Edgewood Experience

The Edgewood Experience was an immersive educational program for local high school students, created in 2021. In the program, local students worked with staff through a strategic sequence of activities, presentations, and discussions. The students learned about the services that municipalities provide, as well as the job responsibilities of each City staff member.

It is well-known that public education and engagement efforts can help reduce barriers to citizen participation in governmental processes and build trust in communities. However, young people are often excluded from these efforts. To address this reality, the Edgewood Experience provided an opportunity for youth to identify improvements, especially on issues such as transparency, accessibility, and equity. Giving students a “behind-the-scenes” look at what it takes to run a City empowers them to be advocates for the importance of local government and promote public engagement in community decisions. The program was established with seven (7) key goals in mind:

1.    Explain the role that local governments serve 
2.    Empower youth to become active citizens 
3.    Explore career paths in local government
4.    Provide professional and personal development opportunities
5.    Reach underrepresented community members
6.    Share the unique organizational culture of Edgewood
7.    Improve City processes and the Edgewood Experience program

The City has partnered with five (5) high schools for this program. Each school has nominated one (1) student to participate in the program. The partnering schools are listed below:

1.    Chief Leschi High School
2.    Fife High School
3.    Puyallup High School
4.    Sumner High School
5.    Walker High School

Program Manual

This manual shares all the details regarding how Edgewood created and facilitated this program.