Peninsula Bridge

By Deirdre Marlowe, Executive Director

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity with our Launch Event, a Parents Auxiliary Event, and nine orientations. It has been a joy to meet new students and families, and reconnect with those who are returning.

Life is pretty busy at Bridge even when we are not working with our summer scholars. One of the most exciting changes since last summer is the re-envisioning of Bridge as a consortium of leading independent schools. In a sense, Bridge has been a consortium all along, but we didn't always think of it first and foremost in that way. We currently have two Heads of School on our Board, but as a consortium all site Heads of School will become Board members. We believe the new approach will enhance the schools' ability to contribute their expertise to our continuous program improvement, engage with our summer scholars and their families during the academic year, and collaborate in more ways with our partner public schools.

This is a bittersweet moment in my time with Bridge. Summer 2013 will be my third, and last, summer. I am grateful for the opportunity to have served as your Executive Director in a time of growth and change. Please be confident that Alan Austin, with the assistance of the Consortium, will insure that the transition to my successor is smooth. It has been a pleasure getting to know and work with all of Bridge's many constituencies. I look forward to seeing what lies ahead for the middle school youth we serve.

As Deirdre noted above, she has decided to leave us after this summer. We are grateful for her work over the past two years, and we will miss her. Deirdre is leaving in a very professional way, with ample notice, and I am confident that we will find a wonderful new Executive Director for Bridge.

Thank You to all of our wonderful supporters and sponsors for making our first annual Summer Launch Event a success!

Rick Boesen will lead the Sacred Heart sites (5^th and 7^th grade programs). He has taught for more than twenty years in Florida, Hawaii and California. Currently, Rick teaches U.S. and World History at Junipero Serra High School, San Mateo. Rick earned a Masters in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University, New Orleans, and has been named Teacher of the Year four times.

Tait Wade will lead the Crystal Springs site (7^th and 8^th grade programs). Tait teaches sixth and seventh grade English at Crystal Springs, and coaches middle school boys and girls soccer. After graduating from Kenyon College, Tait taught in Texas, New York and South Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, where she worked as a teacher trainer and helped to build literacy programs. She also served as a mentor teacher for Summer Bridge in Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Krystle Whitney, our summer intern, comes to Bridge from Southern Utah University where she received her BS in communication, public relations, and journalism. She will work with the development team, defining our social media strategy, and supporting our summer events.

Welcome Rick, Tait, and Krystle!

Most of the schools in our Consortium are represented in our inaugural PA. The Auxiliary's primary purpose is to increase awareness at their respective schools. This group of energetic and committed parents is excited to spread the word about our program. PA members will:

• speak about Bridge at "PTA" meetings; 
• host House Parties to introduce people to Bridge;
• invite people to the summer open houses at the sites; 
• host a table at our annual breakfast; and
• many other opportunities...yet to be determined!

By Deirdre Marlowe, Executive Director

Be the Torch was the theme of our annual October Breakfast. It continued the summer's Olympic theme, and gave us a framework within which to celebrate students and alumni. A highlight of the program was remarks by Bridge alumna Mar y Sol Alvarado. She began by sharing how she "should have been a statistic," as the child of an immigrant mother of modest means, but that Bridge inspired her to want to go to college, led her to find the college of her dreams, and to her eventual choice to "give back" by leading a nonprofit serving youth in East Palo Alto.

Mar y Sol's journey provides an example of positive outcomes that are difficult to measure or quantify. How do we know that summers of "inspiring the WANT to learn" lead to on time high school graduation, college matriculation and success?  Is it the cognitive skills that we teach? Does the way that students think about themselves as students affect academic outcomes? Last summer we began to increase our efforts in these uncharted waters by having the majority of our summer scholars participate in PERTS. This is a "one-on-one" two-session computer intervention for middle school students derived from the work of Dr. Carol Dweck at Stanford on growth mind-set. People with a fixed mindset believe that their capacity for accomplishment is fixed. Those with a growth mindset "believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work; brains and talent are just the starting point."  The brain, then, IS like a muscle.

Further Preparing Bridge Alum for High School

On October 13, 2012, Bridge launched a Transitions Program pilot: a 10-session course designed to help students and their parents finish crossing the bridge to high school. Half-day sessions are on Saturdays; there are two sections- one at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, the other at Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo. Just as in summer, there are TAs - in this case from Pinewood, Sacred Heart Prep and Serra.

