Placement Announcements for the 2012-2013 Academic Year

SMART is very proud to announce the placement details for the 2012-2013 school year! Our families worked tirelessly throughout the entire application process, our 17 incredible partner middle schools have accepted our talented SMART Scholars into their communities, and our 8^th grade graduates are moving on to great high schools all over San Francisco. We are very proud of where our rising 6th and 9th graders will be going to school next year. Congratulations SMART Scholars!  

HIGH SCHOOLS 
Alberto – Gateway
Cinthia - Sacred Heart High School
Keila - Drew School
Michelle - The Marin School
Jerrick - Washington High School
Ramona - Drew School
Justin - Galileo High School
Sonia - San Francisco Waldorf  School
Jocelyn - Mercy High School
Mauricio - Gateway High School
TaJae - San Francisco Waldorf School
Nahrie - Saint Ignatius College Prep
Tiffany - Saint Ignatius College Prep

MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Justin - Marin Country Day School
Dinh - Stuart Hall for Boys
Victor - Children's Day School
Caleb - Marin Country Day School
Quest - Cathedral School for Boys
Roderick - Cathedral School for Boys
Alejandro - Synergy School
Isabella - Katherine Delmar Burke School
Emily - Hamlin School for Girls
Kaili - Katherine Delmar Burke School
Michelle - The San Francisco School
Daniela - San Francisco Friends School
Savana - Presidio Hill School
Karla - Marin Country Day School
Glory - Convent of the Sacred Heart School
Dulce - Live Oak School
Trinity - St. Anthony's of the Immaculate Conception

A Reason to Celebrate—SMART Goes to College

Thank you to everyone who joined us on May 2nd for SMART Goes to College, our 4^th annual fundraiser and celebration of SMART Scholar achievements. The evening was filled with inspirational stories and anecdotes from SMART staff, board, and school administrators, as we celebrated the impact of SMART, not only on the youth we serve, but on our community, and on our independent partner schools. We heard from Dennis, SMART’s featured student speaker and a senior at Lick-Wilmerding High School, who announced that he will be attending the Southern California Institute of Architecture in fall on a merit scholarship.

Dennis, SMART's featured speaker at
SMART Goes to College

Dennis explained that he grew up sharing a 200 sq/ft SRO (Single Resident Occupancy) unit with his parents and his young sister, and at an early age, was overwhelmed with a desire to redesign his world. He went on to say, “I kept drawing in my youth unsure of how to become an architect. My first golden ticket came in the form of SMART. To be an architect, I had to get a proper education. I had to get the BEST education. SMART offered me a placement into a private school that was the best fit for me, and supported me through with tutoring, mentoring, and after-school programs.”

Thank you to Dennis, and to everyone who celebrated with us! In addition to the wonderful accomplishments of our Scholars, SMART is also celebrating the generosity of our community! The fundraiser was a great success, bringing in more than $210,000 in support of SMART programming and Scholar sponsorships. To our donors, volunteers, partner schools, Scholars and families, thank you for your partnership in this very important work.

A Long Term Impact of SMART Volunteers

Congrats Martin!

We recently received an incredibly nice note from a former SMART mentor, Arnold, who volunteered with our program over 11 years ago.

"Through the SMART program I have had the pleasure of being Martin's mentor since 2001.  When I signed up for the program I was told it would be a minimum of a one year commitment, well now 11 years later, Martin is still in my life.  We are no longer mentor/mentee, we are family. I am so proud to tell you that  this Friday, May 11th, he will be graduating from USC and will be working for Apple upon graduation. 

I want to thank SMART for being such a wonderful organization and for bringing Martin into my life.  He has gotten to where he is today due to hard work, and taking advantage of the enormous possibilities SMART provides their students, and in my case their mentors. Martin is definitely one of SMART's success stories and proof that this program does change students, and their families, lives. I wish SMART continued success and hope that there are more stories like Martin."

We are so incredibly moved by Arnold's commitment to Martin and grateful he reached out to us. We would like to take this opportunity to thank ALL of our volunteer tutors and mentors who work tirelessly to ensure the personal and academic success of our students.

Congratulations Martin and his family!