Jessica Trinh’s Flex Funding Story

While Jessica was working to become valedictorian of her class and the first in her family to attend college, her father was diagnosed with a life threatening heart condition. Jessica was inspired by the doctors and devices that helped save her father’s life and has been deeply passionate about medicine ever since.

With the help of Greenhouse Scholars Flex Funding and donors like you, Jessica established a nutrition education program in New Haven elementary schools. She is also gathering data to test the program’s efficacy and viability for expansion. Her project aims to make students healthier by increasing their awareness of what they eat and giving them more agency over what they are served at school.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We rely on donations from you and other members of the Greenhouse Scholars community to support this program. Today, you can provide life-changing opportunities for deserving and high-performing students like Jessica.

$10,000 – Sponsor a Scholar for one full year (like the Brickman family does for Jessica)

$2,000 – Cover the cost of Jessica’s elementary school health education program

$1,000 – Allow Elizabeth Lazarus, a Greenhouse Scholar from Georgia, to present her research at the American Public Health Association

$500 – Send Greenhouse Scholar Ellie Ellis to the Geologic Society of America Conference

Any amount – Become a valued member of the Greenhouse Scholars community by supporting our Flex Funding Program

Donate Now


Pravleen and Sana’s Peer Support Story

Through our Peer Support program, Greenhouse Scholars come together to celebrate each other’s accomplishments and support one another through the challenges they face. This creates strong connections between Scholars that last throughout their time in the program and long after. Sana and Prav have been close since they became Greenhouse Scholars and each praises the other for the care and support that they have received from the friendship. As they both pursue careers in medicine, they help to motivate, inspire, and guide one another toward success.

In November, the two were awarded a Greenhouse Scholars Flex Funding grant to attend the AAMC’s Medical Minority Conference in Boston where they received valuable information about the MCAT and the medical school application process. After the conference, they realized that many students from disadvantaged backgrounds have limited access to such resources. As leaders, they decided to take action to help others striving for careers in medicine by sharing what they learned through a website they will launch with the help of another Scholar, Nhan Tran. In the Greenhouse Scholars community, two friends supporting each other becomes something much greater as they come together to work toward lasting positive impact.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We rely on donations from you and other members of the Greenhouse Scholars community to support this program. Today, you can provide life-changing opportunities for deserving and high-performing students like Amadou.

Contribute today


The Growth Report 2017

The Growth Report is an annual newsletter created to embody the past year of Greenhouse Scholars’ work. In it we give thanks to supporters, make major announcements about our strategic direction, provide statistics about our impact, and share the incredible stories of our Scholars. This is a great way for people to get to know us better as an organization, and we’re excited to share it with you all now.

The Growth Report 2017


The Class of 2021’s Impact Story

The freshman Class of 2021 has chosen to work with Noel Community Arts School, Scholar Joon Baang’s alma mater in the Montbello neighborhood of Denver. This community, where nearly 90% of students are economically disadvantaged and only 11% meet ACT standards of college readiness, has been prone to violence and witnessed the near closing of its middle school.

This project is an entrepreneurial endeavor designed by the Greenhouse Scholars with the guidance of our staff and a volunteer advisor, Matt Polick. The Class of 2021 will provide vital resources for students to cultivate a long-term impact on achievement and school culture. The Scholars are working with committed administrators and will volunteer in-person to provide mentorship to student body leaders, enabling those students to guide their classmates towards positive behaviors that will create lasting change in their school and community.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We rely on donations from you and other members of the Greenhouse Scholars community to support this program. Today, you can be a driving force for change in low-income communities.

$10,000 – Sponsor a Scholar for one full year of the program
$2,000 – Help out-of-state Scholars attend a summer boot camp for their high school mentees
$1,000 – Support the creation of a mural designed to visualize education opportunities in a Montbello school
$500 – Coach Greenhouse Scholars to serve as role models to younger students by presenting their stories of relentlessness and achievement
Any amount – Become a valued member of the Greenhouse Scholars community by supporting our Impact program

Contribute today


Crystal Ayala’s Professional Networking Story

Crystal’s family’s circumstances caused her to attend three different high schools; despite this and other challenges, her commitment to service never wavered, and as a senior at Abraham Lincoln High School she was awarded Mentor of the Year for helping a younger student raise her GPA from a 0.0 to a 3.0.

Crystal has long known that she wanted to help young people, but was unsure how. Last year, through Greenhouse Scholars’ Professional Networking program, Crystal was put in contact with Kate Brenan, Director of Teacher Leadership and Collaboration at Denver Public Schools. Through Kate, Crystal was able to connect with several other DPS employees who represented the array of career paths available to her. Crystal was thrilled with what she was able to learn from these contacts, saying, “I had never really considered being a school counselor, but after meeting with Kate, I felt excited to start researching a career path that I feel a strong passion for.”

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We rely on donations from you and other members of the Greenhouse Scholars community to support this program. Today, you can provide life-changing opportunities for deserving and high-performing students like Crystal.

$10,000 – Sponsor a Scholar for one full year (like 8z Real Estate does for Crystal)
$2,000 – Recruit, vet, and train 15 Professional Networking contacts
$1,000 – Cover the cost of 50 Scholars’ Professional Networking meetings
$500 – Enable surveys and follow up to track and improve program results
Any amount – Become a valued member of the Greenhouse Scholars community by supporting our Professional Networking program

Contribute today


Amadou Bah’s Mentorship Story

In a speech that has gone viral (55,000 views on Facebook!), Amadou talks about the difficulties of growing up around poverty and violence, the passion for education instilled in him by his parents, and his role as an advocate for those in his community who have been deprived of opportunity. He also describes his relationship with his Greenhouse Scholars mentor, Stockton Croft, who has been instrumental in guiding Amadou through his challenging double major economics, pre-medicine track at Stanford. In Amadou’s own words, “I love this man!”

