staff

Carlin Johnson Politzer, Executive Director
Monica Hanza, Program Director
Jana Masley, Outreach Director
Ibrahim Choudhry, Program Associate
Krismin Inocentes, Program Associate
Amanda Shuck, Program Associate
Jenny Uribe, Program Associate
Berenice C. Cervantes, College & Financial Aid Advisor
Caroline Reich Sterman, Bay Area Director of Development
Leslie Armell, Bay Area Events Specialist
Jaime Lockwood, Bay Area Grants Specialist
Lindsey Moriguchi, Bay Area Development Associate
Cristina Perez, Bay Area Alumni Coordinator
Alicia Reza, Bay Area Associate Director of Development
Fernando Serrato, Bay Area Bridge Coordinator

Carlin Johnson Politzer, Executive Director
cpolitzer@summersearch.org
Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Carlin has committed her professional life to working with organizations that focus on youth in diverse, under-served communities and was thrilled to become the Executive Director of Summer Search Silicon Valley in July 2010. Carlin began her career with Teach For America (TFA), first as a corps member in Los Angeles, and then as a national staff member based in Chicago as well as New York City. Following her time with TFA, Carlin attended the Masters in Social Work program at The University of Michigan where she was a CIVITAS Fellow concentrating on child maltreatment issues. Upon completing her MSW, Carlin moved to the Bay Area to work for the Foster Care Mental Health Program, an agency within the City and County of San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, and became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) during that time. Immediately prior to coming to Summer Search, Carlin was the Community School Coordinator of Taft Community School, a public elementary school serving a historically low-income, low-performing population on the eastside of Redwood City. During her tenure as an administrator, Taft became a fully integrated community school and dramatically increased its academic performance. In addition to her MSW, Carlin holds a BS in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University. She has served on the boards of Teach For America Bay Area, Congregation Beth Am Sisterhood, and Mini Infant Center. Carlin lives in San Carlos with her husband and their two children.

Monica Hanza, Program Director
mhanza@summersearch.org
Monica graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in English Literature. Upon graduating, she enrolled in AmeriCorps, where she spent 2 years as an environmental advocate and program manager for inner-city literacy and tutoring program. After moving to the Bay Area, she spent three years working with San Francisco schools and local businesses helping to educate students in financial literacy as the Program Manager for Junior Achievement of the Bay Area. In 2004, she joined Summer Search in the San Francisco office first as a mentor and an outreach coordinator and later as the Director of Teaching and Training. She transitioned to the Silicon Valley office in 2009 to serve as the Program Director.

Jana Masley, Outreach Director
jmasley@summersearch.org
Jana was born and raised in Illinois. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a BA in English, a BS in psychology and a MSW. As a macro-level social worker, she has focused her career on research, fundraising and program development. From 2003 to 2006, Jana worked in social research, including positions with the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Survey Research Laboratory, and the University of Michigan Social Research Institute. While work in social research helped reveal some of the contributing factors to social problems, Jana wanted to use the insight she had gained to help make change in the lives of others. For 5 years, she worked in donor development for the University of Illinois Foundation (UIF) raising funds for student scholarships, fellowships, assistantships, research and programs. Over the course of her experience, she connected with nearly a thousand undergraduate and graduate students, and found deep satisfaction serving as a professional mentor to many of them, while growing the fundraising program. In 2011, she relocated to San Jose to pursue a position with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training (TNT) Program. Utilizing her ability to rally others around a worthy cause and her passion for endurance sports, she enhanced the TNT Program—building volunteer committees, spearheading an internship program, and connecting hundreds of Bay Area athletes to the LLS mission. Jana is incredibly excited about working as the Summer Search Silicon Valley Outreach Director, utilizing her unique skill set to lead the outreach effort and positively impact the lives of local youth. When she is not working, Jana is training for road races and triathlons, and cooking up lots of delicious vegan food.

Ibrahim Choudhry, Program Associate
ichoudhry@summersearch.org
Ibrahim was born in Pakistan and moved to Ohio with his mother and younger brother and sister when he was 9 years old. He received a B.A. from Miami University with a major in Psychology and minor in History. It was during his time in college where the seminal experience of being actively involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters honed his passion for positively influencing the lives of youth. Immediately after graduating, he interned as a counselor at a nonprofit serving at-risk youth in Asheville, NC. Following his internship, he served in an AmeriCorps program through Peace First, and spent a year teaching social-emotional and service-learning curriculum in New York City schools, empowering students to become civically engaged. After AmeriCorps, he spent the following two years in NYC, first serving as a Program Supervisor for AHRC NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating opportunities for youth and adults with intellectual disabilities; and most recently working at a school in the Bronx NY where every student qualified for free or reduced lunches. Ibrahim is excited to begin working with such a reflective, forward-thinking, and passionate team dedicated to bringing opportunities to motivated young people.

