Partnership Scholars Program (PSP) is hiring for a bilingual (English/Spanish), highly organized, dynamic individual who can support the Executive Director and Program & Operations Manager in all aspects of administering PSP’s mentoring and college access programming. Opportunities for advancement and increasing responsibility. Our office is in Lennox (Inglewood), CA and this role is a part-time, office-based position. Occasional weekend and evening hours will be necessary to staff PSP events. Hourly rate is $20 – $25. The position is 20 hours per week, with flexible scheduling within office hours of Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 5:30 pm.

Click here to read the full PSP Program Assistant and instructions to apply for the position. 

PSP Mentor and Board Member Terryl Martin recently took the scholars she mentors to Mount Saint Mary’s University Women’s Leadership Conference. Read Terryl’s post to learn more about how she helped the girls take full advantage of this conference and to read the girls’ own perspective on this empowering event. 

As a mentor for the Partnership Scholars Program I try to think of some different, outside the box, activities to expose the scholars to over six years. Recently, I took my three high school (juniors) scholars to the Mount Saint Mary’s University Women’s Leadership Conference.

We all attended the opening, closing, and Financial Fitness sessions. However, each scholar attended other separate sessions during the conference schedule so that all of the events were covered and when they shared their article we could learn about the sessions we didn’t attend.

As a part of the event they each wrote an article about their experiences and they were also required to meet someone at each session they attended and get their contact information/business card.

Valeria writes in her essay “As a female leader in my community I have found that it can become difficult to find a healthy balance between self-care and my responsibilities.” Read here to see how Valeria found meaning through attending this conference.

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On August 3-5, 2018 PSP hosted our 7th annual College Success Retreat. Fifty-six scholars and 18 mentors attended this knowledge-packed weekend at the University of Southern California. This year’s speakers hosted a wide variety of sessions, including representatives from the Plus Me Project, Dartmouth College and Questbridge. This year’s retreat included more small-group sessions so that students could get more individualized help. Mentors in attendance were very involved and provided immense support with serving as leaders for the small groups and helping us to lead discussions, provide feedback on college essays and encourage participation throughout the weekend.

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Partnership Scholars Program community celebrated the graduation of our 40 seniors in June. Each of these grads is going directly to college in the fall to continue their education, an achievement they worked hard for throughout their six years in PSP. The graduates shared their stories and their plans for the future at emotional ceremonies held in downtown L.A for our Lennox and El Monte students, on the North Coast  for our Mendocino and Fort Bragg scholars, and in Ukiah for the Ukiah students.

Each scholar reflected on their path to college, their experiences while in PSP and what’s next for them. You can read about their experiences and see pictures of each of our graduates below.

Southern California Scholar Reflections

Northern California Scholar Reflections

We also got to celebrate the contributions of some of PSP’s incredibly dedicated volunteers and supporters. The Langer Award, which honors our founder Dr. and Mrs. Langer’s legacy by recognizing a partner who has made a significant contribution to PSPs continued growth and success, was given to Francis Rutherford on the North Coast, Sylvia and Malcolm Boyce in Ukiah and Dr. Bruce McDaniel in Los Angeles. The Cultural and Academic Partner (CAP) Award, which honors someone who consistently gives of their time, effort and ‘elbow grease’ to ensuring that PSP is successful, was awarded to Rachel Binah on the North Coast, Jean Lincoln in Ukiah, and Rocio Centeno in Los Angeles. Each of these people has given incredible amounts of caring, financial support and time to make sure that PSP can continue to offer our unique program to motivated students.

We hope you enjoy more pictures from the PSP 2018 graduations!

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PSP alumni Armando Torres currently works in admissions at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He was instrumental in speaking with current scholars admitted to UCSB and giving them advice on making the right decisions when it comes to choosing a college. Read on to learn more about Armando and how he supports scholars as they make their college decisions.

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PSP hosted two parent workshops in April. We held our first annual Lennox parent night and our second annual El Monte night, run in partnership with El Monte Promise Foundation. We welcomed the parents of our scholars from 7th-12th grade for dinner and workshops about paying for college and how to prepare for their children’s transition into to college. We were also joined by PSP scholars, who participated in their own sessions where they learned about UC admissions and how to build strong study habits, and participated in a service project for Project Angel Food.

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The majority of Partnership Scholars will go on to a four-year college, where they will be offered scholarships and large loans, some subsidized and some un-subsidized, to finance their first degree. In recent Ukiah mentor meetings, mentors discussed their concerns that their scholars weren’t prepared for the complexities of handling money and saving, so the idea for a workshop sprouted. Ukiah mentor Brook Gamble reached out to a friend who provides financial wellness content online and the friend, Greg Gates, agreed to tailor a financial workshop “#MoneyWoke” for a dozen Partnership Scholars in grades 7-12 on April 7, 2018. Read on to learn more about the creative learning that took place in this workshop.

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On March 25, 2018, 22 scholars flew out to Washington, D.C. The scholars and their three chaperones got to see historical sites, the Smithsonian Museums, university campuses and learned about our nation’s history while on the trip.

The tour of American University was extra special as a PSP alumni José G. gave students a private tour of campus and spoke about his experiences in PSP and now as a student at American University. Keep reading for more about the college tours, sight-seeing and scholar reflections on the trip.

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Twenty one PSP scholars and three chaperones took off for a trip to Boston, Massachusetts on April 1, 2018 to visit historical sites and five colleges and universities.

It was all of the scholars’ first time in Boston and they were able to experience snow which, a first for most of them.

One student reflected, “I had a fantastic time in Boston. I really enjoyed Suffolk University. I would be interested in applying there. I also really enjoyed the Fenway Park Tour. I made new friends and memories.”

Read below to hear more about the scholars’ experiences and their reflections.

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