CWU Director Named President-elect of National Farm-Worker Education Association

Central Washington University's Miriam Bocchetti has been elected president of the National HEP CAMP Association, which supports students from migrant and seasonal farmworker (MSFW) backgrounds who are seeking educational opportunities.

Bocchetti is CWU's director and principal investigator for both the High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP).

Her term as the association president begins July 1. Currently, as president-elect, Bocchetti advocates for the overall association and its educational programs, which provide support services for MSFW students. She has served on the association board for more than a decade.

Bocchetti was nominated and then elected for the presidency at the association's 2019 national meeting in Washington, DC. Elections are held annually, with the incoming president serving as president-elect for two years, as president for two years, and in the role of past president for two years.

HEP, which aids MSFW students who have left high school in pursuit of their High School Equivalency degree, serves more than 6,000 students nationally each year, including 110 at CWU. CAMP assists students in their first year of college with academic, financial, and personal support.

Nationally, CAMP serves about 2,400 participants annually-60 through CWU. Overall, nearly 75 percent of CAMP students graduate with baccalaureate degrees. At present, more than 100 HEP and CAMP federal programs are underway throughout the US.

The National HEP/CAMP Association is comprised of representatives from all the universities, colleges, and non-profit organizations that operate a HEP, CAMP, or both.

The national association's goal is to improve the quality and effectiveness of all HEP and CAMP programs and related projects and to distribute pertinent information about both programs. Each is supported through a grant from the US Department of Education's Office of Migrant Education.

CWU is now in the process of seeking another $4,750,000 in federal funding to support the next five years of the university's HEP and CAMP programs. Nationally, HEP was founded in 1967 and CAMP began five years later. At CWU, both programs started in 2001 and have received consecutive funding since their inception, and have served about 3,000 students.