News & Announcements

Happy Birthday to All Dreamers with February Birthdays

Lambert, Carla, Ohma, Leo and Christopher!

Ask Jane… IHAD-SF’s Board Member and Professional College Consultant Answers the Dreamers’ Questions about College!

I have heard college is going to be a lot harder than high school. Is that true?
Some students find college much harder than high school, others not so much.  It depends on whether you have taken challenging courses in high school and whether you have worked hard or not.  Also, some colleges are harder than others.  So it’s hard to answer that question because it depends on a lot of things.  But one thing I can say for sure is that college is very different from high school in some ways.  In high school, you spend more hours each day in class and you have homework assigned several nights a week in most classes.  In college, you spend fewer hours each day in class and you don’t get as much nightly homework.  But that doesn’t mean you can spend less time doing schoolwork!  In college, you have to organize your own study time.  You have to figure out a good schedule and make sure you get all the required reading done, study for quizzes and exams, and reserve plenty of time to write papers.  Your teacher will not be telling you what, or how much, work that you need to do each day.  You will get something called a syllabus on the first day in each class, which tells you what you need to do in the class in order to earn your grade; but you will need to figure out a plan for getting the work done for all of your classes.  College work is very manageable for students who have good time management skills.

How long will it take for me to adjust to college life as a college freshman?  Do you have any advice for getting used to living on a college campus?
It usually takes students a full semester to adjust to college life and, for some, it takes the better part of a year.  This is a big transition!  You are moving away from home and from all that is familiar to you.  You are living with a roommate, someone you never met before, who may be from a background very different from yours.  You get lots of freedom and independence that you probably didn’t have before, but you also have to be responsible and manage your life like a young adult.  So here is some advice:

• Get a calendar or some kind of planner and work out a study schedule the very first week of classes.  Plan to spend 2 to 3 hours studying, reading, or going over your notes for every 1 hour you spend in the classroom.  And stick to your schedule.
• Also during the first week, talk to your roommate about some basics.  Do you like to study in your room?  When do you like to go to bed and get up?  Do you like music on when you study, or not?  Can you tolerate messiness if you are neat?  Then make an agreement, preferably in writing, about some of the things that are most important to you and your roommate.
• Join 2 or 3 clubs or organizations during the first semester, so that you meet people who have interests similar to yours.  The people who live near you in the dorm may not have a lot in common with you, so you need to put yourself out there to find “your people.”  Don’t expect it to just happen; you need to make it happen.  Play an intramural sport; write for the college newspaper; join the Spirit Club or the Hiking Club; etc.  Colleges have so many activities available for students to join; you will probably have a hard time deciding which ones to do!
• Make sure that you get enough sleep and eat sensibly so that you stay healthy.
• Use good judgment when it comes to relationships, partying, and following campus rules. 
• College is what you make it:  The more you put into it, the more you will get out of it.

Farewell to the Young Women's Group ... Hello End-of-Program Celebration Planning Committee!

Based on a lack of participation on behalf of our confident, independent, busy, social young women we have decided to discontinue our young women's group and, instead, assemble a co-ed “Decade of Memories” Party committee.  This committee is open to young women and young men Dreamers, and will meet monthly  to organize and plan IHAD’s end-of-program festivities.

MLK Celebration 2010

The last of a three-part project ended in an incredible celebration and recognition of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, January 18th, 2010.  17 SF Dreamers and 17 EPA Dreamers for a day of learning and getting to know one another. SF Dreamers facilitated four workshops for their younger peers: Healthy Communication with Parents, Healthy Relationships, Balancing Academic and Social Life, and Accessing Resources in High School. After the workshops students enjoyed a delicious lasagna feast and won prizes in our annual Winter Raffle. Thanks to all who participated, and a special thanks to Purva Dandona and Jayeesha Dutta for leading workshops on December 29 to help the SF Dreamers design the most engaging workshops possible!

