Dear PSCCN Community,

As we collectively navigate the impacts of COVID-19 and this period of uncertainty and anxiety, PSCCN is committed to our roles of supporting you and your institutions, and most importantly our students whose need for postsecondary access will persist beyond the challenges we face today. While we all adapt and work to care for ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities in this current moment, we invite you to make space to connect with others in the region to share insights, challenges, ideas, and requests about supporting students on their path to postsecondary.

Like many of you at your own schools, districts, and institutions, we here at PSESD are navigating the impacts of COVID-19. While collectively we enter a period of uncertainty and anxiety, PSCCN is committed to our roles of supporting you and your institutions, and most importantly our students whose need of postsecondary access will persist beyond the challenges we face today. We appreciate your resilience and creativity as we work in different ways.

PSCCN convenes district college and career leaders across Pierce and King Counties to share best and promising practices, provide peer consultation, and share resources in order to: improve equity in college and career readiness and postsecondary enrollment and support more students of color in accessing high-quality postsecondary options.

Leading Through the Master Schedule to Ensure Equity and Access: OSSI will be hosting a workshop at the Renton PSESD location providing professional development for district and building leaders on analyzing data and building master schedules to colleges and career readiness opportunity gaps.

Financial Aid 201: Finish your year strong and make your final financial aid push! This spring PSCCN in partnership with WSAC will be offering a free online financial aid training session regarding verification and award letters to help you assist your students in successfully completing the FAFSA/WASFA. See below for details.

PSCCN is pleased to spotlight Dr. Kevin McCarthy who is a close partner in our collaborative efforts on college and career readiness. Dr. Kevin McCarthy is the President of Renton Technical College (RTC) and the co-chair of the Puget Sound Coalition. He has an exemplary career in education that spans decades, which is why it's not surprising that he was selected by Aspen Institute to join the 2020-21 inaugural class of the New Presidents Fellowship.

Checking financial aid completion rates has just gotten easier, WSAC now visualizes each district's completion rates, allowing users to analyze data and produce interactive graphs and reports at the state, districts & school levels.

For the last 7 months, PSCCN hosted Mikaela Chavez an amazing educational community organization (ECO) Intern from the University of Washington. Mikaela bought a great personality, a willingness to learn and an amazing work ethic. During her internship, Mikaela had the opportunity to work on many different projects with the team but ultimately reported to Angelica. While we are sad to see her go, we are excited to see her take on the world or what lies in store for her. To wrap up her tenure here at PSCCN, Mikaela shares her experience through a Q&A interview.

The King County Promise Refinement Phase kicked off in late November/Early December with over 60 staff and students from local districts and high schools, community colleges, community based organizations and more.

Welcome Christian Granlund, Puget Sound College & Career Network’s new Manager. Before coming to PSCCN, Christian worked at South Seattle College to support outreach and onboarding of K-12 students.