(Fall 2020) – Linda Huang is coming up on her final year at Pitzer College, where she is pursuing a degree in Asian-American Studies. A member of SMART’s class of 2017, she is nearing the end of her college experience, and reflecting on her time at SMART: “You never really leave SMART. It’s a community built on resources, relationships, and networks,” which remains critical to her every day.
(Fall 2020) – “SMART creates an environment that is safe and special,” reflects Miko Jones.
Miko was one of eight Summer Teachers who championed SMART’s first ever virtual summer program, SMART @ Home, for rising 5th and 6th graders to help prevent summer learning loss. Like many others, Miko’s first experience with remote teaching began with the closure of schools and the rapid transition into distance learning in early March. With newness, comes trial and obstacles—Miko was able to handle it!
(June 2020) Across the country, we are witnessing with pain and indignation the protests to combat the persisting violence and systemic racism towards the Black community. We condemn this persistent racial injustice in a clear and unequivocal voice.
George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Tony McDade. Ahmaud Arbery. Each a human being. A world that is lost. Eric Garner. Trayvon Martin. Tamir Rice. Stephon Clark. Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. Emmett Till. And so many, many more.
(Winter 2020) – “It’s really come full circle for me,” says SMART alumnus, Enrique Perez. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that students go on to do amazing things in their community once they leave SMART.” As the first generation in his family to attend college, Enrique graduated from college in 2018. He has since focused on supporting low-income students and students of color. Reflecting on how his career unfolded, Enrique begins with his family’s personal journey.
(Winter 2020) – Ta’Jae Brown remembers her early middle school years as a triangulation consisting of her home in Bayview, The San Francisco School, and SMART’s offices in Civic Center – all quite far away to her current life nearly 3,000 miles across the country. She is now completing her final semester at Howard University and her internship with the D.C. Superior Court’s Child Guidance Clinic.
(Winter 2020) – Hector Castro Noguez Jr. wants to work for NASA one day. “I want to be an engineer or scientist there after college.”
The SMART senior Scholar is already working towards his dream. Hector recently received the highly competitive four-year Posse scholarship to attend Boston University next fall. He is one of just thirty Bay Area students to receive the scholarship.
(Fall 2019) – Vivian Do has just finished the first month of her year-long stay in Hong Kong as a Fulbright Scholar. Only 8% of applicants to this prestigious research program have been selected in recent years. The SMART alumna is currently researching the efficacy of local environmental policies on the region’s pollution emissions–no small feat.
(Fall 2019) – It was David Zavala’s longest time being away from his home in San Francisco – five weeks nearly 3,000 miles away, in New York City. The SMART Scholar spent most of his summer at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting: Teen Summer Conservatory. Beginning in July, David was immersed in an intensive acting program alongside 40 other students from across the world.
(Fall 2019) – For many students, summertime is an opportunity to take a break from the rigors of a busy school year. But for SMART Scholar, Carlos Jaramillo, this past summer was an opportunity to pursue his first internship, working with the Pacific AIDS Education & Training Center (PAETC) for UCSF’s Summer Researchers in Global Health (SRGH) program.