Krismin Inocentes, Program Associate
kinocentes@summersearch.org
Krismin was born in the Philippines and raised in Alameda, Ca. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Political Science. Her journey as a first generation college student sparked her passion to work for educational equity in under-served communities. Upon graduating, she joined Teach for America and taught 3^rd grade for three years in Brooklyn, NY. While working as a teacher in New York, she earned an MST from Pace University. Krismin is proud to work with the dedicated folks of Summer Search in their efforts to close the opportunity gap.

Amanda Shuck, Program Associate
ashuck@summersearch.org
Originally from Kentucky, Amanda graduated from Centre College with a Bachelors in International Studies and Government. Following graduation, she moved to San Francisco where she interned with a nonprofit called Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD). After many months at FSD’s headquarters, she moved to Udaipur, India to serve as International Program Coordinator at one of their field offices. Working in the socially conservative and underdeveloped state of Rajasthan exposed her to the crippling effects of poverty and the role education plays as an economic and social mobilizer. Activities abroad piqued her interest in closing the United States’ achievement and inequality gap, a passion that led her to Summer Search.

Jenny Uribe, Program Associate
juribe@summersearch.org
Jenny was born and raised in Mountain View, California. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in psychology with honors. After completing college, she continued to live in Santa Cruz, and began working for YES! supporting young activists from around the world to continue with their work in a sustainable way. She also began educating youth in Watsonville, CA about the realities of teen pregnancies in their community and the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. With the skills she developed working with youth in Santa Cruz County, she began volunteering for Girls For A Change in San Jose, CA empowering middle school girls to organize a week-long campaign promoting the importance of loving your body and appreciating your inner beauty. While volunteering in East San Jose, she witnessed first-hand the intense and unsafe situations our youth have to face every day in their community. As a result, she moved back to the Silicon Valley, and began working for the YWCA of Silicon Valley’s Project Inspire After School Program mentoring at-risk teens to get back on track with completing high school, and attend college. Jenny is honored to join an effective team of mentors at Summer Search, and looks forward to continuing to support youth in becoming the leaders they aspire to be.

Berenice C. Cervantes, College & Financial Aid Advisor
bcervantes@summersearch.org
Berenice was born in Mexico and raised in San Jose. She graduated from Downtown College Prep and attended Mount Holyoke College and Universidad de Sevilla where she received her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations. She was the first in her family to attend college and because of the opportunities her high school offered her she was able to navigate the college process. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, Berenice worked at Downtown College Preparatory for two years as the College Guidance Counselor helping students and families with the college process. Berenice is thrilled that her work with Summer Search will allow her to assist and motivate students to pursue a college degree, because it will ultimately provide them with a wide array of opportunities in life.

Caroline Reich Sterman, Bay Area Director of Development
crsterman@summersearch.org
Caroline joined Summer Search in October 2012 as the Bay Area Development Director and is responsible for development and oversight of fundraising for the San Francisco, Silicon Valley and North Bay sites. She brings over 13 years of development experience to her role, which has included administration and fundraising for organizations including Outward Bound, Earthjustice, and Girls Inc of Alameda County. Her love of nonprofit development began when she was an Instructor for the Pacific Crest Outward Bound School in the late 90’s where she witnessed the power of experiential education and its impact on character, grit and perseverance. This led her to launch an after-school youth leadership organization called She Rocks!, which ultimately reached 600 young women every year, enabling them to receive school credit for participating in social change projects. A native of California, Caroline lives in San Francisco with her partner Lisa and their twin boys, Bodhi and Skylar. When she is not working or playing with her boys, Caroline can be found road or mountain biking, hiking or climbing. She is passionate about youth development and environmental issues, and is honored to be a part of the dedicated Summer Search team. Caroline holds a BA in Women’s Studies and Spanish from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Masters Degree in Public Health from San Jose State University.

