Thanks to amazing support from the community at large, donations have been coming in! We've already been able to complete the tuition needs of 9 Bay Area students such as Eddie, Dorrian, Sandra, Alexis, and Agustin. And with your support, we can send even more students off to college. Any donation amount will make a difference. We realize some students' tuition costs can be daunting — in the tens of thousands — and may be beyond your means. But don't let these potentially high numbers intimidate you. Contribute what you can.

Staff from the Level Playing Field Institute recently came to the ScholarMatch office to visit with local families about the Summer Math and Science Honors Academy, or SMASH, a program held at Stanford University and at the University of California, Berkeley.

High school seniors! Now that your college applications are complete, do you need help completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid? We're holding hours for FAFSA help on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 5:30PM, starting Thursday, January 12th, and running through Thursday, March 1st. We're offering this free service for students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch, and who currently live in the San Francisco Bay Area counties.

Over three nights in December, we held celebrations for the 40 new ScholarMatch students who will be fundraising for the 2012-2013 academic year. We are so excited to work with this amazing group. They have overcome countless struggles, come from a variety of backgrounds, and bring a rich mix of talents. There's aspiring doctors, actors, and even nonprofit workers!

If you're in San Francisco on December 9th, please join us at The Summit for Neighborhood Folk, our community music night.

We'll have local singer-songwriter Miya Dunets; indie rockers Pirate Radio; the incredible Mike Sempert, of Birds & Batteries; and a DJ to finish off the night. The Summit is located at 780 Valencia Street, and doors open at 9PM. There's a suggested donation of $10, and proceeds will go to support ScholarMatch. We hope to see you there!

If your parents didn’t go to college, you would face many difficult questions: Which high school classes will put you on track to get into a good school? How do you navigate the complicated application and financial aid process? How does it actually work once you get in? Many families are in this position, and to support them as early as possible, ScholarMatch held a College 101 workshop in Spanish and English last Wednesday.

Risa Nye, an experienced personal statement reader for the University of California system, recently trained ScholarMatch interns and staff to help students with personal statements. She offered insight on the do's and don'ts of college essays. If you are a student or if you know a student who would like to learn what's on those lists, here's what we can do for you.

Remember personal statements for college? They were those essays that could make or break your admission. Writing these statements is a pressure-filled experience that can be a struggle for many college-bound students. Luckily, if you’re in the Bay Area, you can help students through it!

Actress and comedian Aisha Tyler, of FX's Archer, recently stopped by the ScholarMatch office for an amazing and inspiring interview with ScholarMatch student Erica McMath.

Our friends at Voice of Witness, the nonprofit division of McSweeney's, have a new book available for: Inside This Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women's Prisons.