CHIMACUM — A National Public Radio quiz show will be taped Saturday night in a benefit to support a local program designed to offer college-level humanities credit to low-income students.
“Says You!”, subtitled as “a game of whimsy, bluff and bluster,” will tape two shows at 7 p.m. Saturday in Chimacum High School auditorium.
Tickets are no longer available, as the 500-person capacity auditorium sold out shortly after the show was announced in January.
The performance benefits the Jefferson County Clemente course, an adult education program that teaches a classics/philosophy curriculum offered to qualifying students who are looking to expand their horizons.
Chimacum resident Lela Hilton, who has run the program since its 1999 inception, said it took several months to get through to the program’s moderator, Richard Sher, with her proposal.
“You can always call and ask for help, whether they are the high and mighty or regular people,” she said. “If it resonates for them, they will respond.”
Hilton priced the tickets at an affordable $25 in order to include community members.
After the show was sold out, the program added a Seattle date which also sold out, allowing Hilton to share expenses with the Seattle venue.
With expenses, she expects the program will only earn “a few thousand dollars” toward its $110,000 yearly operating budget, which originates from grants, private donors and other sources.
The value of the benefit is its potential to raise the program’s visibility, both for fundraising and to let people know it is available to them.
The Clemente Program, which is administered by Bard College throughout the world, was named in honor of Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Roberto Clemente, who died in 1972 while providing relief to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
During its history, the local program has had about 170 students graduate. They received six college credits toward a degree or simply enjoyed it as an educational experience.
“This is the only chance a lot of people will have to go to college,” Hilton said.
“There are no tuition fees or student loan repayments, which makes it accessible.”
While the program does not teach workplace skills, it provides students with the knowledge they need to get and keep a job, Hilton said.
“Taking the course fundamentally changes how people communicate,” she said.
“It gives them the guts to start their own business, which is what you need in order to survive in today’s economy.”
Hilton said many employers like Clemente graduates for their ability to think critically.
“Employers are willing to teach their employees how to do a job, so they are looking for people who can engage in an articulate way,” she said.
The Clemente course, she said, “gives students an understanding of their own power.”
Hilton said almost all of the students are women, most of them single mothers with small children.
“It makes them see education differently,” she said of her students. “Prior to the class they never would have thought of college as something they could do themselves.”
Additionally, students have a richer experience than the average college freshman.
“The only reason they are here is because they want to be,” she said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.