'Seed Teachers Program' aims for more diverse classrooms in Tacoma

TACOMA, Wash. — Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is partnering with Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) and Tacoma-based non-profit Degrees of Change to put teachers in classrooms who reflect the students they serve. The new Seed Teachers Program will let students work in Tacoma schools while getting their college degree and teaching credential debt free.

Taliya Cariaga-Kaliga's graduation from Lincoln High School brings her closer to her dream of teaching elementary school kids in Tacoma. Based on her own experiences in TPS, she said she believes the district could have a more diverse staff.

“When you look like your students, you understand certain experiences that you can share,” Cariaga-Kaliga explained. “I want them to know they can always come to me with anything.”

This fall, she'll be a Seed Teachers scholar.

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“It’s a pathway to a debt-free degree,” PLU Assistant Dean of Education Mary Jo Larsen explained.

This first cohort of 16 students will get scholarships to earn a degree at PLU, with mentoring and paid work experience at Tacoma schools throughout their college tenure.

“TPS has committed that they will be able to be working in Tacoma starting their first year of college and all the way through, earning at least that amount of money to not have any debt incurred while in college,” Larsen added.

“Grateful for the opportunity to partner and identify students but also create meaningful opportunities for them to come back to TPS, whether it’s elementary, middle or high school,” Degrees of Change CEO Marquise Dixon stated.

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This comes as teachers are in high demand in Washington. State data by the Calder Center revealed more teachers left the classroom during the past year than during the last three decades.

“We just want our teachers to be more representative of the community they serve,” TPS Director of Education Pathways Patrick Erwin said. “Our goal is to have a pipeline of 20 teachers every year coming out of PLU who then will come into Tacoma and teach.”

The opportunity gives Cariaga-Kaliga a chance to be the first in her family to go to college.

“Knowing that I’m going to have people that are going to be in my corner, helping me with stuff that my parents can’t help me with, is just a weight off my shoulders, so I’m really excited to be a part of this,” she stated.