Leslie Armell, Bay Area Events Specialist
larmell@summersearch.org
Leslie grew up in New Mexico where the unique blend of Mexican, Native American and Anglo cultures, as well as her parents’ volunteerism, were important parts of her development.  After having studied music at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, she started her career in performing arts administration in New York City.  While there, Leslie mentored two young women through Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City and began to understand the disparities that exist for underrepresented and disadvantaged groups, of any age.  With a background in event planning and fundraising, as well as a passion for helping others, she was thrilled to discover the opportunity to impact young lives in the Bay Area with Summer Search.  The change and growth she has witnessed in the students she has met, and in herself, makes her so proud to work at Summer Search. 

Jaime Lockwood, Bay Area Grants Specialist
jlockwood@summersearch.org
Jaime grew up in a small town in West Virginia but has spent her adult life city-hopping between Washington, DC, New York City, and Philadelphia before moving to the Bay Area. Originally working in politics when she first graduated, she made the transition into education a few years later, teaching history and social studies in the middle and upper schools at Friends Select School in Philadelphia. Being in the classroom was very gratifying but Jaime also felt the urge to combine her passion for helping others through politics with her desire to work in the education realm. In 2010 she completed her Master’s in Politics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and simultaneously began to run a farm education program at Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia.  The farm program opened her eyes to the world of education for social justice and she became passionate about working with at-risk students, reaching them through innovative programming that could expand their world perspective and keep them engaged in positive activities and off the street. Farming, advocating for urban agriculture programs, and running farmers’ markets helped Jaime become well-rooted in the communities in which she worked, and she continues to be involved in food justice work now that she is in the Bay Area. Jaime became Bay Area Grants Specialist for Summer Search in June 2011 and is excited to be contributing to the ongoing success and efforts of such a transformative program for young adults.

Cristina Perez, Bay Area Alumni Coordinator
cristina@summersearch.org
Cristina has a BA in Psychology and an Ethnic studies certificate from University of San Francisco, and a Masters in Social Work from San Jose State, with an emphasis in schools and special education. Before joining Summer Search, she worked as a clinical social worker in the community-based agency, La Clinica de la Raza, with children, youth, adults, and their families. She first learned about the strength and uniqueness of Summer Search through her brother’s experiences as a Summer Search student. Cristina joined the San Francisco office in 2002 as a Program Associate and within two years became the Program Director. She continued to mentor students, and managed and trained staff to ensure program quality. In 2007, Cristina became the Associate Director of Summer Search North Bay, partnering with the Executive Director to hire and train mentors to increase student capacity. Under Cristina’s leadership they doubled mentors, implemented training structures that have allowed staff to learn the mentoring in a third of the time as in the past. Cristina also helped increase second year student retention rates from 80% to over 90% each year. Fall 2009 Cristina transitioned to a new role as the Bay Area Alumni Coordinator and is excited to oversee the success of the Alumni Program.

Alicia Reza, Bay Area Associate Director of Development
alicia@summersearch.org
Alicia was born and raised in Orange, California. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Sociology and a focus on the evolution and reform of the juvenile justice system. During her time in Santa Cruz, Alicia developed a passion for non-profits after working and volunteering for a variety of medical and community organizations. She came to Summer Search in January 2008 and has enjoyed growing into a fundraising role that allows her to work with the larger community in support of our students. The child of two educators, Alicia was raised to value education but also to understand the inequalities in the system. She was initially drawn to Summer Search because of the unique way the program helps young people create opportunities for themselves. She continues to be inspired daily by Summer Search students.

Fernando Serrato, Bay Area Bridge Coordinator
fserrato@summersearch.org
Fernando grew up in Morgan Hill, California. The first in his family to graduate from high school, Fernando also became a first-generation college graduate, earning a degree in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He held various leadership positions while at UCSD, including serving as an academic transition counselor for incoming first-generation students through the Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services (OASIS), and becoming a founding member and president of the Nu chapter of Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc., a Latino fraternity committed to academic excellence and community service.  After college, Fernando returned to the Bay Area to work as a senior youth counselor for Horizons Unlimited, a San Francisco-based youth development and empowerment organization rooted in community service and advocacy. Fernando's extensive youth development experience and his passion to help underserved students succeed in higher education drove him to join, and shape, the first college coach cohort at Beyond 12.  As a college coach, Fernando supported over 120 first- and second-year college students throughout the Bay Area, while helping local high schools track and understand alumni post-secondary persistence. In this role he also helped establish and facilitate summer transition programs at the 2011 CCSF Bridge 2 Success and 2012 Beyond 12 Summer Institute. He joined the Summer Search family in August of 2012 as the Bay Area Bridge Coordinator and is excited and eager to help Summer Search college students transition to and excel in their academic, civic, and social endeavors.