How Do We Build a
More Equitable Society?

The future doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built every day. Our 2025-26 Annual Report highlights how we’re investing in what’s next, strengthening our organization, expanding opportunities, and preparing scholars to succeed long after they leave our program. Dive into our new online report and see the impact your support makes possible.

At the end of Tacoma Mini College, each Rainier Scholars student shares an artifact that represents their time in the program and what it took to get there. The tradition goes back to our first cohort. This summer, Mateo, a Cohort 3 scholar, brought a chess pawn as his artifact, and the story behind it is both surprising and heartwarming.

This August, our first Tacoma cohort, now finishing 8th grade, went to the mountains for one more adventure before high school. Rainier Scholars partnered with Big City Mountaineers to bring scholars on a memorable camping trip to spend time together outside with friends as a celebratory capstone to their time at Rainier Scholars.

This summer, Tacoma scholars held a pig’s lung, ran an EKG machine, and tested water for chlorine and fluoride, all in the name of learning. From a new Medical Lab to a first-of-its-kind Tacoma Public Utilities partnership, read more to experience Tacoma scholar summer highlights.

Seattle scholars had a busy summer full of graduation celebrations, Career Expo, impactful internships, and fun summer capstone activities! Check out scholar interview videos, photo galleries, and internship testimonials to hear about how this summer was meaningful to them.

Rainier Scholars – Tacoma Recruitment Director Nicole Anthony called her unfinished bachelor’s degree her “internal scarlet letter” for a decade — until she discovered last year that she was closer to finishing than she thought. She enrolled at WSU, and was just appointed the university’s Student Regent, the first-ever Global Campus student to hold the seat. Today, she’s looking ahead to graduation and focusing on bringing more student voices to the table. Read her full-circle story.

What does it look like when students are given the opportunity, support, and community to realize their full potential?

Join us for a Rainier Scholars Program Tour and see for yourself.

Our school year tours in Seattle and Tacoma offer a firsthand look at the transformative journey that helps scholars build the critical thinking, resilience, confidence, and sense of belonging needed to thrive.