Summer Preparations

2009-07-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

Summer is an exciting time of preparation, regrouping, and congratulating our Scholars at Glow. We just celebrated our new class of 2009 Glow Scholars in June. We heard inspiring talks from Dr. David P. Lopez of the National Hispanic University, Craig Robinson of Silicon Valley Bank, Board Chair Tom Cole, 2008 Glow Scholar Hakeem Oladunjoye and 2009 Glow Scholar Ashley Quintana.

Meanwhile, Alana Okamoto, Glow's Program Manager and Billy Dannals, Glow's Executive Director, are busy meeting with partners to debrief about the year as well as sending out those wonderful scholarship checks to all of our scholars. We are also preparing to refine volunteer roles, the mentoring program, curriculum, and presentation materials. In September, we're excited to hopefully welcome on a new team member from Public Allies (part of Americorps) as well. Stay tuned!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Summer!

Elena

2009-04-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Glow Foundation Blog! What a year it has been already: a beautiful new website, fabulous Glow students, and wonderful volunteers! As you saw, the new website is up and we have a "Microscholarship" site where you can donate to a student's scholarship and receive updates on their progress in college. Some of these student's application essays were so well-written this year they made me tear up so I can't wait to see how college goes for them. Please help us grow our scholarship program and consider investing in a student scholarship.

We just finished a very busy month on the program calendar. We were helping students fill out their college budgets including expenses like haircuts, food, tuition, and books. Students were always scared to start but really wowed to see how much they were spending. I loved hearing them rethink spending so much on clothes and considering growing their hair out long. We couldn't help so many students without the help of volunteers. Volunteers from Silicon Valley Bank and Freedom Financial Networks came out in addition to many wonderful repeat volunteers.

Volunteer Alice Chan wrote us a touching email, "It was great having an opportunity to do some work with the Summit students. Particularly with those who are first-generation college attendees, like Luis. It was very personally meaningful to be able to help them think through their college budget. I was the first high school graduate in my family for generations, let alone a college and advanced degree recipient. Being able to give back by helping students from similar circumstances means a lot to me. So, thank you again for the opportunity to volunteer with Glow!"

This month we will be selecting our Glow Scholars for 2009 and hosting the Glow Scholar Dinner at the Palo Alto Sheraton on April 18th. Make sure to get your tickets soon. There are only 13 left! http://glowdinner.eventbrite.com. Thank you for reading and for making the dreams of so many Glow students come alive!