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!

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)

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.