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We rely on donations from you and other members of the Greenhouse Scholars community to support this program. Today, you can provide life-changing opportunities for deserving and high-performing students like Amadou.

 

Contribute today


Ahnika Leroy’s Internship Story

Ahnika’s experience with instability and homelessness, coupled with the tremendous support of a Colorado Springs community that nurtured her during difficult times, created an insatiable drive to never give up. As part of the Greenhouse Scholars community, Ahnika has been inspired by Scholars, mentors, and other supporters to be a leader who engages and encourages younger, under-resourced students to pursue their dreams with tenacity.

In college, Ahnika is pursuing a career in economics so that she may create policies to address the inequities which have impacted her and countless others. Through Greenhouse Scholars’ Internship program, she earned positions working for longtime Greenhouse Scholars supporters, Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, and Zayo Group. From these experiences, Ahnika gained critical insights into excellence, leadership, problem solving and risk taking. Today, she is applying those lessons to her own personal and professional growth so that she may create the change she so deeply desires.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We rely on donations from you and other members of the Greenhouse Scholars community to support this program. Today, you can provide life-changing opportunities for deserving and high-performing students like Ahnika.

$10,000 – Sponsor a Scholar for one full year (like 8z Real Estate does for Ahnika)

$2,000 – Support a Scholar during an internship abroad

$1,000 – Allow a Scholar to accept an unpaid internship by covering living costs

$500 – Provide five Scholars with one-on-one coaching to find and make the most of internship opportunities

Any amount – Become a valued member of the Greenhouse Scholars community by supporting our Internship program

Contribute today


Kaleb Anderson’s Summer Symposium Story

Just months before starting college, Kaleb and his mother were called into his doctor’s office to receive unfortunate news. Kaleb was HIV positive. Shortly after the diagnosis, Kaleb’s health worsened, requiring him to receive weeks of painful treatment. There were times when Kaleb thought that it would be easier to die than to fight for his life everyday, but his mother encouraged him to stay strong.

A week after treatment, Kaleb attended his first Summer Symposium, worried about the stigma of his disease and unsure what to tell others. During a seminar about vulnerability, Kaleb was inspired to share his story with other Greenhouse Scholars and was astonished by the love, acceptance, and support that he received.

Today, Kaleb is thriving and pursuing new leadership opportunities on his campus. He currently serves as Vice President of DePauw’s student executive board and works to give a voice to marginalized communities. At the most recent Summer Symposium, he spoke about his experience with HIV, the support that he received from Greenhouse Scholars, and his ongoing work as a community leader. You can watch his inspiring speech on our YouTube channel.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We rely on donations from you and other members of the Greenhouse Scholars community to support this program. Today, you can provide life-changing opportunities for deserving and high-performing students like Kaleb.

$10,000 – Sponsor a Scholar for one full year of the program

$2,000 – Give 20 Scholars a leadership development opportunity like rock climbing

$1,000 – Cover travel costs for world class speakers to come share their knowledge at the Summer Symposium

$500 – Provide 10 Scholars with the supplies to participate in the Summer Symposium

Any amount – Become a valued member of the Greenhouse Scholars community by supporting the Summer Symposium

Contribute today


Join us for Annual Inspire on Tuesday, August 8th 

Greenhouse Scholars hallmark event, Annual Inspire, is just 2 weeks away. This is the one time we bring together all of the Greenhouse Scholars and our community of supporters. Please join us for this incredibly special and inspiring experience.

During this memorable evening, you will hear how three of our incredible young leaders surmounted unfathomable challenges, from homelessness to an HIV diagnosis, and what our Greenhouse Scholars community of support has meant to them during their unrelenting journeys of personal achievement and community impact.

Event Details:
Tuesday, August 8th, 5-7:30pm
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) – Boulder, CO
RSVP Required: annualinspire.org
Tickets are complimentary | $50 Donation Suggested


Greenhouse Scholars celebrates the most successful Community Table to date

Thank you to the guests and sponsors who joined us for a delicious and memorable meal at The Community Table on June 10, 2017.

Chef Ed Sura of NoMi Kitchen shared his appreciation of approachable, rustic dishes full of fresh, local ingredients in the form of an unforgettable four-course meal. The dinner featured a summer vegetable tart, seared Skuna Bay salmon, grilled flank steak with pickled garlic, and a black pepper strawberry shortcake.

In addition to raising over $70,000 (net) for the Greenhouse Scholars mission, the event also cultivated interest from four prospective mentors for our Class of 2021.

If you would like to join us as a host or corporate sponsor for next year’s event in spring of 2018 please contact Gret Luhrs at gluhrs@greenhousescholars.org or 312-784-3213.

We appreciate everyone who made the festivities so memorable – particularly our sponsors: Gresham Partners, Andersen Tax, and Aldridge Electric.

We also want to recognize our In Kind Partners; Chef Ed Sura of NoMI Park Hyatt, Banquet Sous Chef Shane Cawley from Park Hyatt, and Cream Wine Co.