If you’re in San Francisco on December 9th, please join us at The Summit for Neighborhood Folk, our community music night.
Join us on December 9th for Neighborhood Folk, a musical benefit for ScholarMatch at The Summit!
Category Archives: scholars
It's personal statement season! Help a student get into college
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!
ScholarMatch’s personal statement drop-in hours run from November 8 to December 15, and are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3PM to 6:30PM (if you have alternate availability, let us know). We’ll be helping local students to craft their essays. We will provide you with tips if you don’t feel like an expert, but even so: Don’t worry! Having personal, one-on-one feedback really gives students the sense that someone is rooting for them.
Our 826 network is also getting in to the spirit. Chapters from Los Angeles to Seattle to Boston hold Personal Statement Weekends: intensive, two-day workshops of college essay writing. 826 Valencia in San Francisco held theirs the weekend of Oct. 29 and Oct. 30. If you were involved in as a volunteer and would like to continue that work with Bay Area students, sign up for our personal statement hours today! Email generalquestions@scholarmatch.org with your availability and dates.
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.
Pedro Perez is graduating from college!
Pedro Perez, a ScholarMatch rock star of the first degree, will be able to graduate from Sonoma State University this year! When Pedro came by the office and heard the news, he told us, "I don’t know how to thank you. This is going to change my life — graduating instead of not graduating."
Pedro, a graduate of Mission High School, intends to use his degree in criminology and criminal justice to defend people who often lack the resources to defend themselves. This future lawyer is also an active member of the 826 community: He volunteers at 826 Valencia and participates in ScholarMatch events, including the recent interview with Peter Finch from KFOG.
The ScholarMatch team is so proud of Pedro for what he’s already accomplished, and we look forward to what he’ll achieve in the future.
There are so many more students who, like Pedro, have the drive to succeed but can’t afford college. Meet them here, and donate today!
ScholarMatch & ABC 7 News!
ScholarMatch was featured in a segment on ABC 7 news Wednesday evening!
Lyanne Melendez, reporter for ABC 7, stopped by the ScholarMatch office Wednesday afternoon to speak with students, Dorrian Lewis and Bianca Catalan. And our very own, Miel Alegre spoke from the ABC headquarters in Los Angeles.
As the fall semester approaches, it is more pressing than ever to raise funds for all of our deserving scholars. We are so grateful to ABC 7 for allowing us this opportunity to inform viewers of the investment they make when donating to ScholarMatch.
The segment is available for viewing here. Check it out!
Meet some of our amazing scholars here, and donate today!
Scholar Amber Andrade is going to college!
We are beyond excited to announce that Amber Andrade is the latest student to have her ScholarMatch goal met! A recent graduate of June Jordan School for Equity and an incoming freshman at Oakland’s Holy Names University, Amber was extremely grateful when she heard the news. "Wow! I want to thank all of my donors for helping me," she said. "This was the last little bit I had to pay for my first year, so now I am all set."
Amber plans to study pre-med at Holy Names and aspires to someday become a pediatrician. She is passionate about helping children, and works with them now as a Bible study teacher at her church, where she also sings in the choir and participates in leadership classes. Amber is also an alumni of 826 Valencia’s 2011 Young Author’s Book Project, not only as a published author in Beyond Stolen Flames, Forbidden Fruit, and Telephone Booths: Our Own Myths, Our Own Futures but as part of the book’s editorial board as well. We at ScholarMatch are proud of Amber’s hard work and the kindness of her donors!
ScholarMatch supports many students who have worked with 826 Valencia in the past. To help other 826 rock stars continue their hard work in college, click here.
Listen to ScholarMatch on Fog Files!
The interview of Friday, June 17, where ScholarMatch staff and students spoke with Peter Finch of "Fog Files," KFOG’s public interest radio program, is now available for listening!
"Fog Files" airs on KFOG weekdays from 5:00-10:00am, during which the ScholarMatch feature will air six times starting June 26. For those not in San Francisco, you can listen to the interview now, or find it on Finch’s webpage. Students Pedro Perez and Dorrian Lewis, and staff Miel Alegre and Vickie Vertiz, spoke with Finch about the history of ScholarMatch and the success it’s achieved. While Dorrian’s college expenses have been fully met through ScholarMatch, Pedro still needs about $3,000 to make his college dreams possible. To read more and help him toward a degree in criminal justice, click here.
Thank you to Peter and KFOG for giving the spotlight to some of our amazing students. We’re all Fogheads here at ScholarMatch!
Marlene Vasquez is going to college!
We are thrilled to announce that Marlene Vasquez is the latest student to be funded by the generous ScholarMatch donor community! Marlene is graduating from Oakland’s Lighthouse Community Charter School this spring, and she’ll be attending CSU East Bay in the fall. Marlene was overcome with happiness when we told her the good news. "I can’t believe it!" she said. "I was worried how I was going to pay all my expenses for school. Thank you so much!"
Marlene’s overcome many challenges on her route to college. Her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when Marlene was younger, but now Marlene says that the challenges of that experience strengthened her as a student and a person. She also wants to major in psychology, so that she may potentially help other people with mental disorders. Apart from her diligent studying for that goal, Marlene interned at the Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland and sailed through the Blue Water Foundation.
Congratulations to Marlene, and thank you to all her donors! If you would like to learn how to support more of our amazing students click here.
Jessica Cheung is going to college!
It is with giant smiles that we at ScholarMatch announce that Jessica Cheung as the latest student to reach her scholarship goal!
“I take pride in being the first in my low-income family to enter college,” Jessica said. “I want to show people that the sky is the limit if you don’t let things weigh you down.”
Jessica graduated from Lowell High School in spring, and will begin classes at Fordham University in New York City this fall. She plans to study communications and pursue a career in journalism. She’s already been working hard toward that goal: As a writer and editor for her school newspaper, The Lowell, Jessica impressed her peers and instructors with her insightful supervising and distinctive voice. The ScholarMatch team is so excited for Jessica, and we’re tremendously grateful to the generous donor who supported her!
Many of our ScholarMatch students have recently graduated, and there is no better way to congratulate them on this milestone than by assisting them on their path to higher education. Learn more about our other deserving students or sign up to be a donor today!
Eliezer Guerrero is going to college!
ScholarMatch is excited to announce that Eliezer Guerrero of Oakland is the latest student to reach his scholarship goal! When we called to tell him the news, he was floored. "I’m really amazed. I didn’t know I would get that much help. It would have been hard on my parents to pay for college, so this is a big relief for me and my family. I’m amazed right now."
Eli, as he’s known to friends, graduates from Lighthouse Community Charter School this spring. Then he’s off to San Francisco State in the fall, where he wants to study either biology or zoology and plans to be a veterinarian. He’s a big fan of technology and really enjoyed his robotics class at Lighthouse. Eli is also an avid athlete, and participated in track and field and soccer while at Lighthouse. Congratulations to Eli, and a huge thanks to all his donors!
Much like Eli, all of our students love to explore different interests. Learn more about the students here, and find out how to support their academic future here.