NEWS & RECENT EVENTS

Buy your books at Keplers and help PCF
Buy all your books at Kepler’s in Menlo Park. As a new “community partner” with Kepler’s, PCF receives 10% of all purchases when you mention “Peninsula College Fund” at the time of purchase! This money will go directly to scholarship students! Use this link when making purchases.

2009 College Prep Day
PCF sponsored its third annual College Prep Day on August 8th, 2009.  Meeting on the campus of Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) in Belmont, the day was packed with panels, talks, a resume workshop, and a team building exercise. Representation included speakers from University of San Francisco, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State, Santa Clara University, and NDNU, all of whom donated their time to assist our students in their goal of achieving a university degree.  Eight of our current scholars provided an informative panel to the 16 new incoming freshmen with insights on what to do and not to do this coming year. Another panel of college representatives focused on “How to seek and manage your college finances”.  Our third panel featured college counselors from local universities who provided their view on what university students can do to ensure their success. We closed the academic part of our day with a round table talk with two college professors who gave their advice to our students on “How to best work with your teachers”. Our day concluded with a fun, but very meaningful, team building exercise that included many practical college related messages as well as the responsibility and opportunity for each PCF scholar to work with each other a common goal.

2009 Awards Ceremony
On Saturday, June 27th, 2009, PCF celebrated its fourth annual awards program at Menlo School in Atherton.  PCF awarded 16 new scholarships to high school seniors who are now headed off to very prestigious schools in California, Minnesota, and Georgia.  Over two hundred family members and guests heard from the winning students and a motivating talk was given by Modesta Garcia, Professor and Counselor from the College of San Mateo, on her formula for success in school and beyond.

PCF Featured in Gentry's Peninsula Magazine!  (See May 2009 issue, page 98)  at http://digimag.rrd.com/18Media/Peninsula200905/default.asp

2008 Holiday Party
On January 2, 2009 PCF hosted its third annual Holiday Party for its students, their mentors and the advisory committee.  The party was held at Edward Goodstein and Fran Eastman’s home and included wonderful food, music and company.  This was the last chance for PCF to celebrate the students’ accomplishments before they went back to school after the holiday break.  

Photo: left to right - Manny, Jonathan, Fred, Laura, Raul, Marisol, Maria, Miriam & Luis.

Resume/Interview workshop for PCF students
On January 2, 2009 PCF hosted a resume preparation and interview workshop for the students while they were home on holiday break.  Fred Crary discussed best practices for applying for jobs and held a mock interview with one of the students in order to highlight good interviewing skills.  Tim Case gave an engaging presentation on verbal and non-verbal communication.  Students left feeling more confident as they begin to apply for summer jobs and internships.

Author’s Evening sponsored by Kepler’s at the Menlo Park Library
On Friday, November 14th 2008, the award winning author, and Santa Clara University professor, Francisco Jimenez, gave a talk and read from his new book “Reaching Out” at the Menlo Park Library.  It was a wonderful event with more than 300 people filling the library to hear Jimenez speak about the third book in his trilogy, which describes the challenges for an immigrant to get through college.  Over 40 PCF supporters and students attended a private reception and book signing with Jimenez before the public event in the library.

Photo: Francisco Jimenez is in the middle with PCF students, mentors, parents & supporters   

Second Annual Dutch Goose Dinner
On Sunday, September 14th 2008, the Dutch Goose in Menlo Park hosted a dinner for PCF supporters and students.  Over 60 community members attended this event and were able to meet and mingle with the students before they headed off to college.  Everyone enjoyed a great dinner, drinks and music and learned more about PCF through presentations made by two PCF students, Marisol & Nitzia, a PCF Mentor, Irwin Soonachan, and Maria, the mother of PCF student, Manny.  Additional sponsors included Baker Properties, Lydian Academy, La Tartine Bakery, K&L Wine Merchants, Key Markets & Safeway.

