When the Student Becomes the Teacher

Jacob Mitchell admits he had a rough time in high school. When his family relocated from Denver to Spokane in 2021, they moved into Gonzaga Family Haven (GFH), an affordable housing complex for formerly houseless families.

“I was skittish at first,” he says of starting out at Rogers High School. “My transcripts had been lost and I found out I was two years behind. I had big packets to complete to redo all that work. I was depressed and frustrated.”

Luckily, he also had two future friends awaiting at the Haven.

Sophie Kuhn (’22) and Matt Braatz (’22) were GU students in the teacher education program, with majors in mathematics and English respectively. They had joined the Haven as educational achievement coordinators and were ready to coach Mitchell through the challenge of achieving a high school diploma.

“They showed me how to read things and highlight key points and analyze information,” Mitchell explains. “Sophie helped me with math assignments and prepping for tests. We worked together one to two hours every day to prepare for tests and complete essays.”

“They helped me so much – it was really touching to me,” he shares. “Now, I think of them as family – always with a smile on my face.” Mitchell indeed graduated from Rogers and went on to Spokane Community College where he completed a certification in welding.

“We were able to help a handful of Haven residents complete work to graduate on time, who otherwise were at risk of not finishing,” says Peg Haun-McEwen (’86, ’90 M.A.), director of community at Gonzaga Family Haven. “We’ve also celebrated three community college graduates.” Peg attends every graduation.

“Jacob’s stepmom was so inspired by his example,” Haun-McEwen says, “she completed her high school equivalency after Sophie helped her find the right program, and bring her math skills up to date. She was the first in her family with a high school diploma!”

“Families are learning the importance of better school attendance and our team at GFH helps bridge the communication between home and school,” Haun-McEwen explains.

Animating the Educational Mission

Gonzaga Family Haven opened in September 2021, during Kuhn and Braatz’s senior year at GU. The effort among Catholic Charities Eastern Washington, Gonzaga University, Gonzaga Preparatory School and St. Aloysius Parish provides 73 apartments with a mission: Build on the partners’ strengths to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty through education.

The design team challenged with making that vision reality could not find other low-income housing programs with models to follow, so members of the partnership worked together to create one. What resulted included the expertise of faculty from GU’s School of Education and staff from the Center for Community Engagement, Catholic Charities’ Haun-McEwen, and Lori Wyborney, former principal at Rogers High, who brought keen insights into working with low-income families.

“We were building the plane while flying it,” Haun-McEwen says, “which required a lot of ongoing reflection about what was working and what wasn’t.”

They began with after-school snacks and activities for youngsters, moving quickly into a customized tutoring program designed to keep students from failing or dropping out.

“Peggy always stressed that ‘Success looks different here,’ ” Kuhn says. “These families need different supports. And there’s no one-size-fits-all to tutoring. That said, we do find it important to incentivize reading, particularly with middle-schoolers who don’t identify with it. Reading is key to a successful education.”

“It’s also important to get parents on our side,” she continues. “Many of our parents had negative personal experiences in school. It’s vital to help them pivot their perspective and understand that – for their kids and often themselves – school matters.”

Braatz reached out to teachers to find out what was needed for students to catch up, then developed plans and pathways. Where they saw evidence of adverse childhood experiences, they explored ways to encourage more positive behaviors.

“These kids have been through so, so much,” Braatz says. “They’ve seen so many people come and go in their lives – it was hard for some to even want to participate. We made sure to be there every day and reminded ourselves that the anger we sometimes saw was not about us – it was simply how they were experiencing emotion.”

Simple rewards and signs of progress began to show: Students would seek out Kuhn and Braatz to share about their day or suggest a book to read together. “To see them express genuine kindness was encouraging,” Kuhn says.

Deepening Involvement by Prep Students

After graduating from GU, Braatz and Kuhn became educational achievement coordinators, roles created by Catholic Charities and Gonzaga Prep. Later, they joined the faculty at Prep full-time, deepening its ties with the Haven, which is right next door. They hosted events to talk with teachers about the program, and became moderators of Prep’s GFH Club, an important part of the high school’s community service options. Like other Jesuit schools, Prep students are required to invest at least 40 hours in community service to graduate.

“Matt and Sophie arrived at Prep with positive and infectious energy,” says Elizabeth Slamkowski DiTommaso (’12), director of the Office of Service and Justice at G-Prep. “They’ve created a lot of excitement about service for our students and colleagues. We are so blessed to have them.”

High schoolers have embraced the emerging opportunities. In addition to after-school activities and tutoring, they work on numerous drives – for food, cleaning supplies, hygiene items and more. It’s not uncommon to see a handful of students present a pop-up clothing cart offering second- hand clothes for families at the Haven, or an athletic team spending afternoons playing with the GFH kids.

“We work to help Prep students recognize that the resources and support most of them have are not the same as what others have,” says Braatz. “Students see that Haven kids have a different life experience, and they come to understand why some behave as they do, and what it takes to heal. Many Prep students come to understand their own implicit bias and the need to lead with mercy and understanding before judgment.”

Kuhn underscores: “Our Prep students actually experience the social justice strength of Jesuit education. Each of us has a positive light to share. We owe it to others to treat them with dignity and respect. They are, literally, our neighbors.”

Haun-McEwen estimates that since opening, more than 300 Prep students and volunteers, sports teams and clubs have interacted with GFH families.

Reflections

As expected, the rewards for Braatz and Kuhn are also personal.

“Working at GFH has made us better teachers, and also better people,” Kuhn reflects. “We know that most young teachers don’t get this opportunity – the chance to develop and progressively modify a program, to help youngsters who are struggling, to introduce these terrific high school students to the challenges that others face and to the joys of service to others. We’re so grateful.”

“Without the Haven, it would have been more difficult – and taken longer – to see the value and rewards of working with families focused on overcoming poverty,” Braatz says. “We’re still learning, of course, but the perspective we’re experiencing gives us a clear picture of the complexities our society is facing and underscores the importance of the work we’re doing to help others – our students – better prepare for challenges of today and tomorrow.”

They’re inspiring others as well, as Jacob Mitchell explains: “I’ve been working for some time now, and I’m thinking about going back to school. I’m looking at fire science (to become a firefighter) or maybe counseling – helping to save lives, one way or another.”