We just got a third Fulbright!

Cynthia Gomez of Smith College (just like Marichuy) and Garfield (just like our other two Fulbright scholars) has received a Fulbright and will be teaching English in Malaysia!!!

Letter from a BILL GATES SCHOLAR!

"Hi Harley, Erica, and Michelle!

I hope all of you guys are doing well. I am just emailing you all to say thank you.

Harley, thank you so much for accepting me into the College Match program. It has benefited me so much from SAT classes to college visits to college applications. It made this process as first generation to go to college in my family a lot smoother. 

Erica, thank you so much for helping me with my personal statement. All the revisions, suggestions, and advice helped strengthen my essay and application. 

And thank you so much Michelle for answering my questions about the Gates scholarship and for the Bill Gates essay tips and hints. It helped me so much when I was writing all eight essays for this scholarship.

I wanted to thank you all, in this one email, because if it wasn't for all of you supporting me I probably wouldn't have been able to be a Bill Gates Scholar. I received a packet yesterday in the mail informing me that I won the scholarship. I am so lucky, blessed, and fortunate to have had all of you contribute to my college journey. All of the help and support I have received, like from you all, has helped lead up to this moment. Now I can go to college out of state, something I have dreamed of as a kid. Now I won't have a heavy financial burden on me or my parents. I can never thank you all enough. College Match has saved me, and I can never be able to thank you all enough!

I hope you have a nice rest of the day!"

A wonderful email from a former College Match student

From: Baker, Erich B - (NAS)
Date: Thu, Jan 21, 2016 at 9:00 AM
Subject: Erich Baker - Jordan HS - College Match

Hey Mr. Frankel,

I hope everything is going well with you and your family. It’s been a while since we last spoke and you may or may not remember me from the College Match program. I was in the group from LA Jordan and I believe we went on a college tour in the 2003 school year. Anyhow, I was just reaching out to you because the program crossed my mind as I was thinking about all of the pivotal moments that lead me to where I am now. I just wanted to update you on how things are going on my end.

As you may remember, I attended and graduated from Tuskegee University in 2011. I majored in Construction Science & Management while there and was one of the lucky few to receive an employment offer before I graduated. I’ve been with Turner Construction going on 5 years now and it has been an amazing experience. In my 5 years with the company, I was on the project team that built the $400MM Martin Army Community Hospital in Ft. Benning, GA and the $1BN Baxter Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing plant in Covington, GA. I’m currently a cost analyst in our main office in Alabama. I have a wife and 2 children (boy, 8yrs and girl, 9mos) and they are all doing well and we have made a good life here in Alabama. I haven’t been back to California much since I left so I’ve kinda lost contact with most people from my high school years. But, all-in-all, everything has been going well for me here.

I’m writing just to say thank you again for bringing College Match to Jordan and the other inner city schools. When I look back at what started me out on my journey, it always starts with the East Coast college tour. That was my first time ever leaving the state and the first time I stepped foot on a college campus. I had always wanted to go to college but it always felt so out of reach since no one in my family or anyone I knew personally had ever gone. Just being on those campuses and meeting the students sparked something in me that made me want to experience it myself. That moment made me serious about pursuing a college education. On top of the actual tour, the SAT prep classes and all of the information on college applications/requirements were instrumental in the admissions process. It really helped me to get to where I am and I was able to pass that information on to my younger siblings (most recently my baby sister who will be attending Tuskegee in the fall) and anyone else who might need it. I just wanted to thank you again for the opportunity and if there is anything that I can do to help the program just let me know.

Best Regards,

Erich B. Baker Jr.│ Cost Engineer
Turner Construction Company

College Match now has TWO Fulbright Scholars!

Marichuy Gomez, of Garfield High School and Smith College, is doing her Fulbright this fall in Turkey.  Our previous Fulbright Scholar, Josh Rodriguez, is also  a graduate of Garfield High School.

Bryn Mawr appoints College Match Alum to the NeXXT Scholars Initiative

College Match alum (Bell High), Noemi Moreno, currently a junior at Bryn Mawr, has been selected as one of only two American students at her college to participate in the NeXXt Scholars Initiative, a partnership of the  US Department of State, the New York Academy of Sciences and leading women's colleges. The program was developed by Hillary Clinton, who graduated from a women's college, and is designed to support and promote women studying in the STEM fields. Noemi was selected for this special opportunity based on her strong record at Bryn Mawr and the recommendation of her dean. As a NeXXt scholar, Noemi will receive personal mentoring from a professional in her field, participate in enrichment opportunities through the New York Academy of Sciences, and serve as an ambassador to a woman from a Muslim-majority country who is also studying a STEM subject.

College Match Graduate is White House Intern!

Josh Rodriguez, College Match 2009, has begun a White House Internship working on Immigration.  Josh, who recently returned from Mexico City on a Fulbright studying American-Mexican business relationships, is the only White House Domestic Policy Intern working on immigration issues. 

He is involved in helping develop the President's upcoming Executive Order on Immigration.

Josh graduated from Pomona College in 2013 and during that time, he interned at Google, City National Bank and The Children's Partnership.

TWO COLLEGE PRESIDENTS PRAISE COLLEGE MATCH AT WHITE HOUSE SUMMIT on COLLEGE ACCESS

College Match was singled out by two College Presidents last week as one of the nation's top college access organizations in conjunction with the White House Summit on College Access.

The President of Franklin & Marshall, Dan Porterfield, said "Every year, College Match launches dozens of outstanding students to college success at Franklin & Marshall College and many other great institutions. The powerful impact of the more than 20 College Match students at F&M has been extraordinary. I love the program and its students."

In addition, the President of Bryn Mawr, Kim Cassidy, was interviewed on NPR prior to the Summit and mentioned two college access organizations--one of which was College Match.