Recently I gathered with our college community to celebrate the opening of our Basic Needs Hub that will connect our students with resources and opportunities that can help them stay in school, complete their education, and achieve their academic and career goals.

Standing in that welcoming space, I felt gratitude for our basic needs team who will be working with our students: Caitlin Malvar, Basic Needs Navigator, is assisted by two Portland State University graduate students earning master’s degrees in social work, Meagan Montalto and Pearl Brown, who are the team’s Basic Needs Program Specialists. And of course, Oso, our Basic Needs therapy dog!

That experience in our Basic Needs Hub caused me to contemplate how education, opportunity, and support can impact lives.

The youngest of eight children, I grew up in one of New York City’s housing projects in the South Bronx. I attended public schools until my seventh-grade teacher noticed that I wasn’t being challenged enough academically and suggested I consider attending a private school, which I did. I received support from A Better Chance, an organization that opened the door for me to attend Columbia Prep—and changed my life.

At Columbia Prep, I was in the same city I’d lived in my whole life, but it seemed like an all-new city to me. I was exposed to many new experiences: the ballet, the symphony, museums, Broadway shows, all of which were part of my academic experience. That is when I first experienced the transformative power of education as well as the disparities that exist between the haves and have-nots.

One teacher assigned us to do research at the New York Public Library’s flagship location downtown where I was greeted by Patience and Fortitude, the regal marble lion sculptures at the entrance at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. It was a long way from the South Bronx, in many ways. In my music appreciation class, we were assigned to attend the New York Philharmonic. Although I used my free transit pass to travel to Lincoln Center, it was a stretch both culturally and financially because I had to pay for my own ticket.

I was fortunate. I had a home, my mother’s home-cooked meals, clean clothes to wear, and a loving family. But money for extras like symphony tickets was not easy to come by.

That experience got me thinking: Why aren’t my friends in the Bronx afforded the opportunity to the symphony or the ballet or the museum? Why did I have to leave my neighborhood to get a good education? I realized how unfair that was. My quest for education was driven by that realization—that “aha” moment.

Straddling the two worlds of midtown Manhattan and the South Bronx, I developed survival skills to co-exist in both worlds. I got an excellent education at Columbia Prep, but I was frustrated that I couldn’t get the same quality education in schools in the Bronx. That’s been part of the reason for my advocacy for equity. It has led me on the quest for equal access and equitable success for students. It is what drives me to champion Clark College’s equity-centered strategic plan.

Eliminating barriers for students

During my entire career working in higher education, I have learned that providing opportunities for equitable success for college students means eliminating barriers that can prevent them from beginning or completing their education. Many students struggle with maintaining basic needs including housing, food, clothing, healthcare, childcare, paying their utility bill, and more.

Today more than half of the state’s college students qualify as low-income, and about half also reported experiencing food insecurity or housing insecurity, and more than 10% reported experiencing homelessness, according to the Washington State Achievement Council.

We are seeing these same barriers reflected in Clark College students:

• 31% of our students are low-income
• 45% of our students are first-generation college students without a family member to help them navigate college, including financial aid concerns
• Our campus food pantry saw a 70% increase between 2022 and 2023 in the number of students accessing food for themselves and their households.

Clearly, our students’ needs are great—and even overwhelming for so many. At Clark College, we continually ask ourselves:

• How can we eliminate barriers for our students?
• How can we help them stay on their path and complete their degree?

We already were offering free food pantry boxes every month, free bus passes, reduced membership to our campus fitness center ($10 per term), free counseling and health center, and much more.

But it wasn’t enough. Many students at Clark College and throughout our state still face so many barriers. Recognizing this need, the Washington State Legislature passed Second Substitute House Bill 1559 in 2023 requiring all public postsecondary institutions to address student basic needs by employing a benefits navigator, a single point of contact for students to access resources including public benefits, emergency assistance grants, housing supports, and more.

Providing access to basic needs

The state’s plan includes these action points for every public college or university:

• Hiring a basic needs navigator (or benefits navigator)
• Creating and implementing a hunger-free and basic needs campus plan
• Providing services through a basic needs hub (or benefits resource hub)

I am pleased that we have hired a basic needs navigator, a new role supported by the state to provide a single point of contact for students seeking essential resources.

Our navigator, Caitlin Malvar, first developed a comprehensive, holistic plan of action for addressing our students’ food insecurity, housing instability, and other basic needs so that they can focus on their education.

Next, our navigator focused on establishing a basic needs hub in our student union building. It provides a single location on campus where students can connect with our navigator to access a range of vital services, learn what benefits they may be eligible for, and get help completing various enrollment applications for food, housing, healthcare, utilities, and more. Although many college students can qualify for assistance, most do not realize they are eligible for these resources.

“So many of our students do not realize they are eligible to receive SNAP benefits,” said Caitlin, who is helping eligible students apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). “We are destigmatizing the need for essential resources to thrive in higher education and in life.”

Crashing through barriers

Through the collaboration of our basic needs hub and our Workforce Education Services (WES) office, our students can now access wrap-around services and resources to help them complete their education. With all of these in place as we step into a new academic year, Clark students—and students around Washington State—are crashing through barriers as they step toward achieving their academic goals.

Photo: Clark College/Susan Parrish

This article was first published on Dr. Karin Edward’s LinkedIn profile. We have included a Q&A with Sarah Theberge, Clark College faculty for the Bachelor of Applied Science in Teacher Education and Early Childhood Education programs at the end of the article.

