PORT ANGELES — A Peninsula College instructor in corrections education will receive a “Champion of Change” award at a White House ceremony in Washington, D.C., today.
Brian Walsh, director of corrections education at Peninsula College, was named by the White House as one of 10 “local heroes” to receive the award.
The award ceremony will be streamed live online at 11 a.m. PST on the White House website at www.whitehouse.gov/live.
Walsh was traveling to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and was unavailable for comment.
The award celebrates educators who are taking creative approaches in using technology to enhance learning for students in communities across the U.S., the White House said.
It is given by the ConnectEd Initiative, a White House program that President Barack Obama launched in June .
The White House said that Walsh “believes that by providing quality college education, offenders will be less likely to return to prison and be better prepared to care for themselves and their families.
“As education director for Clallam Bay and Olympic corrections centers, Walsh started the first prison-based Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training program, a nationally recognized curriculum for adult education in Washington state.”
Walsh founded five vocational programs at the prisons located in Clallam Bay and about 25 miles south of Forks: Sustainable Horticulture, Artisan Baking, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Green Building, and Computer Programing and Game Development.
He has led the effort to expand the use of technology in the prison classroom, the White House said, and worked to develop secure ways for faculty within prisons to deliver offenders the same technologically-enhanced education courses available to the public.
Walsh and his wife also own and operate Five Acre School, an independent, private school near Sequim for preschool-through-eighth-grade students.
He received a bachelor’s degree from Ripon College and, while serving as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, a master’s degree from the University of Wales in Britain.
To learn more about the program, see www.whitehouse.gov/champions.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
