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During 36 hours in October, Dacoda Scarlett visited Palmyra High School in Palmyra, Mo; Monroe City High School in Monroe City, Mo.; Quincy Senior High School in Quincy, Ill.; Highland High School in Lewistown, Mo.; and Canton High School in Canton, Mo. This fall, WashU has visited 80 rural schools in Missouri and Illinois, some for the first time. (All photos: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)Palmyra High School students raise their hands to indicate how familiar they are with WashU. “WashU is very personable and very community-oriented,” Scarlett tells the students.Scarlett works on his PhD dissertation about rural college access. About 19% of rural Americans hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with an average of 33% nationwide.WashU’s Heartland Initiative funds recruiting trips to schools such as Palmyra High School (left) and Monroe City High School (right).At Monroe, Scarlett runs into Angela Chen, a member of the Rural Scholars Academy, a free one-week program for rural students.Jill McAfee, college and career counselor at Canton High School, plans to attend a free workshop WashU is hosting for rural counselors. “Educating counselors is as important as educating prospective students,” Scarlett says.Scarlett sets up a table outside of the Quincy Senior High School cafeteria. Quincy, Ill., has a population of 100,000 but still counts as rural because of its distance from a major city. “People tend to stereotype rural America, but what I always say is, ‘If you’ve seen one rural community, you’ve seen one rural community,” Scarlett says.
Senior Jason Darian stops by to hear more about WashU’s pre-med curriculum. “Our undergrad students get to participate in research, work on our Medical Campus and get a pre-health adviser,” Scarlett tells Darian.
