First Graduate

A Charity Helps Students Aim for Higher Education

Originally published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy site on April 29, 2012.

Kirsten Guarini, a junior in high school, spent spring break traveling from her hometown of San Francisco to Los Angeles, visiting seven colleges on the way. If she enrolls in 2013, she will become the first person in her family to attend college

First Graduate student Larissa Martinez was featured on ScholarMatch.org. Larissa has a goal to raise $6,000 in scholarships for college by May.  You can view her profile at ScholarMatch.org, and help her meet her goal!

School:  John O'Connell High School

After becoming the first in my family to graduate from college last spring, I began diligently pursuing the next step: my career. I knew that I wanted to launch a career in accounting or finance, but it was a tough job market, especially in those industries. I knew that I would need to use my network to be successful.

Once again, First Graduate was there for me. They connected me to executives and young professionals working within many of the companies First Graduate partners with-- companies as varied as Gap, Inc. and Merrill Lynch.

Making Change, One Child at a Time

Yvette Ramirez, a First Graduate Senior at Harvard University, was just recognized as a “Champion of Change” (Agente de Cambio) - a part of President Obama’s “Winning the Future” initiative (whitehouse.gov/champions).