February Parent Meeting: Community College 

Planning to attend a community college? Not quite sure what your options are in your area? Come to IHAD's February parent meeting. Representatives from CCSF, Skyline, San Mateo, Laney and Contra Costa colleges will be in attendance to tell you about their institutions, explain how you can enroll, and give tips for community college success on Wednesday, February 24th from 6-8PM at IHAD’s Capp Street office. 

IHAD’s Third Annual Family Retreat: march 12-14, 2010 at the Marin Headlands Youth Hostel

Sign up now if you would like your family to reserve a spot on our third and final “I Have a Dream” Family Retreat!  We will be driving to the Marin Headlands Youth Hostel together on Friday, March 12 and staying overnight through Sunday, March 14, 2010.  The purpose of the retreat is to give families a chance to “get away from it all” with their kids, to spend time together with other youth and families, and to learn coaching, speaking, collaboration and listening skills and build strong, positive and effective communication between the Dreamers and their parents.  Come learn how to better help yourself and others set and reach their goals and dreams!  Space is limited so let Ms. Abby know asap if you think you’d like to reserve a spot for this very special weekend recreational and learning opportunity!

College Scholarships

PG&E Employee Resource Groups Sponsor Scholarship Programs
PG&E Employees groups reward scholarships to students from different ethnic backgrounds that reside in the PG&E service area.  Different scholarships are available for African-American, Latino, Asian, Filipino, GLBT and Female students.  Each resource group awards 10 or more scholarships of $2,000 to well-rounded candidates who will contribute positively to our society in the near future.  Applicants will be notified of their application status by June 30, 2010.

2010 New American Scholars Program
E4FC (Educators for Fair Consideration)’s New American Scholars Program provides financial awards and support services to low-income immigrant college students who live or attend school in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Applications are accepted regardless of citizenship or residency status.  The application deadline is Friday, March 5th. Applicants are now required to complete and submit both a Preliminary Online Application and a Paper Application, which includes essays, transcripts, and recommendations.

Bay Area Gardener's Foundation Scholarship
The Bay Area Gardener’s Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to provide financial support to eligible economically disadvantaged students to attend college.  The goal of the foundation is to provide the means for students to achieve a higher education, which will prepare them to be competitive and contributing members of the community and economy.  Eligible candidates must have an overall GPA of 2.5 and maintain a GPA of 2.5 or above for the entire school year, be willing to do twenty hours or more of community service each semester, demonstrate financial need, and live within one of the Bay Area Counties.  Applications must be submitted by March 29, 2010.

Message from Ms. Abby

2010 has gotten off to an excellent start so far, and we are looking forward to lots of exciting news, events, decisions and celebrations in the months ahead.  The San Francisco Dreamers and their families worked hard with the IHAD staff in mid-January to complete and submit their financial aid forms (FAFSA and CSS Profile) by the deadlines.  Once your 2009 taxes are completed, please make an appointment with us asap so that we can correct these forms online and enter in more accurate information than the original estimates we used!  After that’s done, all that will be left for each Dreamer to do is apply to as many scholarships as possible and wait for news!  Actually, that’s not entirely true.  The Dreamers will also have to continue maintaining their grades so that they don’t get un-accepted from any colleges once their second semester grades come out!  Also, every Dreamer who is considering community college as his/her main or alternate post high school plan should be choosing the school that’s right for him/her, completing the application, meeting with a counselor, and signing up for classes as EARLY AS POSSIBLE!  IHAD will be holding two parent/Dreamer informational sessions on Feb. and March to get everyone up to speed about the different local community college options, and what the process is for enrolling and signing up for classes for next Fall at these 2-year programs.

Other wonderful news from the past month was that the San Franciso Dreamers led a fantastic final MLK Jr. Project on January 18, providing 17 very engaged Dreamers from East Palo Alto with four high quality, hands on workshops about Healthy Relationships, Positive Communication with Parents/Guardians, Accessing Resources in High School, and Time Management.  Congratulations to Lori for spearheading the project and to every Dreamer who participated for sharing your experience, wisdom, and guidance to benefit EPA’s 9th Grade Dreamers!

