First Graduate

First Graduate hosts several events throughout the year to celebrate our students, engage the community, and support our mission.

Celebration
Our signature fundraising event, First Graduate Celebration is an evening to honor the accomplishments of our inspiring youth who are working hard to become the first in their families to graduate from college. At the First Graduate Celebration, our team also presents an award to a member of the community who is either a first in family college graduate themselves or someone who is working hard to change accessibility to education for underserved youth. Past award recipients include: Bobbi Silten, Chief Foundation Officer, Gap, Inc. and Member, White House Council for Community Solutions; Larry Stupski, co-founder of Stupski Foundation; Steve Miller, CEO of Andre Agassi Foundation for Education; Sara Martinez Tucker, former Under Secretary of Education; Hispanic Scholarship Fund; Carol Bartz, President and CEO of Yahoo, Inc; Dr. Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor of UC Berkeley; Alejandro Toledo, President of Peru from 2001-2006; and Chuck Smith, former President & CEO of AT&T West. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Crystal Higgins-Peterson.

Career Day
To expose our students to a range of career opportunities available to degree holders, First Graduate organizes Career Day each year during Summer Session. Volunteer hosts open their workplaces to a group of five or more students. The hosts also provide a tour and talk to students about different aspects of their jobs. Recent host organizations have included Sephora, Ubisoft, San Francisco Chronicle, Credit Suisse, View from the Bay, Facebook, San Francisco Zoo, Gorden & Rees, Landor, and San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty's office. To learn more about how your organization can get involved, please contact Laura Brief.

Discovery Day
First Graduate enrolls 25-30 new students into the program each year. The selection process includes Discovery Day, an event that brings staff and volunteers together to meet and evaluate program applicants. During the day, students engage in a series of group activities and individual interviews designed to indicate their capacity to benefit from the program. To learn about how you can get involved in the interview process, please contact Jenny Foster.

Exploring the Possibilities
Hosted by First Graduate in collaboration with the local alumni clubs of Harvard and Stanford Universities, this annual event allows First Graduate students to learn about a range of career options available to degree holders. Volunteer career panelists offer students interactive presentations about such industries as arts & entertainment, business, engineering, law, medicine, technology, and public relations. Recent presenters have included representatives from LucasArts, Sephora, Google, Gordon & Rees, Kaiser Permanente and Apple. To learn about how you can be a panelist, please contact Laura Brief.

Presentations of Learning (POLs)
To encourage students to make their best effort and to provide opportunities for them to reflect on their learning, First Graduate hosts Presentations of Learning (POLs) at the end of every Summer Session. At this event, students give individual presentations outlining their accomplishments for the year and their goals for the future. A collection of First Graduate supporters, community professionals, board members, and staff facilitate the event and evaluate the students' work. To become a volunteer evaluator, please contact Anthony Mickens.

First Glimpse: Volunteer Orientation
Every quarter, First Graduate invites prospective volunteers to meet our staff and learn about our program and the many ways they can participate. To read about our volunteer opportunities and fill our an application form, click here. To find out about the next event, call 415-816-0561 or email us.