The first session was a bi-lingual program for students and parents called "How About High School." It was led by Cathy Shelburne, Upper School Admissions Director for Menlo School with the assistance of Prasant Nukalapati, ED of A Better Chance, Sharifa Wilson of College Track, and Sandy Brook, Associate Director of Admissions at Serra. Paula Calamato, Bridge Program Associate, translated. Cathy talked to parents and students about the importance of choosing the right high school, what to look for in a high school, and the independent school application process. The session also covered how to fill out those long school applications. There will be two more sessions which include parents: considering college, and navigating high school (which is being done in partnership with the Sequoia Union High School District).

Bridge Cup 2013

Last summer, Peninsula Bridge walked to London for our Olympic Summer. This year, the world is coming to the Bay Area to compete in the 34th America's Cup. It is being contested in the Bay in September by wing-sailed catamarans which must meet exacting specifications - each is approximately 70 feet long, the course is 25 miles. The silver America's Cup is the oldest trophy in sports. It was first awarded in 1851 in England when the New York Yacht Club's America sailed past England's Royal Yacht for the win. The NYYC successfully defended its title for 132 years - the longest championship in sports history.

The STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) of sailing will be front of mind for our summer scholars as they compete in our Bridge Cup. Teams of five or six will make their own boats to exacting specifications: each is approximately 6.5-7 inches long, and the course is 10 feet. Each site will hold its own heat. Winning site teams will compete for the Bridge Cup at a local yacht club. All final participants will get to sail and mind the boom, members of the winning team may even get to trim a sail or tend the tiller.

By Deirdre Marlowe, Executive Director

The Summer 2012 program is over. It is quiet now. We miss the excitement of visiting sites and learning that at Bridge Math is just about everybody's favorite subject! How could it not be with questions like: "How many times would you have to fold a piece of paper onto itself to reach the moon?" The emotion of hearing one student say, "Bridge is like a garden, and we are the flowers..." The satisfaction of seeing a student snack on an apple rather than chips after a nutrition class. The "ah ha" when students visit workplaces only seen on tv, and know that with education they are real possibilities. The suspense of how much weight it might take to collapse a popsicle stick bridge students built. The power of having entire classrooms say, I believe in myself.

After my first full summer serving Bridge, I believe in our mission more than ever, and the power of what we do to help motivated middle school students achieve academic and personal success. Every summer our master teachers devote the majority of their time to the core subject areas of Algebra readiness and English language arts. However, other factors contribute to student success, including engagement, self-efficacy and persistence. These are exemplified by something that happened at our fifth-sixth grade site at St. Matthew's Episcopal Day in San Mateo as an outcome of our Walk to London. They started a 15,000 Steps Club for students who walked what is a bit more than seven miles in one day.

Lucas Brooks, Paly Class of 2012, joined us this summer as our video intern. "As a Black student whose parents are both Ph.D.'s, one of the first things that became important to me when I entered high school was that everyone have the same educational opportunities that I do, so I did whatever I could to spread the resources I had been blessed with to my underrepresented peers. In my school district      Lucas Brooks (left), Video Intern
there has historically been a sizable minority achievement gap. In the Class of 2011, roughly a third of Latino students and less than half that percentage of Black students graduated ready to go to a four year college whereas nearly all of the White and Asian students (85-90%) did. Outside school, most of my activities were focused around this issue, and I discovered that the most practical way of approaching it was through engaging the entire community -- students, parents, teachers, administrators and school board members.

Theresa and Students Calculate Portion Size

Theresa Donovan Brown has been part of the Peninsula Bridge community for more than a decade. Her daughter, Julia, was a Teacher Assistant at the SHS Bridge Program for twoyears where she spear-headed an instrumental elective. Last spring, Theresa asked if sites would beinterested in a nutrition class for our summer scholars, especially since somany of them are at risk for Type II diabetes. Six sites were. Theresa comes by her interest in nutrition organically: her mother was a long-time nutrition teacher, and Theresa had been a volunteer teacher of the subject in San Mateo County.

TAs are high school or college students from our host schools, or Bridge alumni. They are a critical link between site directors and master teachers, and the middle school students we support. TAs are assigned to master teachers and assist in daily planning and delivery of lessons, including prepping materials, correcting homework and providing differentiated instruction. TAs also plan and lead enrichment activities. They do a great deal toward engaging our summer scholars in their education. TAs are old enough to be respected, but young enough to be believed. During a site tour, one student told a visitor, "You're really smart... And nice. You should apply to be a TA next year." TAs benefit, too. Results include improved leadership, teaching skills,and cultural competency, increasingly important in this ever-diversifying world.

