A program for promising students of color.

Our scholars come from those groups most underrepresented on college campuses—including African Americans, Hispanic Latinos, Native Americans, and first generation Asian Americans.

We particularly recruit those students who have the greatest number of barriers to a college education. More than 80 percent of our scholars qualify as low-income. More than 85 percent come from households where they are the first in their families to attend college.

Our scholars are distinguished as much by what they have as what they don’t have. All Rainier Scholars demonstrate innate cognitive ability, motivation and a strong work ethic.
 
Of course, the best way to know who we serve is to talk with the students themselves. Several Rainier Scholars described their backgrounds in poems compiled under the title, Where I’m From. Here is an excerpt:

"I am from bookshelves full of books that I have already read.
I am from a long line of fighters that do not give up.
I am from a family with big dreams.
I am from closed doors I will walk through…
I come from truth.
I am from people who fought for justice
I am from my mother’s tears and my father’s sweat.
I am from people who sacrificed their lives for me.
I am from never letting go of hope."