F E AT U R E S
Happy 40 th Birthday,
Summerbridge!
Teaching Fellows at Summerbridge Celebration 2014. Julia Angeles is third from right, Joshua Kwan is fifth from right.
F
ounded at University High School in 1978, Summerbridge is an award-winning pioneer in preparing ambitious middle school students from under-resourced circumstances to enter and thrive in college preparatory high schools. Dennis Collins, founding head of school at UHS, and two faculty members, Lois Loofbourrow and Mal Singer, envisioned a program that would utilize the resources of UHS to serve the city of San Francisco.
Since its founding, Summerbridge remains committed to providing tuition-free programming for every student and improving educational outcomes for young people. For 40 years, Summerbridge has advanced three primary goals: • preparing ambitious middle school students from under-resourced circumstances to enter and thrive in well-matched high schools, for the purpose
of securing admission to, succeeding in, and graduating from college • providing intensive summer teaching fellowships for high school and college students who are passionate about the power of education, and creating meaningful volunteer experiences throughout the academic year for members of the University High School (UHS) and San Francisco communities and
Summerbridge memories
I
was 11 when I first heard about Summerbridge. ThenAssociate Director Kihana Ross came to talk to my 6th grade class about a tuition-free 6-week summer program for students who loved to learn, and I was immediately interested. My Filipino immigrant parents worked full-time jobs, and as an only child, I often spent my summers marathon-reading. This time, I wanted to do something different. Over my three summers as a student at Summerbridge (SB), I grew in my self-confidence
and learned more about the opportunities that existed for me in the world. As I had come from a Catholic school, it was the first time I had heard about independent schools, and it was the first time I traveled across the city by myself from my home neighborhood, the Excelsior. It was the first time I had called my teachers by their first name, had had teachers who were in high school or college, had heard of schools like Williams and Tufts and UCSD. It was the first time I had felt challenged academically, and
Founding director of Summerbridge Lois Loofbourrow with co-director Tom Malarky ’80 in the late 80s.
• transforming lives through the unique and powerful relationship between the Summerbridge and UHS communities. We thank Julia Angeles ’11 and Joshua Kwan ’13 for sharing their memories of Summerbridge with the University High School community. n
Julia Angeles ’11
more importantly, it was the first time I had truly felt cared for as a student. At my middle school, I had classes that were sometimes up to forty students, and since I was shy, I often did not know what my place was. At SB, I had classes with only ten, and the difference was astounding. My teachers actually knew who I was as a person. I was not just a student in their class, but I was an avid speller, Harry Potter reader, and House fan. I saw myself fitting in somewhere for the first time. This magic, I would learn, was
part of the SB “spirit,” the special mix of joy and togetherness that permeates every aspect of SB. Much of it is because of tradition. Class songs, a handshake, Spirit Day, and my favorite, cheering. Summerbridge has a cheer for everything, from showing class and department pride, to congratulating students on a job well done, to celebrating the program itself. When I was in the seventh grade, my English teachers asked me if I would perform a speech I Continued on page 29
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