run a bus,” Ladage said. “But when we knew 40 or 45 students had spots, we could fill a bus. That made it financially workable.”

Daily busing was paired with meal coordination, and students were provided backpacks, supplies and hygiene items as needed. These supports were funded through targeted scholarships and private giving.

Rather than relying on families to navigate a first-come, first-served registration process, the Robinson Center’s Summer Program and the Auburn School District began coordinating enrollment directly. Eligibility letters, scholarship documentation and timing no longer functioned as gatekeepers.

“We focused on removing barriers families would otherwise face at every step,” Valensisi said. “Much of that work happened behind the scenes, before families ever had to navigate it.”

Clear communication became just as critical as policy change. The partnership introduced virtual family meetings, bringing Auburn School District staff and families together to explain timelines, expectations and available support. Instead of decoding unfamiliar systems alone, families received guidance from people they already knew and trusted.

Together, the Robinson Center and the Auburn School District rebuilt the infrastructure for the Summer Program. Between 2023 and 2025, participation grew from a handful of Auburn students to 46 students traveling to campus by bus each week — made possible through financial support, policy changes and streamlined enrollment pathways. The partners hope to continue growing participation in 2026.

The growth reflects more than demand. It reflects an access model that works when barriers are removed at every step. “When you really want to make an impact,” Valensisi said, “instead of giving someone a ladder to climb over a barrier, you take the barrier down.”

The bus ride matters

Addressing access did not end with enrollment or arrival on campus. Transportation itself became part of the cultural solution. Traveling together from Auburn to the University of Washington, students arrived as a cohort rather than as individuals navigating an unfamiliar space alone.

“The bus ride matters,” Ladage said. “The conversations those students have with one another on the way up and on the way back are incredibly important.”

For many students, those conversations marked the first time they heard peers speak openly about academic ambition. “We hear students say things like, ‘I didn’t even know I was highly capable,’” Ladage said. “Or, ‘I didn’t know I was as smart as kids from private schools in Seattle.’”

Once in the classroom, the Summer Program worked intentionally to reinforce that sense of belonging. Staff and instructors participated in professional development focused on culturally responsive teaching and alignment with the partnership’s goals. Learning environments were prepared to support a broader range of student experiences.

“Getting students here is only part of the work,” Valensisi said. “If the classroom isn’t set up for them to succeed, then all of that effort is wasted.”

Here, belonging was structural — shaping how students were welcomed, how rigor was framed and how peers learned to see one another as collaborators rather than competitors.

For Valensisi, the partnership also prompted institutional reflection. “When the students who come to us aren’t diverse, our vision narrows,” she said. “This partnership helped us see concrete barriers — our website, our systems, how we communicate and how we move information.”

Clarity on possibility

The impact doesn’t end when students leave campus. They return to Auburn with more than coursework or projects; they come back with new confidence, language and relationships that reshape how they see themselves and what’s possible.

On those daily bus rides, students who might never have connected at school become friends. Those friendships persist, creating peer networks that normalize advanced coursework and college aspirations. The effects travel quickly: students compare notes with classmates and siblings, families share what they’ve learned with other parents and more students enroll in advanced courses with a clearer sense of what’s possible.

Valensisi said trust and relationships carry the message. “If a friend made it, they think, ‘I can do it too,’” she said. “That’s why this needs to grow.”

For Auburn students, what comes next may be Advanced Placement coursework, Running Start, a four-year university or another postsecondary pathway. The difference is choice — and the confidence to pursue it.

Innovating partnerships, evolving institutions

Sustaining this work requires coordination, trust and investment renewed year after year. As demand grows, maintaining access means strengthening the systems that make opportunity possible — and that takes donor support.

“When barriers are removed, students do the rest,” Ladage said. “My goal in education is to have as many kids as possible leave our district with as many doors open for them to choose their success.”

From the start, the Robinson Center’s Summer Program and the Auburn School District brought expertise, capacity and accountability to the work, and each adapted in response to what the work revealed. For the Robinson Center, that meant examining systems through a wider lens and preparing instructors to support a broader range of student experiences. For Auburn, it meant coordinating transportation, family communication and student support so participation was realistic, not aspirational.

“This isn’t just benefiting Auburn,” Ladage said. “Students who come here deserve to be here, and they have an impact on the University, too.”

Both partners see the work as unfinished. “Even with the growth we’ve had, I know how many highly capable students I still have who didn’t access it,” Ladage said. “So how do I get more barriers broken down for them so they can see themselves?”

For Valensisi, the vision extends beyond a single partnership. “This is something that can happen,” she said. “Both communities gain from this.”

The results are already clear: when institutions commit to removing barriers, students show up ready. The question now isn’t whether this model works — it’s how many more students will get the chance.

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About the Robinson Center

Philanthropy is essential to the Robinson Center’s mission. Private support ensures that challenging, accelerated learning isn’t limited by a student’s zip code, school district or ability to navigate complex systems.

As the Robinson Center serves a broader community of highly-capable students, donor investment expands access without compromising rigor. Gifts support Summer Program participation as well as Enrichment Programs, Transition School and early college pathways — including scholarships, transportation and coordinated enrollment — giving students meaningful time in advanced academic settings that build confidence and belonging.

In a changing educational landscape, private funding is more vital than ever to sustaining access. With private investment, what’s working in Auburn can reach more communities across Washington.