Tutor Corps Foundation

Project Title: The Marin Cake Project
Grantees: Emily Villavicencio and Olivia Thomas
Associated School: Marin Waldorf, San Rafael

The goal of the Marin Cake Project is to bake and decorate special, one-of-a-kind birthday cakes for foster children in the Marin community in the hopes of making those children feel special on their birthdays. Decorations will be handmade, taking hours and sometimes days, and themed to the child’s interests. Just hours after the Marin Foster Parents Association published an article announcing the intentions of Emily and Olivia, both 13-years-old, to make birthday cakes for foster children, the two bakers and decorators received their first orders. They have also promised the Marin Homeless Association to provide a large cake each month to be shared by homeless residents of Marin.

Project Title: The Banjika School Service Learning Project
Grantees: Tayeb Zaidi, Michael Kreher, Francesca Zepeda and Oliver Gonzalez-Yoakum
Associated School: Lick-Wilmerding, San Francisco

The Banjika School Service Learning Project was established at Lick-Wilmerding High School (LWHS) in Spring 2011 in collaboration with an alumni parent who established a school in Bashay Village, outside of Karatu, Tanzania. The school now hosts 550 students. The purpose of the project is to establish an ongoing relationship between students from LWHS and the Banjika Secondary School and to develop a long-term service project to help build the school’s academic and technological infrastructure. A group of LWHS students involved in the project will travel to the Banjika Secondary School in the summer of 2011 to explore opportunities for tutoring in English language development, share creative writing activities and help set up professional development software for teachers at the Banjika school technology center. LWHS students plan to maintain personal and academic relationships established with the school online and through repeat visits to the school in the coming years.

Project Title: Halloween for the Hungry
Grantees: Simone Hudson
Associated School: Urban School, San Francisco

Five years ago, 17-year-old Simone Hudson realized that food for the hungry is far more important than candy for her. So she decided that, instead of trick-or-treating for candy on Halloween night, she would collect food to be donated to the local food bank. Since then, she and a team of volunteers have spread the word about the project and collected enough food to feed over 1,200 people. Simone says the purpose of Halloween for the Hungry is twofold: one, to collect food for the hungry, and two, to raise awareness about hunger in our community and call the community to action.

Project Title: Suicide Prevention Workshop
Grantees: Donald Livingston
Associated School: Summit Preparatory Charter High School, Redwood City

The Fall 2010 grant recipient was awarded to Summit Preparatory Charter High School student Donald Livingston. Donald’s program, Suicide Prevention Workshop, seeks to address the issue of teen suicide in San Mateo County, specifically Summit Prep. Through the Suicide Prevention Workshop, students can consult culturally aware counselors about the stigmatized idea of depression and mental health among young adults. The goal of the program is to reduce teen suicide at Summit Prep and set an example for other schools in San Mateo County.

Project Title: Stories Connecting Youth (SCY)
Grantees: Jadyn Petterson-Rae
Associated School: Drew School, San Francisco

The spring 2010 Tutor Corps Community Service Grant recipient was awarded to Drew School student Jadyn Petterson-Rae. Jadyn’s program, Stories Connecting Youth, also known as SCY (Pronounced sky), creates audio recordings of books and sends them to young people in under privileged communities such as Haiti, Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, South Africa and East Palo Alto. SCY seeks to promote literacy while simultaneously giving children a sense of connection knowing other kids are reading and listening to the same stories across the world.

Project Title: Stories for Success
Grantees: Vika Mlonchina and Mikhail Vysotskiy
Associated School: San Francisco University High School, San Francisco

In winter of 2009, the Tutor Corps Community Service Grant was awarded to San Francisco University High School students Vika Mlonchina and Mikhail Vysotskiy. Vika and Mikhail’s program, Stories for Success, provides English tutoring to English language learners at Alamo Elementary School. As English language learners themselves, Vika and Mikhail recognized the challenges students face when English is not their native language. Through weekly tutoring sessions, Stories for Success gives students a chance to improve their English, build confidence and self-esteem, and acquire the language skills required to excel in school.

Project Title: East Palo Alto Soccer Academy
Grantees: Sanjay and Vikram Padval
Associated School: East Palo Alto Academy, Palo Alto

With their grant award, Sanjay and Vikram designed an after-school soccer program for K-3 students at the East Palo Alto Academy. Their program, East Palo Alto Soccer Company, teaches students not only soccer skills, but also life skills such as the importance of teamwork and the value of education.

Project Title: Lessons for Life
Grantees: Sonya Shadan
Associated School: San Francisco Day School, San Francisco

Sonya Shadan's program, Lessons for Life, promotes musicianship at schools that lack music programs. Through the recruitment of volunteer instructors and the provision of instruments and music books, Lessons for Life gives San Francisco Day School students the opportunity to develop their musical abilities.