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Spring 2011
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Vol 2, Issue 1
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Meritus Celebrates Its 15th Class of Scholars
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Congratulations to the
class of 2011! And what a year has been! As a result of the engagement
of 60 readers and interviewers who scoured through over 250
applications, 46 graduates of San Francisco public high schools will
join the Meritus community. Each scholar will receive scholarships of
$12,000 coupled with four years of coaching and mentoring support to
ensure that they succeed in college. The Meritus Student Relations team
has met with each scholar to discuss college selection and transition,
financial aid, and future goals. All who have been involved with our
Scholars are truly impressed with their determination. To view a full
list of recipients, click
here.
To meet our scholars
and celebrate their achievements, please join us for our 15th
Annual Awards Ceremony on Thursday, June 2nd, in the
Presentation Theater at the University of San Francisco. Registration
begins at 5:30, followed by the program from 6-8pm. We are pleased to
again welcome Kate Kelly, CBS5 Feature Reporter, as our Emcee. We are
also honored to welcome our esteemed guest speakers: Lt. Governor Gavin
Newsom, Lutrell Huddleston and Molly Starr/WCC Scholarship Foundation,
and Ana Moraga, 2001 Meritus Scholar.
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Meet 2011
Scholar: Logan Cai
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Logan Cai, 2011 Meritus award recipient, received
the prestigious Jefferson Award
for service to the community in April 2011. Logan, a soon-to-be
graduate of Wallenberg High School, impressed us even without the award
when we met him during the March interviews. His commitment to
community stood out:
Living financially at the lower borderline level limited
the amount of "toys" in our house. I was able to
enhance my interests by creating challenges for myself. I'm
currently a youth outreach worker educator, yearbook leader, student body
and class treasurer, high school webmaster, and a high school student
representative. But I believe that my job as librarian is the greatest
accomplishment I've ever experienced. I worked in the library because I
did not want to see the library disintegrate from our school.
Keeping things operating and functional, such as the library, is one of
my hobbies. But when I graduate, I hope that my community emerges even
stronger.
Logan, who will be attending UCLA in the fall, inspired us with his passion
and demonstrated how important it is to do what it takes to fix a
problem. See a recent article
in the Examiner for more information.
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Class of
2007
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The class of 2007 is
on its way to graduating! This spring, 54% will complete their degrees,
and by next year an additional 33% will reach college completion. Our
graduates will receive their degrees from a wide array of universities,
mostly in California which include: 56% from University of California,
27% from California State University, and 17% from private colleges. We
are pleased that, in spite of the changing landscape in higher
education, our scholars are on track to completion.
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 Connecting to Careers
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Helping Scholars
connect their education to future careers has been a central focus this
spring as students began to look at opportunities for work and
interning during the summer and after graduation. Thanks to Leah Krentz
and Stephanie Troxel, both with a background in career consulting and
resume writing, Meritus worked with several of its scholars to draft
and fine-tune their resumes. Through a face-to-face workshop and a
webinar for those further away, students learned how to capture their
experiences and highlight their skills. Scholars were motivated by
career mentoring opportunities during the winter months which connected
20 scholars with professionals in their fields of interest. If you are
available to meet with a scholar as a career mentor, please contact us.
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Driving Data with Salesforce
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As part of our
efforts to meet the needs of Scholars - whose numbers have grown almost
100% over the last years - Meritus has implemented a new
case-management system thanks to a generous contribution from our
friends at Salesforce.com. Along with a pro bono consultant, who
customized the system to meet our specifications, this new system
will allow us to capture many layers of detail - everything from date
of birth, to post-graduation activities - so that we have a holistic
view of each student. The data we derive from this system is
information that will help us better understand the progress our
students are making toward graduation. And for those who hit a few
bumps along the way, we'll be there to support and encourage them so
they get back on track.
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You're Invited!
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15th Annual Awards Ceremony
Celebrating our 2011 Scholars!
