Back-to-Campus Edition 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍➡️🧍🏾‍♀️🧍🏽🧍🏽‍♂️🏣

“Thank you to everyone who supported me through encouragement or social posts, and many thanks to everyone who made a donation to Rise Together Education. Together, we raised $6,500 — almost double the initial goal — to help fund college dreams for my first-generation and BIPOC classmates, which I'm so proud of." - Anika Raffle, RTE Student Representative, Paly Class of 2025 Back-to-Campus!!! It's that time of year! We have sent off nearly 70 scholars off to college and universities across California and country. A total of 20 eager freshmen went through our orientation workshop " College 101" with the help of current and recent college grads. Curious where RTE students are attending? Look at our list of colleges here . Successful RTE Events in the Books 2024 College 101 Workshop (above) and Meet and Greet (below) On July 31st, RTE held the third annual College 101 Workshop at Homewood Suites in Palo Alto. College 101 was introduced as a way to help our rising college freshmen learn life skills to help ensure their successful transition at college. This year, our very own RTE alumnus, Alexa Morales (who is currently studying towards a master's degree in Counseling), did a thoroughly amazing job leading the presentation and discussion with our newest cohort of RTE scholars. The event was followed by our Annual Meet and Greet with the larger RTE community, including students, alumni, mentors, board members, donors, and other supporters. It was an opportunity to make new connections and strengthen existing ones, allowing the students to know that they have a whole community that wants to see them succeed in life! Thank you to everyone who attended and made it a memorable event. We are also grateful to Homewood Suites by Hilton in Palo Alto for generously providing the venue and refreshments. Scholar Profile: Mia Rose Tuifua (UC Riverside '27) Mia Rose Tuifua, Paly Class of 2023 What was your experience at Paly (Palo Alto High School ) like? I transferred to Paly during my sophomore year from Menlo-Atherton. That was during covid, which was hard, but my experience at Paly was amazing. I had a lot of support from the faculty. I was also the ASB representative for Site Council, which allowed me to work closely with the principal and other faculty and I thought that Paly offered me a lot of support and resources. I was raised in the East Palo Alto School District. I was a part of the Tinsley Voluntary Transfer Program. I was able to go to school in Redwood City, but ultimately I was able to transfer to Palo Alto. It was a very drastic change in academic standards going from Menlo-Atherton to Paly. It was very difficult, especially because, because I wasn't in the Palo Alto school district, I wasn't offered many of the classes that were offered in Palo Alto. . So although the classes that in my previous school district were advanced, when I got to Paly, it seemed that all of the kids had already been taking those classes in middle school. So I felt that I had a lot of catching up to do. Read more here . Meet Our Mentor: Lisa Daly Mentors Lisa Daly and Kimberly Schwan and Scholar Alexis Encarnacion RTE recently welcomed Lisa Daly to our small but mighty mentorship team! Lisa, a parent to a Paly grad who is now a sophomore in college, has been a therapist for about 25 years, and brings with her a wealth of experience working with kids and teens including in high schools, and through social services. She is mentoring seven students from Paly's Class of 2024 as they experience college life. If you are interested in mentoring and/or volunteering for RTE, please contact us at [email protected]. What do you think might be both rewarding and challenging about mentoring? I think it will be rewarding to be helping young adults transition from high school in the environment that we live in here in this community, which feels more contained, into the greater world which is full of possibility and opportunity for them. That's super exciting! There may be bumps along the road and maybe some emotional or academic challenges, but I am excited to help our scholars through these. I also think I can help them figure out how to navigate some of the administrative hoops that come with college. Read more here . Thank you, Lisa and all our mentors! RTE's 2023 Annual Report is Here! As RTE’s fiscal year closed at the end of June, our team produced the most recent Annual Report . The report provides an opportunity for us to look back at the year and share with you all that we’ve accomplished and how we’ve grown as an organization. Thank you to our student representatives Kristine Lin (Paly Class of 2025) and Allison Ma (Paly Class of 2026) and former student representative Ras Kebebew (Paly Class of 2021) for helping to create this report. Please share! We need you! We are an all-volunteer nonprofit organization. Volunteers are much needed! Currently we are looking for volunteers to help on various committees including Fundraising, Major Donors and Grants, Newsletter/PR, Mentorship, Marketing, and Workshops, more. Learn more . Thank you for your generosity! Thank you to the Paly community for the $10K donated during the Back-To-School campaign to support our own Paly graduates reach their dreams of earning a college degree! We cannot do this work without your financial gift. Give THE GIFT OF EDUCATION Let's be buddies ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

“Thank you to everyone who supported me through encouragement or social posts, and many thanks to everyone who made a donation to Rise Together Education. Together, we raised $6,500 — almost double the initial goal — to help fund college dreams for my first-generation and BIPOC classmates, which I'm so proud of."