Here are some of this summer's TA led activities in addition to sports, arts and crafts, and advisory activities: an inquiry-based science curriculum, real-world math, self-defense, gymnastics, computer-based music composition and production, Mandarin Chinese, an inter-site track and field day, geometry, creative writing, guitar, physics, photography, organic gardening, meditation, yoga... And more...

I make a point to send each student onto the bus with a high five or fist pound along with a smile and cheerful goodbye. Every minute of their experience is important to me and I want their last impression of Bridge to be memorable even if they are just entering a yellow school bus. The little things matter."
Rachael Siegman, 2012 Menlo TA

By Deirdre Marlowe, Executive Director

• 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.

St. Matthew's, Pinewood School, Saint Francis

TA Nicole Cresci

• > 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

By Deirdre Marlowe, Executive Director

• 356 students served (171 boys, 185 girls)
• Rising 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders
• 19% more students than in 2010
• 51,264 program hours
• 3.5:1 Student/Teacher Ratio

By Lupe Ortiz, Bridge Summer Intern

By Grainger Marburg, Executive Director

Peninsula Bridge Board Member

Jamie Wang is one of our newest Board members.  She and her husband Joe just celebrated their 30-year anniversary!  They have 3 children:  Justin a sophomore at Menlo School, and twins Kerry (daughter) and Alex (son) who graduated from college in 2010 and are both currently working as engineers here in Silicon Valley.  Jamie's non-profit focus is on
education and under-served youth.  She was one of the first members of Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2) when it began in 1998.  In addition to Bridge's board, Jamie is also on the Board of Downtown College Prep and Kids in Common.   We are very excited to have Jamie on our team!

Alumni Updates - High School Class of 2011

 This year's high school class of 2011 included nearly 80 Peninsula Bridge alumni who completed our program during the summer of 2006.  We wish all of these graduates the best of luck as they move on to new challenges!  Here are a few alumni updates:

            Danny Mendoza                      Diana Carbajal

Danny Mendoza will attend Santa Clara University.  Diana Cabajal, currently working as a Bridge TA, will be attending U.C. Davis.

By Beau Nichols, St. Matthew's TA

Supporting the Bridge Mission

By Grainger Marburg, Executive Director

By Grainger Marburg, Executive Director

Bridge students Erick Sandoval and Fabiola Rivera led our guests in a challenging round of the math game "Krypto".  Roger Zamora, a former Peninsula Bridge TA, was our keynote speaker.  Roger currently works as the director of operations for the Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City.  The program was closed with the song "If You Dream", performed by alums Ricky Whitfield, Korrine Nickings, and student James Bryant-Smith.  View our 2010 video shown during the breakfast:

What can be more uplifting than seeing someone from your community thriving, confident and living their dream while demonstrating to you that anything is possible? 

Ricky Whitfield did that and more for fellow Peninsula Bridge alum Korinne Nickings, current Peninsula Bridge student James Bryant-Smith and our entire audience at our 7th Annual Benefit Breakfast, leading the trio in a professional and inspiring performance.

Now that students are back in their regular classrooms for the new school year, I want to take a moment to reflect on the 2010 summer program.  I spent a lot of time visiting our program sites this summer.  I sat in classrooms and observed our master teachers and teacher assistants (TAs), met students, and talked with the site directors about the successes and challenges.  It was an important and meaningful thing for me to do.  It reminded me why I do this work and why Peninsula Bridge is so critical.  Nothing is more compelling for the heart and mind than witnessing a child's face transform from self-doubt to joy as she struggles with a math problem and solves it, seeing the pride on a child's face as he answers a tough question, or observing a TA working 1:1 with a student and seeing how much the student appreciates the personal attention and how much the TA is growing and learning from the student.  These are the moments that inspire me.  They are the moments that nourish the teachers and re-energize the site directors who are devoting a big chunk of their summer to the program. This is what inspires them to work with us; this is the common ground we share.

by Anna Paustenbach, Summer Intern

This summer, I was lucky to have the opportunity to be an intern for the Peninsula Bridge program. After three years of being a TA, and then one as the head TA at the Sacred Heart site, I returned to Peninsula Bridge as an intern in the main office.  From this vantage point I began to understand the bigger picture: transitioning from working one-on-one with students in the classroom to understanding the overarching goals and strategies that guide our seven program sites.  This was a great lesson for me in terms of how a community comes together to increase student learning.

