Rainier Scholars - where hope and hard work meet access and opportunity

Featured Content

Designing His Own Path: Elijah Smith's Journey to Art School

Elijah Smith, a senior in high school at Seattle Academy, is inspired by hip-hop culture and designer Virgil Abloh. He has built confidence and creative skills throughout his educational journey at Rainier Scholars and is excited to pursue a degree in fashion design.

How Tasia Tran Builds Belonging

Tasia Tran (Cohort 14) is a fourth-year film and digital marketing student at Central Washington University (CWU). Like many college freshmen, she lived in a campus dorm and was inspired by the way her Resident Advisors (RA) created belonging amongst new students. Now two years into her leadership role as an RA, Tasia has developed a clear philosophy about what it means to support a community of 34 residents on her wing (and a building of 350 students).

How Career Development Coaches Support Scholars

At Rainier Scholars, we want to do all we can to support students in landing their first professional opportunity. That’s the idea behind the Career Development Coach (CDC) Program, now in its second year at Rainier Scholars. The program works by pairing college scholars with professionals in their specific fields of interest. Designed to go beyond general career advice, our coaches offer something more targeted: individualized, industry-specific support from someone who’s been there.

Registration for our summer program tours is now open!

Come see our Seattle and Tacoma programs in action this July. Tour attendees will have the opportunity to observe summer academic enrichment classes, ask questions of scholars and staff, and learn more about our unique approach to prepare our youngest scholars for college, careers, and leadership.

We increase college access and graduation rates.

We develop the next generation of diverse leaders.

We build foundations of critical thinking, resilience and belonging.

A History of Student Success

We have seen over 950 lives transformed to date, with approximately 100 new scholars added to our program each year (includes Seattle and Tacoma program sites).

of scholars are on college prep pathways

Includes independent, parochial and boarding schools, as well as public school highly capable/advanced learning opportunities

of High School seniors have been accepted to 4-year colleges and universities

Compared to the national four-year college acceptance rate of 67%

Note: This reflects the average school selectivity rate. Source: 2019 State of College Admissions, National Association for College Admissions Counseling

of eligible scholars have graduated or are on track to graduate from 4-year colleges or universities

Compared to the national graduation rate of 65%.

Source: 2020 National Center for Education Statistics