2008 College Prep Day
On Saturday, August 9th, PCF students met at Notre Dame de Namur University (Notre Dame), who graciously hosted our second annual College Prep Day.  The program was designed to not only assist the nine incoming Freshman on what to expect from their upcoming college experience but also to assist the nine current students on how to maximize their chances of graduating from college on time.  The full day included excellent speakers from Santa Clara University, University of San Francisco, San Jose State and Notre Dame with expertise in counseling and financial aid.  In the afternoon session, seminars concentrated on how to find summer internships and a presentation from Wells Fargo Bank on financial responsibility.  Earlier, Notre Dame also hosted a BBQ lunch that included all PCF students, their parents and new mentor volunteers who will partner with the new nine scholarship winners.

Photo above: Miriam and Fred

2008 Awards Ceremony
On Saturday, June 21st, PCF celebrated its third annual awards program.  Over one hundred supporters – including our students, their families, donors, volunteers and mentors – attended the Awards Ceremony event which was again hosted at Menlo School.  PCF, thanks to the very generous contributions of its donors, was able to double the number of students under scholarship to eighteen, by awarding nine high school seniors $12,000 over the next four years in college!  Our guest speaker for this year’s Awards Ceremony was Sharifa Wilson, of College Track in East Palo Alto.  In her comments, Sharifa congratulated the Class of 2008 on their scholarship and then outlined how they had beaten the odds in graduating from high school and heading off into college.

PCF Featured in the Palo Alto Daily News!
“Program mentors youth – Fund offers scholarships with personal touch”, The Palo Alto Daily News, June 21, 2008.   

In Memory of Sergio Zamora 10/28/88 – 4/9/08
The Peninsula College Fund sadly lost Sergio Zamora, a 2007 scholarship recipient, to cancer this past April. Sergio was a young man who had a love and committment to his family, his friends, his lacrosse team and his fellow scholarship recipients. Sergio is missed immensely but his memory remains with us. Friends and Family have established a bereavement fund at Bank of America to help defray the financial burden Liseth and Juan now face.  If you would like to donate to the fund, please make checks payable to “Sergio Zamora Memorial Fund”.  These checks can be mailed to the Zamora’s home: 884 15th Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025

PCF Featured in The Almanac!
"No limits: Menlo Park startup helps remove barriers to college for local minority students", The Almanac, January 23, 2008

2007 Holiday Party
On December 20, 2007 PCF hosted its second annual Holiday Party for its ten students, their mentors and the advisory committee.  This was an amazing opportunity for everyone to get together and celebrate the accomplishments of both the students and the organization. 

Dinner at the Dutch Goose
On Sunday, September 23rd 2007, the Dutch Goose, along with Wells Fargo Bank and Academic Trainers, sponsored a dinner for community members interested in learning more about PCF.  Over 40 community members attended this wonderful event that included a great dinner and presentations from Charles Schmuck, Greg Stern and Miriam, PCF student. 

2007 College Prep Training
On Saturday, August 4th 2007, PCF hosted its first annual College Prep Training day for this year’s scholars at Eastside College Preparatory School.  They heard from our first year’s scholars about their experience thus far in college, met their personal mentors and got a lesson in financial education from representatives at Wells Fargo.  Afterwards, there was a summer BBQ for the students, their parents and the PCF mentors.

2007 Awards Ceremony
On Thursday, June 28th, 2007 PCF awarded scholarships to seven students from the 2007 graduating classes from four high schools - East Palo Alto Academy High School, Eastside College Preparatory School, Menlo-Atherton High School and Woodside High School.    Each student will receive a $12,000 scholarship over 4 years, two personal mentors, assistance in summer internship searches and a support network to provide guidance during their college years.

2006 Awards Ceremony
In May 2006, PCF awarded scholarships to three students from the 2006 graduating classes from three high schools – East Palo Alto Academy High School, Eastside College Preparatory School and Menlo-Atherton High School.  Each student will receive a $12,000 scholarship over 4 years, a personal mentor, assistance in summer internship searched and a support network to provide guidance during their college years.