Arlene Espinoza-Valenzuela was too shy to raise her voice in a room full of people. Three years later, the 19-year-old from South Everett's Casino Road neighborhood works as a paid crew member aboard a 133-foot historic schooner on Puget Sound.
"The way I'm talking right now, I couldn't do," Espinoza-Valenzuela told The Seattle Times in an Aug. 2 profile. "I couldn't get my voice even this high without feeling almost embarrassed, but now, I'm very open."
Espinoza-Valenzuela first stepped aboard the schooner Adventuress in 2023 through Everett at Sea, a free six-day sailing program that sends Casino Road youth into the San Juan Islands each summer.
The program is a partnership between Sound Experience, the Port Townsend-based nonprofit that operates the Adventuress, and Connect Casino Road, the South Everett collaborative that has served as the neighborhood's backbone organization since 2017.
She graduated high school early and now works with Sound Experience full-time. She kept sailing. She hopes to build a career in the maritime industry.
A neighborhood pipeline
The Casino Road neighborhood sits about four miles south of downtown Everett and is home to roughly 13,000 residents. One in four is foreign-born, 80% of students at the local elementary school identify as a race other than white, and poverty rates run more than double the Snohomish County average, according to Connect Casino Road.
Everett at Sea gives participants hands-on experience in seamanship, marine ecology and Salish Sea data collection aboard the Adventuress, a National Historic Landmark built in 1913. In August 2023, nearly 50 Casino Road youth sailed across two weeklong sessions, including four teen interns interested in marine science and maritime careers.
Connect Casino Road director Alvaro Guillen called the Sound Experience partnership "a special one" in August 2023, when the program filled its roster for the first time. He said the organization was excited to give 50 neighborhood youth the chance to sail the San Juan Islands.
Funding questions
For several years, a Washington State No Child Left Inside grant made the program free for Casino Road families. But as the Everett Herald reported in September 2024, that competitive grant funding was set to expire after the 2024 season.
Sound Experience Executive Director Catherine Collins told the Herald in September 2024 that she was determined to continue but uncertain how. She called Everett at Sea "life changing" and "perspective changing" for Casino Road kids.
The program appears to still be running. Sound Experience posted sailing updates as of Monday, Aug. 3, and Espinoza-Valenzuela's role as active crew confirms the Adventuress remains on the water. How the program is currently funded and whether it remains free to Casino Road families has not been publicly confirmed.
Workforce context
Washington's maritime sector employs more than 62,000 workers at an average salary of $112,000, according to a 2022 study prepared for the Washington Maritime Federation. An estimated 70% of Washington job openings will require some form of postsecondary education or training, per a 2023 Washington State Achievement Council report.
Espinoza-Valenzuela told the Times she continues working aboard the Adventuress because she remembers what it felt like to sail for the first time. No specific 2026 session dates or enrollment details for Everett at Sea have been announced.