- Anika Raffle, RTE Student Representative, Paly Class of 2025

Back-to-Campus!!!

It's that time of year! We have sent off nearly 70 scholars off to college and universities across California and country. A total of 20 eager freshmen went through our orientation workshop "College 101" with the help of current and recent college grads. Curious where RTE students are attending? Look at our list of colleges here.

Successful RTE Events in the Books

2024 College 101 Workshop (above) and Meet and Greet (below)

On July 31st, RTE held the third annual College 101 Workshop at Homewood Suites in Palo Alto. College 101 was introduced as a way to help our rising college freshmen learn life skills to help ensure their successful transition at college. This year, our very own RTE alumnus, Alexa Morales (who is currently studying towards a master's degree in Counseling), did a thoroughly amazing job leading the presentation and discussion with our newest cohort of RTE scholars. The event was followed by our Annual Meet and Greet with the larger RTE community, including students, alumni, mentors, board members, donors, and other supporters. It was an opportunity to make new connections and strengthen existing ones, allowing the students to know that they have a whole community that wants to see them succeed in life! Thank you to everyone who attended and made it a memorable event. We are also grateful to Homewood Suites by Hilton in Palo Alto for generously providing the venue and refreshments.

Scholar Profile: Mia Rose Tuifua (UC Riverside '27)

Mia Rose Tuifua, Paly Class of 2023

What was your experience at Paly (Palo Alto High School ) like?
I transferred to Paly during my sophomore year from Menlo-Atherton. That was during covid, which was hard, but my experience at Paly was amazing. I had a lot of support from the faculty. I was also the ASB representative for Site Council, which allowed me to work closely with the principal and other faculty and I thought that Paly offered me a lot of support and resources.

I was raised in the East Palo Alto School District. I was a part of the Tinsley Voluntary Transfer Program. I was able to go to school in Redwood City, but ultimately I was able to transfer to Palo Alto. It was a very drastic change in academic standards going from Menlo-Atherton to Paly. It was very difficult, especially because, because I wasn't in the Palo Alto school district, I wasn't offered many of the classes that were offered in Palo Alto. . So although the classes that in my previous school district were advanced, when I got to Paly, it seemed that all of the kids had already been taking those classes in middle school. So I felt that I had a lot of catching up to do. Read more here .

Meet Our Mentor: Lisa Daly

Mentors Lisa Daly and Kimberly Schwan and Scholar Alexis Encarnacion

RTE recently welcomed Lisa Daly to our small but mighty mentorship team! Lisa, a parent to a Paly grad who is now a sophomore in college, has been a therapist for about 25 years, and brings with her a wealth of experience working with kids and teens including in high schools, and through social services. She is mentoring seven students from Paly's Class of 2024 as they experience college life. If you are interested in mentoring and/or volunteering for RTE, please contact us at [email protected].

What do you think might be both rewarding and challenging about mentoring?
I think it will be rewarding to be helping young adults transition from high school in the environment that we live in here in this community, which feels more contained, into the greater world which is full of possibility and opportunity for them. That's super exciting! There may be bumps along the road and maybe some emotional or academic challenges, but I am excited to help our scholars through these. I also think I can help them figure out how to navigate some of the administrative hoops that come with college. Read more here.

Thank you, Lisa and all our mentors!

RTE's 2023 Annual Report is Here!

As RTE’s fiscal year closed at the end of June, our team produced the most recent Annual Report. The report provides an opportunity for us to look back at the year and share with you all that we’ve accomplished and how we’ve grown as an organization. Thank you to our student representatives Kristine Lin (Paly Class of 2025) and Allison Ma (Paly Class of 2026) and former student representative Ras Kebebew (Paly Class of 2021) for helping to create this report. Please share!

We need you!

We are an all-volunteer nonprofit organization. Volunteers are much needed! Currently we are looking for volunteers to help on various committees including Fundraising, Major Donors and Grants, Newsletter/PR, Mentorship, Marketing, and Workshops, more. Learn more.

Thank you for your generosity!

Thank you to the Paly community for the $10K donated during the Back-To-School campaign to support our own Paly graduates reach their dreams of earning a college degree! We cannot do this work without your financial gift.

Give THE GIFT OF EDUCATION

Let's be buddies