Beating the Odds: Marin Education Fund Supports Harvard Bound Student
 

SAN RAFAEL, CA (June 26, 2006) – Marco Perez-Moreno will take the stage this Saturday to participate in San Marin High School’s graduation ceremony in Novato. His next stop will be as an incoming freshman at Harvard University, thanks in part to Marin Education Fund.

Throughout the year, Marco met with a Marin Education Fund mentor that helped guide his application process. And as a participant in Marin Education Fund’s Summer Application Institute, Marco learned how to obtain financial assistance, complete the college application process and excel on standardized tests. He also participated in writing clinics to help him write his college and scholarship application essays.

Marco sees his participation in the Summer Application Institute as a good experience that helped him navigate the college application process to fulfill his dream of going to college.

“Marin Education Fund believed in me and helped me set my sights high,” said Marco.

An immigrant from Mexico, Marco overcame overwhelming odds and difficult challenges to complete high school in the top of his class.

"Teachers and counselors said to me, 'I don't think you'll be able to thrive in French class, you just learned English; you can't handle AP classes, you just moved to the US.' I had teachers who didn't think I could be successful. Rather than discourage me, I was propelled to keep learning, not give up, and to do my best,"

Marin Education Fund’s Summer Application Institute, which serves fifty students each year through the generosity of financial donors and volunteers, boasts a 98 percent success rate at helping low-income, underrepresented students get to college.

“The Marin Education Fund believes that everyone should have a chance at college. The Summer Application Institute has been amazingly successful at helping deserving students have a chance at college that they otherwise would not. Marco’s success is the perfect illustration of why this community needs and supports Marin Education Fund,” said Kim Mazzuca, Marin Education Fund President.

About Marin Education Fund

Marin Education Fund is a non-profit organization that believes everyone should have a chance at college. Marin Education Fund provides college access programs, scholarships and support to students in need of all ages. The low-income and traditionally underrepresented students who receive support from Marin Education Fund are frequently the first generation of their family to go to college. Marin Education Fund was founded in 1981.