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!
Category Archives: events
ScholarMatch student introduces our founder at award presentation
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.
Newest Elizabeth Gilbert book benefits ScholarMatch and 826
We’re excited to announce that author Elizabeth Gilbert’s latest work, At Home on the Range, will donate proceeds to ScholarMatch and 826 National! Published by McSweeney’s, the book is a wonderful revival of a cookbook originally written by Gilbert’s great-grandmother, Margaret Yardley Potter. It’s full of warmhearted and hilarious prose and recipes, and features a lengthy introduction and an expanded recipe section by Ms. Gilbert.
To celebrate the cookbook’s release, please join us on April 29 at Left Bank Restaurant in Larkspur, California, for a special event with Gilbert as part of the Book Passage’s “Cooks With Books” series. There’ll be a reading, food, wine, and coffee, and attendees will receive a signed copy of the book. Click here to register or for more information. If you can’t make the event, you can still pre-order a copy of the book. We’re so grateful to Elizabeth Gilbert and McSweeney’s for their support!
Telling Your Story: A Mini Personal Statement Workshop
One of the most challenging aspects of applying to college is writing a great personal statement. It is easy to get overwhelmed trying to figure out what universities look for and how to write a powerful essay. One of our goals at ScholarMatch is to help students become expert personal statement writers!
On Thursday, March 8th we hosted a workshop at our ScholarMatch office for high school students from the Geneva Carbarn’s creative writing class, taught by Mariama Lockington. Twelve students from different schools participated in exercises led by ScholarMatch staff to help prepare them to write awesome personal statements. In the class, we emphasized that storytelling is an impactful strategy when writing these essays. We provided students with personal statement do’s and don’ts, tips to make their essays stand out, and encouraged their confidence to share their stories. Students left feeling more confident about their abilities to write solid and honest essays. One student said, “I wish I had known about ScholarMatch when I was writing my personal statement. I was having such a hard time, but they way they explained it made it so much easier to understand.”
Do you, or someone you know, need guidance with a personal statement for a scholarship or other academic needs? Call us at (415) 652-2766 to make an appointment in our office at 849 Valencia Street in San Francisco. Be sure to check out our Programs page to find a list of our current workshops.
Without question, Trivia Night was a success!
We are thrilled to announce that our Definitely-Not-Trivial Trivia Night raised a lot of money to support college-bound students! 96 people packed San Francisco’s Trés restaurant on August 23 for a rousing night of trivia and tacos, all with the aim of helping us provide gap scholarships for ScholarMatch students.
The competition straddled the line between fun and ferocious, as contestants worked out whether it’s more expensive to surf the web or download e-mails on a smartphone (surfing) and who composed the theme music for the TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Sousa). Special guests comedian Aisha Tyler and Adam Savage of Mythbusters spoke about the importance of education and why they were moved to support ScholarMatch. Guests met four of our fantastic students – Pedro Perez, Bianca Catalan, Rongchang Lei and Virginia Urzua – who entertained the crowd with their stories of dorm life and shared their challenges of raising money to go to school.
More students like them are heading to campus, some for the first time, some for the last, and they need your support today.
Thanks to all the generous supporters who attended (and who introduced to new friends!) and to our celebrity guests. Special shout-outs to our sponsors and friends who contributed: Brainstormer Pub Quiz, Rickshaw Bagworks, Maverick Capital, McSweeney’s, Alegio Chocolate, Albona Ristorante, Jennifer Jamieson Photography, and the Molina family. And, of course, thanks to Trés for hosting.
Highlights from our first workshop for parents
Families flooded the ScholarMatch office on Friday, May 20 to hear from local experts about how to prepare their children for college in their first few years of high school. This was the first bilingual workshop offered to parents and students.
Those who attended heard presentations from Rose Carmona, a Financial Aid Officer from San Francisco State University, and Carmela Gomez, parent of a ScholarMatch scholarship recipient who is now attending Pitzer College. Rose shared with parents a treasure trove of introductory college information, from what types of colleges are available to what types of financial aid can be located once students get to their senior year. All of our parents were hearing this information for the first time and were very thoughtful with their questions and attention.
Carmela encouraged her peers to be advocates for their children’s educations with teachers, the school district, and with college access community resources, such as ScholarMatch. She shared strategies with parents about how she equipped her son with tools to make good decisions for himself on achieving good grades, choosing friends, and dreaming big for his future.
In their evaluations, parents were thankful for all the information they received and were committed to coming to future ScholarMatch events and learn more about college for their children. Thanks y muchas gracias to everyone who attended!
Happy 2011
The new year is upon us and our students are returning to school with new priorities. Now that personal statements are written and college applications are in the mail, students can now look forward to a season of acceptance letters (hooray!) and navigating the world of financial aid. Beginning in January, ScholarMatch will be in the schools conducting free workshops to help students complete their online profiles and answer any questions regarding scholarships and aid. Stay tuned to ScholarMatch for specific dates of a workshop near you!
Last minute reminder to sign up…
…for The Great San Francisco Personal Statement Weekend! If you are applying to colleges or scholarships and need a helping hand (or know someone who does), this is the place for you. The amazing tutors of 826 Valencia will be waiting, pen in hand to help make essays shine. And ScholarMatch representatives will have an informational table at the event, so stop by and say hello!
For more information about this event and how to register, click here.
826 Valencia presents…
The Great San Francisco Personal Statement Weekend!
When: Saturday, November 13 & Sunday, November 14
Time: From 1PM to 6PM (both days)
Where: Mission High School (3750 18th Street, between Dolores and Church Streets)
We hope to see you there!
First ScholarMatch event held to celebrate scholars
On June 11th, ScholarMatch held its first event at 826 Valencia’s writing lab. This was the perfect opportunity for everyone involved with the project to meet face to face, celebrate our students’ hard work, and to celebrate our donors’ generosity.
At the start of the evening, ScholarMatch founder Dave Eggers presented the history and objective behind the ScholarMatch project, congratulating students and donors on their diligence and success, and urging everyone to spread the word. The ScholarMatch team — Miel Alegre, Camille Hoffman, and David Aloi — then acknowledged the students in attendance, highlighting their amazing achievements to the audience. Our scholars, in turn, humbly thanked their donors for the continued investment and support. The rest of the evening was filled with casual conversation among the students, students’ families, the donors, and the rest of the evening’s guests. In the end, the warm summer weather greeted everyone as they quietly spilled into the street.
ScholarMatch intends on a second event in August with the same purpose in mind: to bring students and donors together in one room to meet and inspire one another. Indeed, while we have been extremely grateful to have some successes within the first six weeks of our site launch, this is just the beginning! To date, six of our students have been able achieve their scholarship goal. But, we have many more amazing scholars in need of funds to get to college. Make a donation today, and see you at the next event!
Thanks again to all those who attended and were involved in Friday’s celebration.
An especially warm thank you to:
- 826 Valencia and 826 National for assisting and supporting us from the beginning
- our event sponsors, Trader Joes on Masonic and Fuzio in the Castro
- to our fabulous event photographer, Monty Suwannukul, whose photo blog can be viewed here