History

Linda Mornell, an adolescent therapist, originally founded Summer Search in 1990 in the San Francisco Bay Area with 14 students. Her idea was to offer low-income students life-changing summer programs; programs that had been so beneficial to her own children. Linda was struck by the challenges these high potential students faced in reconciling their experiences of success and growth during the summer with their lives back at home. Over time, she redefined Summer Search’s mission to emphasize a direct mentoring relationship, in which staff work with students to integrate their new perspectives and leverage them as a basis for changing their life and community circumstances.

In 1995 Katherine Kennedy, after two years with Teach for America, joined Linda and began learning the unique mentoring methods based on self-examination and accountability. Together Katherine and Linda grew the program to serve 150 students annually, and in 1999, Katherine assumed the Executive Director position, expanding the program to include college counseling and bring on new talent to increase and diversify the staff. Linda focused on expanding Summer Search nationally, refining the mentoring methods she had developed to replicate the program with consistency and ensure the same quality results achieved in San Francisco.

Today, San Francisco is the pilot site for new initiatives at Summer Search such as team mentoring and the Career Advisory Network (CAN), as well as a main "breeding ground" for emerging staff leadership. Summer Search San Francisco operates with a dedicated staff of ten members, including a college and financial aid counselor and alumni director.

2007 Program Summary

In 2006 Summer Search San Francisco made major strides towards accomplishing our goal of reaching more low-income neighborhoods in the Bay Area. Our outreach efforts allowed us to gain new referral partners at four schools in our target areas of the Tenderloin, Visitation Valley, and Bay View/Hunter’s Point in San Francisco and the Richmond in the East Bay.

Students

• Summer Search San Francisco is serving 190 total students (sophomores, juniors and seniors)
• 100% of seniors accepted to higher education, 93% of whom are first generation college students (over the last three years 100% of seniors have been accepted to high education)
• 50 schools and non-profits in San Francisco and the East Bay nominated students, including 4 new schools in our target areas
  

Alumni

• Summer Search San Francisco has serves more then 870 alumni in the Bay Area.
• In 2006 we launched the Career Advisor Network (CAN), a program that has provided more than 100 Bay Area alumni with valuable skills by introducing them to a broad network of professionals.
  

Staff

Melissa Rawlins, Executive Director
Sandy Peeples, College and Financial Aid Advisor
Tina Shauf, College and Financial Aid Advisor
Xuan-Vu Nguyen, Regional Alumni Coordinator
Sara Lipton-Carey, Program Director
Monica Hanza, Director of Teaching and Training
Cazzie Brown, Outreach Coordinator
Julia Matsudaira, Program Associate
Lissa Healy, Program Associate
Alicia Reza, Office Manager

Melissa Rawlins, Executive Director
Originally from Maine, Melissa graduated from Yale University in 2001 with a BA in Psychology. At Yale, she participated in a variety of community service activities, including co-creating and co-coordinating a College Resource Center at Hillhouse High. This experience helped spark her interest in education and working with at-risk populations. She joined the staff of Summer Search Boston as a Program Associate in 2001 and became Associate Director of the Boston office in 2005. Under the leadership of Boston Executive Director Emily Edwards, she helped oversee the office's most recent growth, increasing the new student class by 60% and taking the office from a staff of 4 in 2004 to 12 in 2006. Melissa moved into the role of Executive Director of Summer Search San Francisco in July of 2006.

Sandy Peeples, College and Financial Aid Counselor
Sandy Peeples was born and raised in Chile. She came to the U.S. at the age of 18 to attend college and has lived here ever since. She has a BS in Occupational Therapy from Columbia University and MA in Counseling from New York University. She has always worked with adolescents in a variety of different settings, ranging from hospitals, residential treatment systems, alcohol and drug abuse and community and educational programs. She has also had a private practice in college advising and before joining Summer Search, spent seven years as the College and Financial Aid Counselor for the Marin Education Fund.

Tina Shauf, College and Financial Aid Advisor
Tina was born in a US Air Force Base in Angeles City, Philippines. She left the Philippines at the age of 2 and was raised in Hawthorne, California, a working-class neighborhood in Los Angeles. After attending Leuzinger High School, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Social Welfare with an emphasis in Sociology at UC Berkeley. She found UC Berkeley’s social and academic environment challenging. As a result, she created her own network of support by being an organizer in the Pilipino American Alliance. Currently, she serves on the board of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation. Before finally joining the Summer Search staff, she worked with Enterprise for High School Students, as a Job Developer and Job Counselor for the Greater Mission Consortium. She discovered Summer Search’s amazing work through her close friend Jaylyn Silvestre, a Summer Search alumna, and was drawn to Summer Search’s curiosity and belief in the healthy growth of young people. She is honored to be a part of this family!

