Expanding the College Access Program (CAP)

In November 2011, SMART was proud to expand upon the services offered to our high school Scholars with the addition of monthly CAP workshops. Based on information collected from SMART Scholars who completed middle school programming, SMART is expanding services to ensure that our 9^th-12^th grade scholars are on track to enroll in 4-year post-secondary institutions.

This academic year, CAP takes place the first week of each month for all freshman through juniors. Students have reviewed college eligibility requirements, the financial benefits of completing a college degree (or higher), and compared different salary trajectories for various levels of educational attainment. In February, our Scholars will be exploring different career options. Ana Maria, SMART's new Program Manager, is working individually with current seniors to assist them with college and financial aid applications, locating scholarships and perfecting essays.

A current junior in the program stated:

"I am very very VERY grateful for the SMART CAP. Before the SMART CAP started, I was very stressed out on how to prepare for college and this program has really helped me figure out which path I should take and make me feel less overwhelmed with all this. Thank you very much for establishing this program...!"

Beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year, CAP will launch two distinct programs (one for 9^th & 10^th graders, and one for 11^th & 12^th graders) with the first focusing on exploration, academic counseling and skill preparation, and the latter focusing on specific elements of the college application process, ensuring that every student who comes through the SMART CAP will have the skills, resources and knowledge to best prepare themselves to attend the college of their choice.

Student Profile: Mei Deng

Mei Deng is a junior at Galileo High School. She entered SMART in 2005 and was admitted to Katherine Delmar Burke School for her 6^th grade year. Today, Mei remains active in SMART through the College Access Program.

Mei has attended all three of the monthly CAP workshops this academic year, and is planning to participate in the SAT/ACT prep class being offered at SMART through the Princeton Review. Mei stated, “the most informative aspect of CAP was the session we had recently this month, regarding the SAT/ACT grading, GPA calculation, and especially the eligibility index stuff. That REALLY helped me determine what I needed to know for my upcoming months as a junior.”

About to begin the college application process, Mei admits that she is both nervous and excited. She hopes to attend UC Berkeley, UCLA or UC Davis, and would be open to out-of-state schools if she can find the funding. In the meantime, Mei will continue to attend monthly workshops at SMART, working on scholarships, personal statements and researching schools and careers. As a senior next year, she will be coming to SMART weekly to select and apply to college. As Mei stated to Ana Maria, SMART’s CAP Program Manager , “I am very thankful for all the enthusiasm and effort you put into the SMART CAP. We need more people like you as high school counselors!”

What I loved about the SMART Summer Program...

We wrapped up an amazing 6-week summer program, and we couldn't be more proud of our hard-working rising 5th and 6th grade students.

Here are some highlights from the summer, in the students' own words.

"Summer was very fun! If it wasn't for SMART, I don't know how I would get these amazing chances."

"SMART gave me a chance to be noticed."

"I loved learning about snakes and lizards at the Academy of Sciences."

"Can we have more math games next year?"

"I liked helping other kids understand things they don't understand."

"I know I have made tons of BFFS and friends this summer."

"I loved 'give me five' because I will use it thorughout my entire life."

"I loved math and learning new things about math!"

"The summer program will help me on my way to college and got me ready for 6th grade."

"The newspaper elective was great because I've never done a whole page by myself before."

"My teachers were great because they taught a lot of things to us."

"I would like the field trips to go places that are barely known, like the Federal Reserve Bank."

"The most memorable activity was making the murals because I like art and being creative."

"Doing essays was a lot of work, but I'm glad that I learned how to write better."

SMART Video

Click on the image to see our new video!


Special Thanks
Maggie Alexandridis, Videographer Extraordinaire


Rick Teed and Butch Haze

Jacky Lu '11 featured on CBS5!

3rd Annual Socially SMART Fundraiser

Volunteer Advisory Board and SMART Staff hosted our 3rd annual Socially SMART fundraiser on Wednesday Feb 23rd where we raised a record breaking $2970 in one evening!!! This event focuses on cultivating our volunteer community and their friends, and we're so grateful for everyone who brought energized and excited people wanting to support SMART and our scholars.

We would like to give a very special thanks to Ashley Barber and Sarah Linderman, two stellar volunteers who are not only dedicated tutor and mentor for Rocio (6th grade, Live Oak School) and Melissa (6th grade, San Francisco School) respectively, took extra time out of their busy schedules to help make this event a HUGE success. We'd also like to thank Dine for Change and Azul Lounge for hosting us as well as SMART Board, staff, volunteers, and local vendors for donating some amazing prizes for our raffle.

If you were unable to make it this year, we hope to see you at this exciting event next year!

SMART featured on 7Live

On Monday, SMART was featured on 7Live on ABC7, moderated by Brian Copeland. High school students Stacy, Nina, Cindy, Arlinda, Dina and Lily participated as audience members, and although they were not called - had great and insightful things to share with us about the topics of the day. Check out the full episode here:

We were also given a tour of the studio after the taping and took some fun photos in the process.