Project Excellence

Project Excellence Highlights

After 35+ years, the Project Excellence program and its scholars continue to thrive by Molly Castro, Director Project Excellence and Julie Tamer, Assistant Director Project Excellence

Project Excellence, Phoenix Country Day School’s signature outreach program, has been striving to meet the needs of highly motivated, high-achieving students from surrounding Title 1 schools in our community for over 30 years. This dynamic program seeks to connect students with resources, mentors, and scholarship opportunities to help them realize their full potential. The Project Excellence program is made up of two components: Saturday workshops on the PCDS campus made available to individuals from surrounding Title 1 schools, and the day-to-day partnerships with our very own Project Excellence scholars/students enrolled at PCDS and their families.

Saturday Workshops • After taking a year off due to COVID, Project Excellence

Saturday workshops are currently back in full force. • This school year, we have welcomed over 70 middle school students from surrounding Title 1 schools onto our campus to participate in our Saturday workshops. • Saturday workshops meet once a month and offer students a wide range of courses to enrich their academic experience and spark their curiosity. • Our Saturday workshops feature courses such as biotechnology, engineering & invention, STEAM, artistic expressions, and struggles for justice in American history. • Many of our Saturday workshop participants go on to enroll at PCDS as Project Excellence scholars. PCDS Project Excellence Scholars • We currently have 32 Project Excellence scholars on campus. • 21 US students • 11 MS students • Project Excellence scholars are a tight-knit community.

They have weekly luncheons that offer opportunities to check in with each other and with their mentors. • Our students have been involved in School activities such as track, softball, eSports, speech & debate, basketball, swim, soccer, volleyball, musicals, plays, and more. • We have a record of achieving 100% college placement for our PCDS Project Excellence scholars.

Some Project Excellence scholars and their friends, from left: Olivia Owens ’25, Rodrigo Alvarado ’25, Nicholas Armenta ’23, Lyzbeth Lara Sandoval ’25, Taylor Jarvis ’24, David Ocampo ’24, Kaleb Gebresillasie ’25, Alex Flores ’24, Laurie Reyes ’22, Mia Warner ’25, Jessica Osorio ’25, Seth Osorio ’23, Caleb Humphreys ’23

Spotlight on Lucy Negatu ’21, Brown University ’25

Over this past winter break, we had the opportunity to catch up with recent graduate Lucy Negatu.

What was your first introduction to Project Excellence? Lucy: I began my Project Excellence journey in the summer after third grade while a student at Balsz Elementary. While attending Balsz, Project Excellence made it accessible for me to continue coming to the summer programs and Saturday workshops by offering bus services and a loving community that kept encouraging me to come back week after week. It was through Project Excellence that I heard about PCDS, and I ultimately decided that I would apply to the US at PCDS. Even after being accepted to PCDS, Project Excellence Saturday workshops and summer programs were still very much a part of my life.

What did it mean to you to be a Project Excellence scholar at PCDS? Lucy: I would meet with Molly Castro (Director of Project Excellence) often and would interact with other Project Excellence scholars as much as possible. As a junior, I became the head intern for Project Excellence. This meant that I helped to organize and plan the Saturday workshops and the summer camp program. This was my most treasured position because it meant I would be able to give back to the program that had helped me the most in my life. Even during COVID, we made it a priority to create a tight-knit community while continuing our weekly (and, of course, socially distant) lunches together. It was always the highlight of my week to hear about other scholars’ lives. It also meant a lot to me to be a mentor to Project Excellence students who were younger than me.

What extracurricular activities did you participate in while at PCDS? Lucy: I was involved with volleyball, basketball, softball, and soccer. I was a part of the IDEA club, outdoor leadership club, and was a junior senator. I was also in the West Side Story production.

How did your participation in Project Excellence impact your life outside of School? Lucy: Through the connections and the PCDS community I was a part of because of Project Excellence, I was able to obtain a paid internship position at a local law group during my junior and senior years. The Project Excellence program was also the biggest contributor to my eventual acceptance to Brown University. I am forever grateful for the generosity of this program and the leadership skills that it taught me along the way. n

For more information or to find out how you can get involved with Project Excellence, please contact Program Director Molly Castro (molly.castro@ pcds.org) or Assistant Director Julie Tamer (julie.tamer@pcds.org).