Xuan-Vu Nguyen, Regional Alumni Coordinator
Xuan-Vu was born in Viet Nam and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. Her passion for stories and language led her to Amherst College where she earned a BA in English with a focus on American Ethnic Literature. Thereafter, she pursued a Master in Secondary English Teaching and Curriculum from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Xuan-Vu moved to the Bay Area after graduate school to teach English at a reform high school in Fremont. Most recently, she taught English Language and civic participation skills to Bay Area immigrant adults. Throughout her life, Xuan-Vu has cared deeply about and worked closely with disenfranchised youth and adults to enable them to take full advantage of their rights and responsibilities as well as tap into their personal identities for strength. Xuan-Vu joined Summer Search in May 2007 as the Regional Alumni Coordinator for the San Francisco, North Bay, and Silicon Valley offices.

Sara Lipton-Carey, Program Director
Sara was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studied Elementary Education and Spanish. Her interest in experiential education started at a YMCA camp in Michigan. After attending as a camper, and completing two life-changing wilderness adventure programs, she became a counselor and lead six wilderness adventure programs. Most recently, Sara has been teaching elementary school in Berkeley, but wanted to be able to focus more on experiential learning and alternative learning styles. Sara feels Summer Search is a perfect way to accomplish this!

Monica Hanza, Director of Teaching and Training
Monica grew up in Indiana where she graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in Literature and Art History. During her studies, Monica did a year abroad in Canterbury, England. Upon graduating, she enrolled in AmeriCorps, where she spent 2 years as an environmental advocate and program manager for an inner-city literacy and tutoring program. After AmeriCorps, Monica moved to the Bay Area and worked 3 years as the San Francisco Program Manager for Junior Achievement. Recently, Monica had the opportunity to learn Spanish and discover the culture of her father¹s native Peru during a 5-month trip. Upon returning, she was drawn to Summer Search's mission of giving students the opportunity to get out of their environment to discover that their only limits are the limits they put on themselves.

Cazzie Brown, Outreach Coordinator
Cazzie Brown has a long history with Summer Search. In 1997, she was accepted into the program as a high-school student and traveled to Minnesota for a Russian Language Program, and to Ukraine for community service and a host-family stay. In 2004, Cazzie graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Redlands, as a first-generation college graduate. She studied within the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies where she developed her own major in Cultural Studies and Psychology with an emphasis in creating structures for social change and personal growth. As the first Outreach Coordinator for Summer Search in the Bay Area, Cazzie brings a background in social justice work and in the non-profit community. Before joining Summer Search, Cazzie worked as a Senior Case Manager at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking in Los Angeles, and most recently at the Fulfillment Fund, a college access and mentoring organization for inner city youth also in Los Angeles.

Julia Matsudaira, Program Associate
Julia spent her childhood in upstate New York and North Carolina. She earned her B.A. from Wesleyan University, where she majored in East Asian Studies, with concentrations in Japan and Cultural Anthropology. During college, Julia kindled her passion for leadership development and experiential education by serving as a counselor at NCCJ’s Anytown – a social justice leadership program for teenagers – and volunteer teaching at a bilingual, bicultural school in Okinawa while studying abroad in Japan. Upon graduating, Julia spent four years supporting youth leaders and young educators through several nonprofit organizations in the Greater Boston area. Having newly relocated to the Bay Area, Julia is excited to join the Summer Search team and learn its unique methods to engender lasting, positive change in the lives and outlooks of young people.

Lissa Healy, Program Associate
Lissa was born and raised in Honolulu, HI, where she was introduced to the power of experiential education when she participated in a Peer Counseling program and completed her first high ropes course. She studied arts and cultures at Williams College, as well as in Viet Nam and parts of Europe. After graduating with a B.A. in Sociology, and engaging students in a variety of academic and adventure programs, she moved to San Francisco and worked at a youth arts and technology museum for two years. Lissa joined Summer Search National as an Office Manager in January of 2007, and became a Program Associate with the San Francisco office in September of 2007. She appreciates the growth and opportunity that come from all aspects of Summer Search's mission, and is thrilled to be involved with such an inspiring community.

Alicia Reza, Office Manager
Alicia was born and raised in Orange, California.  She remains a proud Southern Californian albeit happily relocated to the Bay Area.  She attended the University of California at Santa Cruz and holds a BA in Sociology.  During her 4 years there, her main focus was the evolution of the Juvenile Justice System in the United States and its reform.  The child of two educators, Alicia is a natural advocate for educational equality and, therefore, a great fit for Summer Search.  Alicia joined the team in the beginning of 2008 as the Office Manager for both the National and San Francisco offices, where her smiling face is the first one you’ll see when you walk in the door.