Our Programs

College and Career Readiness

Scholarship winners

College Scholarships

Each year, we award scholarships to college-bound students in the Bay Area including:

  • The Young Author’s Scholarship
  • The Nathan Jillson Memorial Scholarship
  • The Irving Hochman Memorial Scholarship
  • The Taylor Renfrew Ingham Memorial Scholarship

In 2015, 826 Valencia will be awarding six, $15,000 scholarships to outstanding students enrolled in school in San Francisco. Unlike previous years, eligible students will have participated in 826 Valencia programming at some point during their school years. High school seniors who have attended a field trip, workshop, tutoring, personal statement weekend, or had 826 Valencia tutors visit their school or classroom for a writing project are invited to apply. In addition to experience with 826 Valencia, applicants must be a graduating high school senior, demonstrate financial need, go to school in San Francisco, and demonstrate intent to enroll in a vocational school, college, or university. Also new this year: the application is available online. Paper applications will not be accepted.

The deadline for submitting applications is 5 p.m. on February 16, 2015.

If you have questions, please email Lauren Hall at lauren@826valencia.org.

Read about our 2014 scholarship winners.

Our past scholars are an incredible bunch, with a great diversity of interests, passions, and achievements. We are honored to be able to support these young people as they make their way to college; many of them are the first in their families to attend.

Read about what our scholars are up to during their first year of college on our College Diaries page!

Apply online via the 2015 application packet here:

826 Valencia Scholarship Application 2015

The Great San Francisco Personal Statement Weekend

826 Valencia invites all SFUSD high-school seniors to an intensive weekend of essay help at Mission High School each fall. Whether students are applying for scholarships or writing college entrance essays, still brainstorming or in the final stages of writing — students are welcome to come get free advice from 826 Valencia’s friendly and experienced tutors. Personal Statement Weekend is usually at the end of October each year. We held our 2014 event on October 25 and 26, serving 197 students. Next year’s dates will be posted by September 2015.

“I promise anyone that if you volunteer at 826 for this event it will become an annual holiday!!! I love tutoring at the Great San Francisco Personal Statement Weekend. If you simply love to read or write, and like people at all, 826 provides the nuts and bolts to make the session with your senior rock. 826 offers ‘orientation’ for tutors, tips on making the essay great, like ‘This essay will be great if you: are lively; are brave; use wit and let lots of people read it to confirm you are witty’ …along with great essay examples and poor essay examples. These help the tutor get clear. If you take your student on his or her personal statement ride with all 826 gives us, you will walk away from your student’s work session feeling alive because you’ve witnessed him or her come to life!”

Karen Schaser, 826 Valencia tutor

If you have questions about PSW, email essayhelp@826valencia.org.

ScholarMatch

ScholarMatch is a community partner, located just across the street from 826 Valencia. ScholarMatch‘s mission is to make college possible for under-resourced students. They connect students with donors by leveraging the internet to enable individuals to invest in the academic future of their students, and they provide robust support services so that students maximize their resources and make sound choices in selecting their college.