Please join me in congratulating Ami, Caroline, Emily, Olivia, and Tammy.

These five women comprise the first cohort of Clark College students to graduate from our new Bachelor of Applied Science in Teacher Education program. Our two-year BASTE program leads to certification in preschool through 8th grade and endorsements in bilingual education, special education, and early childhood special education.

Our first cohort represents a variety of student types. Some are recent high school graduates. Others completed high school decades earlier and have been busy working in other fields and raising families. But all were passionate about becoming teachers.

These graduates embody the promise Clark College made to our students and community: Provide a seamless pathway for the student who already has earned an associate of applied science degree to access a teacher education/certification degree that has:

• Affordable cost, so they can graduate with less debt
• The ability to immerse and connect in smaller cohorts
• Academic flexibility for working students
• A combination of evening, hybrid and online courses
• Ample hands-on experience in local classrooms
• Easily accessible and familiar campus

I am pleased that Clark College created a teacher training program that checked all those boxes.

Thanks to this new pathway to teaching, Ami, Caroline, Emily, Olivia, and Tammy are prepared to head into local classrooms, putting their skills to work as they begin their rewarding teaching careers.

Clark College is the only community college within 40 miles that offers a bachelor’s degree in teacher education. In fact, Clark College offers five Bachelor of Applied Science degree programs:

• Applied Management
• Cybersecurity
• Dental Hygiene
• Human Services
• Teacher Education

New pathways can help resolve teacher shortages

Our BASTE students can specialize in areas currently experiencing teacher shortages in Washington State, as reported by the Washington Student Achievement Council, including:

• Special education, including early childhood special education
• Elementary education, including early childhood education
• Bilingual education

Around our nation, the need for bilingual teachers is increasing. In Washington State public schools, 14.3% of students were English language learners during the 2023-2024 academic year. Locally in Clark County, our two largest school districts averaged 17.1% of English language learners in 2023-2024.

Our program reduces the cost burden for teachers

Having worked in education for my entire career, I know that people choose to become educators not to make a lot of money, but because they are passionate about helping students, impacting lives, and making a difference in their community. Teaching is a labor of love.

Students who complete our BASTE program in four years at Clark College can save more than $23,400 in tuition and fees compared to students who pursue a similar bachelor’s teaching program at four-year public universities. This can lead to less student debt, making it easier for graduates to start their new teaching careers.

Empowering new teachers to adapt and thrive

Our BASTE program trains future teachers to be adaptable and able to work with a variety of learning needs and abilities, just as they will encounter every day in their classrooms. We provide them with the most current education practices and real-world classroom experience so they can thrive in their careers.

Our second BASTE cohort of 17 students—more than three times larger than our first cohort—is on track to graduate in June 2025. This fall, we will welcome our third cohort. It is gratifying to consider how deeply our BASTE-trained teachers will impact the lives of their students, their students’ families, and their communities over their teaching careers.

I am reminded of this quote: “If you look behind every exceptional person, there is an exceptional teacher.” Dr. Stephen Hawking, the renowned theoretical physicist, said this in tribute to a teacher who inspired him.

Here is how Sarah Theberge, Clark College faculty for our BASTE and Early Childhood Education programs described watching our first cohort of BASTE students graduating: “It is such a gift to be able to offer this program, be a part of the design with the most dedicated team, and to see this fabulous first cohort walk across the stage knowing they are graduating from a program designed with equity at its roots. This ensures that elementary and middle school classrooms have teachers who are skilled and align with the community demographics more authentically.”

Learn more about the Bachelor of Applied Science in Teacher Education at Clark College here.

Q & A with Sarah Theberge

Q: Why did Clark College decide to offer the BASTE program?

ST: SBCTC (Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges) charged community colleges with the task of offering Bachelor of Applied Science degrees to meet the needs of career tech students. Our dean approached us with an opportunity to rise to this charge within our program and work toward teacher certification for students.

Q: What need did your department see that was not being offered in our community? How is the BASTE program meeting that need?

A Bachelor of Applied Science in Teacher Education would fill that gap in our community. When we presented this idea to various advisory boards, the support was overwhelmingly positive.

Q: What was the process for creating Clark’s BASTE program?

ST: We began that process in 2019 by exploring what other colleges have done, met with school districts to understand needs, and started the approval process that involved the college’s Board of Trustees, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and the Professional Educators Standards Board (PESB), which is the accrediting body of teacher preparation programs in Washington State.

Q: How is the BASTE program training and preparing educators to step into a teaching career and make a difference in their classrooms?

ST: This is my favorite question! There are some core values within the context of the program. The first being a pathway for Early Childhood Education (ECE) students that is affordable and accessible with equity and inclusion, including Power, Privilege & Inequity embedded in each course.

Our desire is to align with Grow Your Own Teacher initiatives, where the representation of teachers who match the demographics of the districts is primary to the program. We also have partnered with districts and have listened to and heard the needs they express for this representation. School districts want teachers able to work with a wide variety of learning needs and abilities. This is why we offer both the Early Childhood Special Education endorsement and the Elementary Education Special Education endorsement. In keeping in line with our equity and Power, Privilege & Inequity values, we also offer the Bilingual endorsement.

These endorsements serve to meet the needs of the skills teachers are to possess in our service area to serve the children and families in the classroom. In addition, these endorsements allow teachers to move within the buildings they are working to meet the needs of individual school objectives and goals.