Echo Glen Children’s Center recently celebrated three significant high school graduations for youth in residence – the first it has seen since integrating with DCYF in 2019.
Secretary Ross Hunter attended one of the graduation ceremonies. “It was awesome to see a very proud young person eloquently thank almost everyone in the room for helping her figure out a positive path to her future,” he said. “Her mother was beaming with pride. This is the best of what we can be as an agency – helping youth navigate their own future.”
That young person went on to enroll in community college with a clear intention to launch their goals. Another graduating youth plans to go to college to become a firefighter and give back to the community, stating, “I can’t believe I’ve come this far. I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it. [Echo Glen] turned out to help me a lot to succeed in my education.”
Creating successful transitions to adulthood for the youth in our care is one of DCYF’s key strategic priorities and is at the heart of these graduations.
“These young people did the work, but the team at Echo Glen provided them with the stability they needed, the support to accomplish a pretty hard task, and an opportunity at self-directed reinvention,” added Secretary Hunter. “I could not be more proud of the work we do as an agency.”
Echo Glen will continue to work hand-in-hand with the Issaquah School District to complete more graduations and increase post-secondary employment pathways for the promising young leaders of tomorrow.
Special thanks to Issaquah School District and Echo Glen staff for supporting these youth every step of the way to celebrate this milestone.