Kadlec, Gesa team up to support healthcare students at Tri-Tech

Kadlec Regional Medical Center and Gesa Credit Union have teamed up to give local high school students interested in working in the healthcare industry opportunities to develop their skills through on-the-job training and get paid at the same time. 

The healthcare provider and credit union have launched the first Kadlec Health Care Academy at Tri-Tech Skills Center, according to a release. The new program will provide local students the opportunity to explore various healthcare occupations while still in high school. 

About 36 students are expected to be among the first cohort. And with a $100,000 sponsorship from Gesa, participating students will receive compensation for their contributions, enabling them to participate without the need to find additional employment. 

“The Kadlec Health Care Academy is exactly the kind of investment we believe in,” said Brandon Allison, Gesa vice president of community impact, in a statement. “When local organizations work together, we can open real doors for students, connecting them to careers that matter while helping address a genuine need in our community. We’re proud to be part of that.” 

The academy is modeled after a similar program piloted in Spokane by Providence, which owns and operates Kadlec. 

Like that effort, the Kadlec academy is focused on engaging students from communities who have not had as much access or representation in healthcare. And while it will engage with students on healthcare specific-careers, those pursuing training not explicitly tied to health care but still applicable, such as IT and facilities management, will also be able to participate.

Kennewick school to become WSU Tri-Cities teaching lab

Aspiring educators from Washington State University Tri-Cities completing their student teaching at Park Middle School will have a far broader experience, thanks to a new partnership with Kennewick School District. 

Park Middle School, located in east Kennewick, was recently designated a WSU Tri-Cities College of Education, Sport and Human Sciences Teaching Laboratory School, according to a release. The new designation means that any WSU Tri-Cities teaching students placed there for their practicum will rotate through multiple classrooms rather than work in only one during their placements. 

Teaching candidates will then volunteer in selected classrooms to apply teaching techniques they’ve learned alongside how to support student learning. 

Park Middle School joins several other Tri-Cities schools as teaching laboratories. They include Richland School District’s Tapteal Elementary in West Richland, as well as Pasco School District’s Maya Angelou and Roselind Franklin STEM elementary schools.

Toastmasters offers public 8-week speaking course

Sun Country Toastmasters of Kennewick is offering an eight-week public speaking course starting May 21.

Called Speechcraft, the quick-start program aims to help participants develop communication and language skills, and gain confidence in public speaking – for job interviews, work presentations, wedding toasts and more.

Classes meet every Thursday except the second Thursday of the month. from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. beginning May 21 at Parkview Estates, 7820 W. Sixth Ave., Kennewick.

The $85 course is open to the public.

Toastmasters is an international organization that helps people improve their public speaking, communication and leadership skills.

For more information, email [email protected].

Pasco teacher honored for work with visually impaired

A Pasco School District teacher who works with the visually impaired has received an award for his work. 

Rajiv Panikkar, teacher of students with visual impairments, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired.

The award recognizes those who have made a lasting impact on the lives of the blind or visually impaired and who have contributed to improvements in services at the state or national level. 

Panikkar has worked at the Pasco School District for the past eight years and has more than 30 years of experience in the field. He’s also a certified orientation and mobility specialist and certified low vision therapist, and has served on boards at the state and national level, taught as adjunct faculty at multiple universities, and co-authored research on collaboration in services for visually impaired students. 

Panikkar was nominated by multiple peers for “his expertise, compassion, and unwavering commitment to students and families,” according to a news release. 

“The impact of Rajiv’s work goes far beyond individual students – it strengthens families, builds confidence, and opens doors to opportunities that might not have been possible otherwise,” said Christopher Pope, Pasco School District’s director of special services, in a statement. “He’s made a real difference in the lives of his students and their families.”

Pilot program aims to improve school attendance

United Way of Benton & Franklin Counties has launched a pilot program at Amistad Elementary School in Kennewick to help improve student attendance. 

Through United Way’s Attendance Matters mentoring program, 30 students will be sent home with weekend food bags filled with kid-friendly, ready-to-eat meals and snacks. The initiative helps address food insecurity, which research shows puts students at a greater risk of missing school, according to a news release from United Way. 

At Amistad Elementary School, almost 90% of families are low-income and nearly one in three students were chronically absent during the last school year. The weekend food bags will help reduce barriers to student attendance.

The program relies on 2nd Harvest’s Bite2Go initiative and funding from LabCorp.

Washington state awards $56M for childcare projects

Washington is pouring $55.8 million into early learning facilities across the state, including $3.6 million in Pasco.

Gov. Bob Ferguson announced the competitive grant awards April 16. The funds will create about 2,000 new childcare spaces and support renovation projects in over 50 jurisdictions. 

The three grants awarded in Pasco will add nearly 100 childcare spaces, most of them through an expansion of an existing childcare provider.

The grants are from the state’s Early Learning Facilities program, administered by the Department of Commerce. The 74 recipients include local governments, school districts, commercial properties and in-home childcare facilities. 

The grants provide funding to plan, expand, remodel, purchase, or build early learning facilities and classrooms.

Recipients include Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program contractors and Working Connections Child Care providers — two programs open to lower-income families.

In November, the Ballmer Group committed to funding up to 10,000 more Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program slots over the next decade. The investment could end up totaling more than $1 billion. The philanthropic group was founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie. 

The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program serves students from families who earn less than 36% of the state median income, students who are homeless and students with disabilities. 

The Department of Commerce received 325 applications for the Early Learning Facilities grants, requesting a total of $277 million. Priority was given to facilities that serve children from low-income families and that are located in rural areas.

Rise & Shine Early Childhood Center at 820 N. 20th Ave. in Pasco received the bulk of the local funding at $3.2 million. The remainder will go toward two in-home care providers.

Commerce has awarded more than $235 million from the Early Learning Facilities Program since 2017.

Release of the grant funding follows a cut to another early learning program, Transition to Kindergarten. Designed to prepare students in need of extra support for kindergarten, the program took a 25% reduction in funding under legislation that state lawmakers and Ferguson approved this year. 

-Washington State Standard

Microsoft selects Kennewick schools for AI initiative

Kennewick School District is one of 10 Washington school districts selected for a Microsoft program to expand artificial intelligence skills among the state’s future workforce. 

KSD will receive a $75,000 grant from Microsoft to support AI projects, along with $25,000 worth of consulting funded by the tech company to identify effective and responsible ways to adopt AI across the district. 

Redmond-based Microsoft announced its multiyear Microsoft Elevate Washington initiative in October 2025. Company officials said the effort is motivated by how few use AI in parts of the state, particularly east of the Cascades.  

The tech company has already made Copilot Studio, a tool that can help school staff build AI applications, available to all 295 school districts and 34 community colleges free of charge for the next three years.