CWU’s Interim Director of Admissions grew up in an impoverished neighborhood in Yakima, overcoming social and economic barriers to become the first member of his family to graduate from college.

Now, Moreno is leading the university’s effort to make higher education more accessible to prospective students just like him.

“I try to be that person who can demystify college for these families,” said Moreno, who helped open a new admissions office in his hometown last fall. “When I’m talking to high school students and their parents, I use my story, and my parents’ and siblings’ stories, to help show them what is possible.”

The Yakima admissions office is located near downtown and shares a space with the Yakima School District (YSD). CWU has been working closely with YSD and Yakima Valley College (YVC) over the past year to maximize opportunities for more students from the valley to obtain postsecondary credentials.

Moreno is joined in the Yakima office by Admissions Counselor Diana Borges and Financial Wellness Coach Ana Tamariz. The team hosts students from Yakima and surrounding communities, while also meeting them where they are for workshops and presentations.

“We’re more than just an admissions office,” Moreno said. “We visit high schools in the area every week and we encourage students to come talk to us. We also offer a lot of different resources to help families understand the services available to them, like scholarships, financial aid programs, and more.”

The main concept Moreno and his team try to impart to prospective students and their families is that, no matter their circumstances, CWU has programs and people who can help them succeed.

“Having us here in their own backyard tends to make families more receptive to the idea of college,” Moreno said. “We are able to connect with them better, and we can help them see that Central is the right fit.”

Opening the new Yakima admissions office aligns with CWU’s increased recruitment focus on the Yakima Valley. The majority of Central students traditionally come from King and Pierce counties, while hundreds of prospective students less than an hour away don’t always realize what opportunities are available to them at Central. These include classes offered at the CWU-Yakima center, co-located on the YVC campus.

“Last fall, we saw one of the largest classes ever from the Yakima Valley,” Moreno said of the 18% of first-time-in-college students who enrolled at CWU in 2024. “We’re expecting that number to grow even more next year, as more first-generation, low-income students learn about what CWU has to offer.”

In addition to working closely with high schools from Yakima to Sunnyside, Moreno is also building connections with local organizations, such as the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of Washington and the Rotary Club of Yakima. He’s always on the lookout for fellow Wildcat alumni, like OIC Chief Executive Officer Anthony Peterson, to help expand CWU’s reach.