Get involved in prison education reform at UW! - by Claudia Jensen
When UW Honors students first had the chance to take a class with incarcerated inmates at the Twin Rivers Unit (TRU) at Monroe, they were determined to find a way to contribute to the educational opportunities available in that environment. As a result of that immersive summer experience, HOPE (Huskies for Opportunities in Prison Education) was born. The organization was started in 2013 under the leadership of Dashni Amin, and it has been going strong ever since. Dashni and her fellow students established a scholarship, led book drives, etc. and her leadership was followed by May Lim, shown below at our class presentations last summer at TRU. It has been my privlege to be the faculty advisor to this dynamic RSO.
As we approach our fifth year, we are celebrating HOPE’s achievements.
HOPE has sponsored exhibits of art created inside prison, they have held panel discussions involving formerly incarcerated students, and they have raised money to purchase dictionaries to place in the prison units. HOPE also sponsored book drives that resulted in about 1500 books that are housed in the new Academic Resource Center at Monroe – these are textbooks in all subjects that are available to everyone at Monroe. Finally, HOPE is working on sponsoring scholarships for incarcerated students who want to take correspondence classes.
All in all, we have a lot to celebrate as we head into our fifth year – please join us at an events and follow us on social media.
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Read student reflections by Hannah Myrick and Kathleen Edelheit to learn more about the Honors course: "In Your Name: Education Inside Prison" taught by Claudia Jensen.