Blog | ScholarMatch | Connecting donors with students and making college possible

Congrats to our first graduate, Pedro Perez

by kent | May 15, 2012

We’re proud to announce that Pedro Perez has graduated from Sonoma State University, making him the first ScholarMatch student to earn his degree!

Pedro had been accepted into our initial open enrollment after being highly involved in programs with 826 Valencia. He’s been active with us since we launched in 2010, representing ScholarMatch in an interview with KFOG and attending our last Trivia Night. When he stopped going to school one year short of graduating, our donor community rallied to support him and get him back into school.

Pedro, a graduate of Mission High School, graduated with a degree in criminology and a minor in sociology. “Since I am a first-generation college student, I now plan to help others that may be in the same situation as the one I was in when I applied for college and sought help to make it through,” Pedro said. We know he’ll do great things in whatever he pursues – congrats, Pedro!

ScholarMatch students accepted to Yale!

by kent | May 10, 2012

It’s an exciting time for all our college-bound high school seniors: They’re making the decision on where they’re going to attend college. Two students’ stories we’re especially proud to share are those of Kim and Gloria “Jack” Mejia-Cuellar, twin sisters who are heading to Yale University on a full ride! They grew up in Oakland, and were involved in the programs at 826 Valencia. The Oakland Tribune wrote up an excellent piece about them. We hope you are moved by their story. By registering as a donor, you’ll be able to read the personal statements of all our amazing students. (Image courtesy Oakland Tribune)

Elizabeth Gilbert talks ScholarMatch on ‘Good Morning America’

by kent | May 8, 2012

ScholarMatch supporter and best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert shared the story of her latest work, the revival cookbook At Home on the Range, on ABC’s Good Morning America today! Gilbert said how her great-grandmother would be proud that a collection of her recipes would benefit ScholarMatch. “Sixty-five years after she’s passed, she’s putting a bunch of kids through college,” Gilbert said.

After the video, find out how to win a signed copy!

Winning your very own signed copy of At Home on the Range is simple: Get 10 friends to register for ScholarMatch and have them write your name in the “How did you hear about ScholarMatch” box. OR, donate $150 and write “Liz Gilbert” in that same box. Offer good while supplies last. We’re so thankful to Liz and publisher McSweeney’s for helping us support underresourced students.

Liz Gilbert shares advice with our students

by kent | May 3, 2012

Thanks to Elizabeth Gilbert, the bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love, for stopping by our offices and sitting down for a chat with students Larissa Martinez and Jorge Lopez. They talked about the students’ plans for the future, and Liz gave them the great advice to “follow your bliss.” The video of the conversation will be up soon, so stay tuned! Liz also shared the ScholarMatch story at two Book Passage events for her brand-new revival cookbook, At Home on the Range, which benefits our work and 826 National. Support ScholarMatch students like Larissa and Jorge by picking up your copy today!

Middlebury College visits ScholarMatch

by Vickie Vértiz | May 2, 2012

The younger you are when you first hear about college, the better prepared you will be to find the right place for your education. That is why the ScholarMatch staff invited Valerie Demong, an admissions officer from Middlebury College, to talk with parents and their children who are in elementary, middle, and high school about the benefits of attending a liberal arts college.

Parents had many questions about how to support their children to choose the right classes and after school activities for college admission. They were also assured that if their children had to stay at home to help the family, or work during any time off, that these are valuable experience for young people and that colleges such as Middlebury highly value during the admissions process.

Joining Valerie in her discussion with parents and students were Middlebury alumni Aki Ito, Yalie Kamara, and Miranda Tsang. Many of the students in attendance are also enrolled in 826 Valencia’s After School Program, and were very excited to see that Miranda and Yalie, who both work at 826, are also Middlebury alums!

Students left feeling excited about applying to Middlebury’s fly-in program, where students in the first semester of their senior year in high school apply to visit Middlebury to see what it might be like to attend.