The IHAD Staff is busily preparing for the upcoming 3rd Annual Dreamer/Parent Retreat at the Marin Headlands Youth Hostel from March 12-14, planning a big end-of-program Celebration to be held on June 19 at Lick Wilmerding High School, and designing Transition to College activities and programs for Spring Break and early Summer.  We are always interested in your ideas and feedback so please mark you calendars for our upcoming events AND contact us if you have any suggestions or requests as we plan for them!

Mark Your Calendars!
Upcoming Programs and Events

Please mark your calendars for the following upcoming IHAD-SF events.

College Corner: Tying Up Loose Ends

For most students, submitting college applications has finally ended! However, before you start celebrating, remember that it’s important to use this post-application period wisely. After all, just because your applications have been sent doesn't necessarily mean that your work is over:

• Recommendations
  One remaining task is to follow up their teachers about submitting their recommendations. You can always check their submission status by logging on your account for the Common Application.
  
  
• Transcripts
  Hopefully no one caught “Senioritis” during the fall semester because many schools will make final decisions using your senior year grades. For this reason, talk to your counselor to make sure that your transcript was sent out. Your counselor may also have to send a form called the Midyear School Report for many of the private colleges that accept the Common Application.
  
  
• Correspondence
  Don’t throw anything away! Although you may still receive a ton of junk mail and email from various colleges, sort through it carefully to make sure that you don’t miss any important notices. You never know, one of these letters could be an acceptance notice.

Dreamer College Application Update: Private Schools

Last month we reported on students’ progress with the college application progress. At that time, students had just completed applications for many of the California State Universities. Since then, students hustled during the final weeks before the holidays to complete applications, essays, recommendations, supplements, any other requirements to apply for private colleges and universities. Despite the added workload, students produced quality applications well in advance of most submission deadlines. The following is a summary of the private colleges and universities where everyone has applied so far:

Private Colleges and Universities

• 24 Dreamers have applied to 38 different private colleges this fall, submitting a total of 102 applications!
• 7 of the Dreamers applied to at least one of 15 different colleges located outside of California.
• The most popular campuses overall were Whittier College (10), Loyola Marymount University (9), St. Mary’s College (8), Santa Clara University (8), Dominican University (8), and University of the Pacific (8).

Congratulations to all of the Dreamers for their hard work completing the applications on time!

Visiting Johnson and Wales University in Denver, CO with my Mentor

by Jasmine Pierce Smith
My mentor Ms. Kate and I flew into Denver on December 5 to visit Johnson and Wales University; a school I really like because of their a culinary program. Our visit was very hands-on. Everyone split up into groups separate from their parents and went to five different stations, all about food. The first station was about meat, the second station was about baking, after that there was one about chocolate, one about carving ice sculptures, and finally we watched a demonstration of flambé` making. Later that day we toured the city of Denver and went to a museum. I really enjoyed myself and I really appreciate Ms. Kate so much for taking me to Denver. Without her help I would have a harder time choosing the college I want to attend. Also I would like to thank Ms. Kate for helping me with the college process because she has made it much less stressful.

Volunteer Corner

A special thank you to the following individuals and businesses who donated raffle prizes for the EPA and SF Dreamers during our 2010 MLK Jr. Project Day!
Jane McClure, Ben Roodman, Elena Greeves McCarron, Brian Sadigursky at Little Star Pizza, Jeffrey Weiss, Katherine Yep, Kristen Bourne at BiRite Grocery, Hanson Kwong at Starbucks, Sonia Nagala - The Parthenon Group, Christine Maog, Tania Riss, Gigi Miranda, Julie Mallari, Priscilla Agbunag, Monina Arnaldo, Serena Seifer, Christy Godinez, and Phil Jerome

SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION PARTY!!
LET US THANK YOU FOR YOUR MANY CONTRIBUTIONS!

Thursday, May 6, 2010 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
The Women's Building, Audre Lorde Room
3543 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110-1697

IHAD VOLUNTEERS! Please join us as we celebrate all that you’ve done to support our youth and our programs! We could never do it without you! We are hoping to see you all there for food, fellowship and fun!