*
Thursday, June 2, 2011 5:30-8pm
Presentation Theater University
of San Francisco
RSVP here.
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Join Us!
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Help a low-income graduate of San Francisco public
schools access and succeed in college through financial support,
coaching,and mentoring
Donate Now!
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Be a Mentor!
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Make a difference in the life of a scholar. To find
out more, contact Ana Moraga at
415.400.8650 or
via email at
Ana@meritusfund.org
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Meritus in the
News 
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Meritus was
recently featured in the San Francisco Chronicle in recognition of our
15 years of service to the community. Here is a link
to the story.
Meritus began
with one scholarship in 1996. With the cost of college education
steadily increasing, the founders believed at that time, many qualified
high school graduates were finding it difficult, if not impossible, to
finance their further education. Meritus College Fund grew out of the
belief that such worthy students should not be limited by their
financial circumstances. Since then we have been committed to helping
as many students as possible reach their educational goals and achieve
their full potential. And - 15 years later:
· We continue to open doors to opportunity for low-income youth
from San Francisco public high schools
· We have touched the lives of 485 students - 85% of whom are
the first in their families to attend college.
· Thanks to our donors - whose belief in our mission has
resulted in over $5.6 million in scholarship assurances - our program
continues to have strong local impact.
· Meritus provides individualized support that guides and
encourages our Scholars to reach their full potential.
With
87% of our Scholars completing college - compared to their counterparts
who graduate at a rate of approximately 23% nationally - that is
success!
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Thank you to the Donor Class of 2011
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Thanks to the investment
of so many wonderful 2011 donors in the youth of our community, we were
able to award 46 new $12,000 scholarships in the amount of $552,000.
Your generosity opens doors of opportunity for students who are in
significant need of resources and support. From Meritus and its
scholars, THANK YOU!
College
Access Foundation of
California
Alice
Abbott
John
Barry & May Pon
Katherine
& Donald Black
Christopher
& Jennifer Boyd
Tom
Chavez & Liz Sanchez
Mayme
Chinn
Sonya
& Eugene Clark-Herrera
Connie
& Tom Elliott
Saul
Fenster
Mark
Cullen & Fiona Smythe
Sally
Griesbach
Geoffrey
& Elizabeth Hazard
Kaiser
Permanente Health Care Fund for Northern California
Christopher
& Deirdre Hockett
Lyn
Isbell
Tonia
& Adam Karr
Amanda
Keith
Natasha
Kimmell
Nancy
Kukacka
Sheila
& Tom Larsen
Elizabeth
Little
Siesel
Maibach
Brent
Malarkey
Linda
& Lee Meier
Isabel
& Tad Moore
Paula
Morgan
Orbis
Investments
Rebecca
& Phil Otto
Patterson
Family
Garrett
& Amy Price
Betsy
Blumenthal & Jon Root
The
Erich and Hannah Sachs Foundation
Paul
Sack
Lynda
Spence & Bob Mittelstadt
Barbara
Stevens
Theresa
Lina & Michael Stevens
Annie
Kaiser & Bob Taylor
Curtiss
& T.J. Taylor
Dorothy
Vaio
Raj
& Soo Venkatesan
WCC
Scholarship Foundation
Sue
Weinstein
Christopher
Kodik and Carrie Wheeler
James
Kelly & Karen Yokoo
Katherine
Young
Margaret
Young
Jacob Ziemann
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**********************************************************************
Board of
Directors:
Chris Boyd, J.D., President · Jacqueline Young, Vice
President ·
Anthony Swei,Treasurer · Mauree Jane Perry, Secretary
Tom
Chavez · Margaret Chiu ·
Bill Drypolcher · Tonia Karr· Isabel Moore
Carol McLaughlin · Paula Morgan · Frank Morrow · Lisa
Rose
Diana Wolf
Program Staff:
Cedrick Andrews
Ana Moraga
Danielle Pizzi
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