We now enter the thirteenth year of the program whose goal has been:

That bright but economically and culturally disadvantaged students are limited not by their environment but are assured of progressing to a level determined only by their own considerable talents to the end that they will be competitive for entry into four year colleges with scholarship aid.

The Twelve Year Record:
(1) Over the twelve years during which the program has been operative, we have inducted a total of 396 scholars. We have lost 90 (failure to maintain GPA, moved out of the venue, or failed to maintain standards of citizenship). This is a loss of 23%--strikingly low for the population served.

(2) As of June, 2008 we have graduated a total of 139 high school seniors. Of this group 128 (92%) have been accepted to, are attending or have graduated from a four year university. The 128 have received more than $7.7 million in scholarship/financial aid, averaging > $60,000 per scholar for their four years of college. This represents > 6.5 times our total monetary investment over their six years in the Partnership program.

(3) A partial list of the colleges which they are attending includes all the UC schools, Harvard, Wellesley, Penn, Brown, Stanford, Occidental, LMU, Xavier, St. Johns (NYC), Georgetown, Kenyon College (Ohio), Arizona State and a host of Cal States. Due to the generosity of Mr. Chet Pipkin, the Drown Foundation and the SKETCH Foundation all now enter college with a 'state of the art' laptop computer. Three of the scholars have won $100,000 Gates Millennial Scholarships.

(4) Due to the growth of the program, it was necessary to hire a full-time paid Executive Director, who joined the program in June, 2007. She is Ms. Patricia Zwagerman who comes to us from the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley where she was Chief Executive Officer for more than eight years. She has had both extensive teaching and fund-raising experience. She had other very attractive offers from large national non-profits but selected our smaller ‘grass roots’ operation, quoting Robert Frost, “Two roads diverged in a wood and I--/ took the one less traveled by/and that made all the difference.” Now completing her first year, she is clearly remarkably talented and dedicated and is doing a superb job.

5) We can, now, no longer claim to be “all volunteer”. It is ,however, our policy to maintain overhead charges to our donors at a level under 10% of total program costs. Therefore our Board of Trustees has approved raising the total for the six-year program of a scholar from $10,400 to $11,000 of which $600 will be assigned to administrative expense (5.5%). This will be not be retroactive but will be the level of support for new scholars inducted in the fall, 2008.

Summary-- All the evidence points to the conclusion that the Partnership Scholars extracurricular mentoring model is achieving its goal. I believe this is due to:
(1) Adherence to the grass roots character of the program where the donor is assigned a scholar(s) and receives regular reports on his/her progress.
(2) Performance of talented and dedicated extracurricular mentoring by volunteer mentors over a period of six years.
(3) Performance of talented and dedicated volunteer Regional Coordinators and College Coordinators.
(4) Holding overhead costs assigned to the general donorship to a minimum.
(5) The hiring of an experienced, dedicated and efficient Executive Director.
(6) Building a devoted and knowledgeable Board of Directors.
(7)A rigorous process for the selection of the 7th grade scholars.

Finally, I would like to close on a personal note. A few days ago I celebrated my 80th birthday. I find, upon reflection, that the Partnership Scholars Program has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It has been thrilling to witness the marked positive changes in the personal lives of our scholars wrought by the devotion and skill of our mentors, staff, and other volunteers and by the generosity of our donors. In addition, it has been a unique privilege to work with and come to know our hundreds of volunteers, donors and friends who realize that the antidote to the mayhem, poverty and ignorance extant in the world is the education of our youth and are willing to give unselfishly of their resources to see that the talents of our “scholars” are nurtured and preserved.

It was Aristotle (384-322BC) who said, “All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.”
Glenn Langer, MD—Founder/Co-President