Middlebury is a very selective school, and boasts a great number of graduates who helped found 826 Valencia, are part of their board, are employees, and who are close friends of the organization. We hope we were able to instill important knowledge into our students and that they’ll be inspired to apply to Middlebury in the future.

A big thank you goes out to Aki, Miranda, and Yalie for coming to share their college experiences and advice with the f

amilies. And of course, thank you to Valerie for visiting!

Support students with a book signing on April 28!

by kent | April 27, 2012

Don’t miss an exciting chance to get a book signed by best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert and raise money for ScholarMatch students! Join us at the Book Passage in San Francisco’s Ferry Building from 1PM – 2PM on Saturday, April 28. Pick up a copy of Gilbert’s new revival cookbook At Home on the Range to have it signed, and because proceeds benefits ScholarMatch, you’ll also be helping underesourced students purse their college dreams. As an extra-special bonus, we’ll be at the Book Passage with a student or two, so you can meet some of the amazing young people whose lives you’ll be changing. See you there, and be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more info about upcoming events and touching student stories!

Tea time with a donor and scholars

by kent | April 12, 2012

Longtime ScholarMatch supporter Mary Williams, representing the Fonda Family Foundation, sat down for tea with two of our scholars, Akash Gurung and Maria Figueroa, and ScholarMatch staffers Vickie Vertiz and Diana Adamson. Both students are soon-to-be-graduating high school seniors interested in pursuing health careers. Akash has wanted to be a doctor ever since his grandma passed away because she could not receive proper medical care, and Maria is interested in providing mental health care to immigrant populations. Mary, who has a background in public health, talked about her journey from community college to Pitzer College, and how she has traveled around the world working to improve international health conditions. Mary was moved by the students’ passion for education, and they were inspired by the scope of her work.

This is the sort of valuable connection we strive to provide through ScholarMatch. If you become a donor, not only do you receive regular updates on the students you’re supporting, but you also could have a chance to sit down with them and hear their stories, just like Mary did. Support one of our talented students today!

Teaming up to offer scholarship workshops

by selina | April 10, 2012

Last week, we teamed up with the Mission Economic Development Agency to offer a workshop on finding and applying for scholarships. We discussed some important tips – ideas like apply early and set up a calendar – and worked with students on crafting their scholarship personal statements. About 20 students attended, and they all applied for a scholarship on the spot. In doing so, they were automatically entered to win an additional scholarship from MEDA. Thanks to MEDA for the opportunity and to Caminos for letting us share their computer lab to host the workshop. If you’re interested in learning more about our financial aid programs, click here or contact us.

The new and improved ScholarMatch.org

by selina | March 30, 2012

This April marks the second year of ScholarMatch, and we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than by improving our website! Most of the changes are behind the scenes, so we can’t show them off. But, rest assured that we’ve made extensive improvements to the process of matching donors with scholars.

However, we do have a few new visible features we’re excited to tell you about. We’ve built pages so you can learn more about who are students are and our services and impact. Now, by searching for terms such as “high school senior” or “college sophomore,” you’re able to see students in a specific class. Finally – and most importantly – we improved our donation gateway so everything is much cleaner and easier to understand. We hope you like the changes – be sure to take a look around and let us know what you think!

ScholarMatch student introduces our founder at award presentation

by kent | March 27, 2012

Bianca Catalan speaks at INFORUM's 21st Century Visionary Award event with Dave Eggers.

Last week, we were lucky enough to be in attendance when ScholarMatch student Bianca Catalan introduced our founder Dave Eggers at INFORUM’s 21st Century Visionary Award event.

Bianca spoke movingly about her experience at 826 Valencia – which was also co-founded by Eggers – where she moved through workshops, participated in the Best American Nonrequired Reading class, and was the recipient of the annual scholarship. She continued on to receive additional scholarship funding from the ScholarMatch donor community and was even featured in a video with The Office actor John Krasinski!

We’re so proud of Bianca and all of our scholars. Meet them here. A big thank you to INFORUM for inviting us to attend, and to everyone who stopped to learn more about us during the reception.