Family Spotlight: Tamara Brown

The pandemic has made schooling difficult for both students and their parents. Tamara Brown – a First Graduate® grandparent of eleven children, and the legal guardian of 4 of them – shares her experience of the challenges she faced in the past two years.

Distance learning deprived her children of fostering close relationships with teachers and classmates. The joy and energy of social and mental growth inherent in a physical classroom were non-existent, and the communal spirit of the band and other clubs and afterschool programs lacked vigor. The closure of all non-essential on-campus resources, such as after-school programming, made it especially hard for Tamara to seek homework assistance.

Tamara ultimately connected with First Graduate® during the first few weeks of at-home learning. FG facilitated her child’s education with after-school tutoring, counseling, and a learning kit that included a laptop and hotspot. Tamara calls FG a spectacular investment for her child’s future and a blessing. She is confident that her child will someday reap the many rewards of a college degree.

Supporting First Graduate® means that our students will receive all the help needed to fulfill their dream of becoming the first person in the family to graduate from college. Families like Tamara’s are our reason to keep providing access to quality education for our first-gen students.

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Alumni Spotlight: Leandro Guerrero

Born in Peru, Leandro moved to San Francisco as a child and attended Horace Mann Middle School and Lowell High School.
Leandro credits First Graduate® with teaching him valuable life skills, such as time management. He has fond memories of spending hours in the First Graduate® office, working with peers and staff to complete college applications ahead of school deadlines.

Another trauma inflicted on young people

Children and their families need to believe that school is a safe haven. We deplore the violence that has become all too commonplace in schools, and our hearts ache for the young people and adults targeted at Rudsdale Newcomer High School in Oakland. Violence anywhere is abhorrent. The prevalence of guns as a means to