CHS Math Teacher Featured in University of Washington Newsletter

Ken Barnes’ class participates in “University of Washington in the High School” Program

information released; pictured above — Ken and Sarah Barnes

Congratulations to CHS math teacher Ken Barnes on being featured in a recent University of Washington newsletter story about the UW in the High School program.

Mr. Barnes teaches UW courses in PreCalc, Calculus I, Calculus II, and Calculus III at CHS. Students earn college credit for each class. Mr. Barnes is the first in the state to teach the UW Calculus III class as part of the program!

Below are excerpts from the story that highlights Ken Barnes:

What 80 Years of Teaching Teaches Us

For more than two decades, Judy Baker, Kenneth Barnes, Suzanne Funston and Annaick Sturgeon have done what teachers everywhere hope to do: help students grow. Collectively, they have devoted more than 80 years to teaching UW courses for UW in the High School, through which students earn UW credit while learning in their own high school classrooms from qualified instructors. Yet the impact they remember most often extends beyond academics.

They’ve watched young people discover strengths they didn’t know they had and helped provide them with pathways to higher education and access to opportunities once thought beyond reach. They’ve also grown as educators themselves, mentoring colleagues and helping shape learning experiences that reach far beyond a single course.

Discovering the Power of Perseverance

In Kenneth Barnes’ mathematics classroom at Chelan High School, where he teaches UW precalculus and calculus I and II, that transformation often begins with self-doubt. Students frequently arrive convinced they aren’t “math people.” Barnes has made a career out of challenging that belief. “My job is to encourage and to give them hope,” he says. “To show them ways that their brain can understand it.”

Barnes teaches at a Title I school where many students come from low-income households, and a large share are multilingual learners. For many, college-level opportunities can feel out of reach, especially when the cost of earning college credit is a concern. Thankfully, in 2023, legislators unanimously passed a new state law that made College in the High School free for students in public high schools. Now, through UWHS, Barnes has watched students gain access to experiences that broaden their view of what lies ahead.

One of those students was Alejandro. When Alejandro enrolled in Barnes’ UW precalculus class, he worried that limited English proficiency would stand in his way. Instead, Alejandro thrived. He continued into higher-level mathematics, earned admission to the University of Washington and became one of the university’s top engineering students.

Kenneth Barnes poses with his wall of successful graduates.

“That’s a kid who probably didn’t know his potential until he took a class like this,” says Barnes. “And now we have that state law; it’s an opportunity for anybody who wants to try.”

For Barnes, experiences like that are one of the most rewarding parts of teaching. Long before students know where they will end up, they begin to see what they’re capable of. “The precalculus class especially shows them how to persevere and meet goals,” Barnes says. “It really sets them up well for other classrooms and anything rigorous.”