Peninsula Bridge

Posted on October 3, 2011 6:19 PM

By Deirdre Marlowe, Executive Director

This continues to be a year of New Beginnings for Peninsula Bridge.  After a five day, nearly three thousand mile drive, I arrived in Palo Alto from Baltimore, MD, to serve Bridge as its fifth Executive Director.  I arrived while our program was in
session, which gave me the opportunity to visit sites, and catch some of each one's closing celebration.  To paraphrase Roman philosopher Seneca, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."  I believe that participation in our summer program gives our middle school students a good beginning to their next school year.  Now I am beginning to get to know members of the Bridge community.

This year, too, Bridge saw the implementation of several new program initiatives which Chloe Kamprath, Program Director, came out of retirement to complete for us.  Chloe developed a Family Resource Manual and companion-training piece.  She also orchestrated the development of online pre- and post-tests aligned with CA State Standards in the areas of mathematics and language arts.  Finally, she supervised the development and  implementation of a programwide Teacher Assistant training program.  I'd like to thank Chloe for her work with Bridge, and the support she provided in my first days, all of which will prove more than helpful as Bridge prepares for its next two New Beginnings.

Posted on October 3, 2011 5:30 PM

Posted on October 3, 2011 4:34 PM

Collin is one of our newest board members, and is active both in the non-profit sector and as a private investor. In addition to his work with Peninsula Bridge, he is the current president and Board chair of Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto.  He is passionate about youth education, also having worked with Peninsula College Fund. Collin was President and a Board member at NorthStar Systems and an EVP at Advent Software.  Prior to Advent, Collin worked in the private equity business and was a consultant at Bain and Company in San Francisco and Boston. Collin earned a B.A from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He and his wife Shoshanah have two children: son Riley, and daughter Meredie.  In his spare time, Collin coaches  basketball and plays piano.  Welcome aboard Collin!

Posted on October 3, 2011 2:44 PM

By Lupe Ortiz, Bridge Summer Intern

I first heard about Peninsula Bridge through a friend who had been a TA for Crystal Springs Uplands. I was familiar with what he did at that specific site, but had no idea there was more than one campus involved in the famed "summer program."  All I knew was that he used to come home tired, happy, and talking about all of "his kids."  I was curious to learn more about why both he and his students loved the program so much.  I am currently a graduate student at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service in New York. My specialization is policy and non-profit management, so this internship provided an excellent chance to work behind the scenes and understand the inner workings of a non-profit organization.