Peninsula Bridge is comprised of two communities that are normally separate--the independent school community and the public school families from low-income areas.  It was inspiring to me to see these communities find a way to work together for the betterment of all.  I will never forget what Les DeWitt told me when I interviewed him for a press release I wrote earlier in the summer. He said, "If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a community to create and sustain the Peninsula Bridge program." That has stuck with me because it reinforces the vision and power of new communities to make lasting change.

Anna is a Senior at Santa Clara University majoring in English and Religious Studies.

We are thrilled to welcome Brian O'Kelly as a new member of the Board of Directors.  He learned of Peninsula Bridge when he was researching youth organizations for DPR Foundation, the philanthropic arm of DPR Construction.  Brian encouraged us to apply, we received funding, and along the way we discovered Brian's passion and commitment to local youth. In short, Brian expressed his interest in getting more involved with Peninsula Bridge, impressed our leadership team and is now a new member of our Board.  Since joining our organization Brian has:

Squeals of excitement and laughter could be heard as our alumni, staff and TA's from years past gathered at the Sacred Heart campus for Peninsula Bridge's second alumni reunion.  Not only was this our second reunion, but it was a celebration of our 20 year anniversary.  The Peninsula Bridge program held it's first summer program 20 years ago at Sacred Heart so it seemed appropriate to have the reunion where everything began.  Before our reunion we had a board-sponsored reception and honorary guests included:

• Dolly Sacks - Former program officer at Packard Foundation.  Packard gave us one of our first grants.
• Dr. Charlie Mae Knight - Former Superintendent of the Ravenswood School District who saw the importance of the program for her students.
• Les DeWitt - Founding member of Peninsula Bridge and current board member

Peninsula Bridge was given the opportunity to receive much needed supplies through an innovative giving program conceived by Silicon Valley company, Conceptus.  Peninsula Bridge created 'giving cards' with supplies that were needed for our summer programs, such as binders, gardening tools, pens, paper, t-shirts and composition books. Employees from Conceptus then chose from $15, $20, and $25 cards that listed these supplies and donated them to Peninsula Bridge.  In total, the generous employees of Conceptus donated over $1,200 worth of supplies for our students.  The supplies were distributed to our school program sites, and are already being put to good use.  Thank you, Conceptus!

by Grainger Marburg, Executive Director

Anniversaries and reunions can be powerful events.  They have the potential to engender strong emotions and catapult us to the past.  They are also opportunities to reflect on where we are now and where we hope to be in the future.  Though I have only been with Peninsula Bridge for five years, I have become part of a rich mosaic of individuals that has spanned twenty years.  A lot can change in that time.  Twenty years ago at Peninsula Bridge's inception, Germany became a united country, Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in prison, and the internet became a global phenomenon.  Peninsula Bridge itself has evolved, expanding to 7 sites and currently serving 300 students this summer. Some things can also stay the same, such as the enduring commitment to our mission that so many folks have demonstrated over the years.  

Our 6^th Annual Bridge Builder's Society Breakfast, 'Passport to Success' was a huge triumph! Thank you to all who attended to support Peninsula Bridge. Demetra Jones Schoby, an alumnus of the Peninsula Bridge program, was our keynote speaker. Since graduating from Peninsula Bridge in 1993, Demetra graduated from Spelman College, worked as an equity trader in San Francisco, and was one of the early supporters of For Youth By Youth, a community based organization in East Palo Alto. Demetra's enthusiasm and passion for "giving back" were contagious.

In the summer of 1990, a group of 26 middle school students from East Palo Alto cautiously stepped upon the Sacred Heart Prep campus and participated in the inaugural year of the Peninsula Bridge Program.  Spearheaded by the indefatigably optimistic Les DeWitt and an enthusiastic Sister Brown at Sacred Heart, the Program quickly gained traction and expanded to Woodside Priory the following year.  By 1994, Menlo, Castilleja and Crystal Springs Uplands had also joined the Peninsula Bridge family, and we recently welcomed St. Joseph's and St. Matthew's Episcopal as program sites as well, enabling us to reach almost 270 underserved students from East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, and San Mateo.

One of the many facets of Bridge is our families with multiple children who are a part of the program. The Waltons, one of these families, have two alumni and one current Bridge student.  Mrs. Emy Walton explained, "the parents' job is to make it possible for the child to get a better education by sacrificing the simplest thing; time".  Time, however, is not the only thing needed to help children succeed in their education.  According to John Walton Sr.,  "Bridge is a way to level the playing field by providing equal academic opportunity.  I say that in our family that mission has been accomplished.  Our kids are definitely well prepared."