Peninsula Bridge

Posted on April 19, 2012 4:25 PM

Come and see the Bridge summer program in action at one of the following locations:

Castilleja School
Tues July 10th, 1-2pm
Wed July 11th, 9:30-10:30am

Crystal Springs Uplands School
Thurs July 12th, 1-2pm
Tues July 17th, 9:30-10:30am

Menlo School
Thurs July 5th, 1-2 pm
Fri July 6th, 9:30-10:30am

Pinewood School
Wed July 18th, 9:30-10:30am
Thurs July 19th, 1-2pm

Sacred Heart Schools
Fri July 6th, 1:15-2:15pm
Tues July 10th, 9:30-10:30am

Saint Francis High School
Tues July 24th, 9:30-10:30am
Wed July 25th, 1-2pm

St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School
Thurs July 12th, 9:30-10:30am
Tues July 17th, 1-2pm

Woodside Priory School
Tues July 3rd, 1-2pm
Thurs July 5th, 10:30-11:30am

Sign up Now!

or

RSVP to Sherri Shaner at sherri@peninsulabridge.org   or (408) 358-8805 

Posted on April 2, 2012 12:15 PM

By Deirdre Marlowe, Executive Director

When I first got involved in this kind of work I was passionate about education as an instrument of socialjustice, a tool for achieving the equity that our Founding Fathers wrote about. I still have that passion, but have since learned that sometimes this work is largely about buses and food! Not quite true, although sometimes it feels that way: for example, the cost of transportation is about 80% that of our algebra readiness program.
Peninsula Bridge is best known for its Summer Program, so you might think that winters are quiet. Quite the opposite! Here are some of the things that we've been doing to prepare for Summer 2012:

• Learning about new approaches to language arts and algebra readiness;
• Exploring connections with other organizations so that our students will have wrap around support during the school year and when they go on to high school;
• Developing a transitions program for our eighth graders and their families to improve their success in high school and beyond; and
  
• Collaborating with our nine Site Directors to ensure the best possible Summer 2012 program for our students.

In addition to all the activity described above, Bridge Central is in training. This summer
we will be staging our first ever SummerFest. SummerFest 2012 will celebrate the London Olympic Games which begin in July on the last day of the Bridge summer program. Our sites will incorporate many curricular connections to the Games with an emphasis on history, geography and fitness. Students will be exposed to Olympic sports which are new to them. Two sites will hold a track and field event at a local college. Most exciting is that our students will walk to London: they will compete in our own Olympic Bridge-a-thon. Teams will compete within sites and across sites to see who will walk the farthest, and who will get there first - 5,731 miles or 8,645 kilometers! There will be opportunities for a variety of sponsorships. Look to our website soon to find out how you can become part of the Bridge-a-thon to London. Meanwhile, keep training for summer!

Posted on April 2, 2012 11:25 AM

We note with sorrow the passing of former Board member, Eric Salvatierra. His insight, ideas,
and passion for our mission helped inform he work we do today; he is missed.

Posted on April 2, 2012 10:52 AM

St. Matthew's, Pinewood School, Saint Francis

Bridge will be adding two new sites in Summer 2012: Pinewood School in Los Altos Hills, and Saint Francis High School in Mountain View. Peninsula Bridge is also pleased to welcome a new site director to our 5th-6th grade summer program at St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School.
 
Scott Riches, President of Pinewood, says "Pinewood School is thrilled to be joining the Peninsula Bridge Program and becoming one of three host sites in Santa Clara County. We have been exploring opportunities to provide more public and community outreach, and feel Peninsula Bridge will be the perfect partner in achieving some of these goals."  Dr. Bonnie Traymore will be the Site Director for Pinewood. Bonnie is a high school history teacher; she also leads a team of student volunteers who tutor at Crittenden Middle School. Bridge students and families will also benefit from the fact that Bonnie is a certified college counselor.

Mike Speckman, Director of Admissions at Saint Francis, says that Saint Francis is "eager to continue the pride and traditions Bridge has established. As the Admissions Director at Saint Francis, I have had the pleasure of meeting students and families that were in the Bridge program. They were extremely proud to be in a program that allowed them to continue to develop skills in the summer." Stacey Ho will be the Site Director for Saint Francis. Before joining the Saint Francis community, Stacey, who is a guidance counselor and college advisor, worked in public middle and high schools in the East Bay.

Dawn Carleton will lead our 5th and 6th grade summer program at St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School.  Dawn currently teaches 5th grade at St. Matthew's, and serves as the social studies curriculum chair.  Before coming to St. Matthew's, Dawn served as director of education at Sylvan Learning Center, and taught 4th grade at the International Christian School.

Posted on April 2, 2012 9:27 AM

TA Nicole Cresci

Nicole is a great example of the power of our teacher assistants (TA's) and the important role they play in our organization. Nicole came to Peninsula Bridge through her 8th grade teacher, Brendan Gummerson who was the site director at St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School. As a sophomore TA, "I had an opportunity to see all of the work and energy that goes into teaching. I had no idea. I have always liked tutoring and working with kids so Peninsula Bridge was a good fit."  

Nicole was not only a TA in our program, but she also volunteered to create a video for the Valparaiso Bowl, an annual football game between Sacred Heart Prep and Menlo School that raises money for the Bridge program. After putting in 2-3 hours of filming, another 4-5 hours of editing, Nicole delivered a polished and effective video that was played at the Valparaiso Bowl kick-off at both Menlo and Sacred Heart Schools and went viral on the internet.

When asked what she likes about Peninsula Bridge, Nicole replies "Bridge is a great program. Seeing how much the kids improve, how motivated they are and how much they appreciate the opportunity to come to Bridge really inspires me". Bridge is a family affair with the Crisci's.  Her mother, Tina, attended a tour at St. Matthew's last summer, and her sister, Amanda, currently tutors Bridge students at St. Matthew's after school. Thank you, Nicole, for sharing your time and talents with Bridge and our students!

Posted on April 2, 2012 8:19 AM

 It is a wonderful thing that after more than two decades of doing this work, we can talk about the success of our Bridge alumni. A study of our Class of 2006, high school class of 2011, reflects that:

• > 95% of Bridge alumni complete high school on time, as compared with 25% of their same age peers
• The majority of the graduates go on to post-secondary education

These are numbers of which we can be proud, since many of our students are the first in their family to graduate from high school, not to mention continuing on to college.