Ceres Foundation Awards $450,000 Grant for Graduate Support
The Ceres Foundation has awarded San Miguel School a three-year, $450,000 grant that serves as a catalyst for Project North Star—the strategic plan to expand Graduate Support and serve even more alumni on their path to college and career. This pivotal investment enables San Miguel to begin growing its counseling team and greatly enhances how the school will be able to measure and sustain impact for alumni.
Associate Graduate Support Director Francisco Muñoz (San Miguel Class of 2016) mentors students through the high school application process.
San Miguel’s Graduate Support Program was formalized in 2015 to accompany students beyond their middle school graduation and help them achieve success in high school and college. Over the past ten years, the program has grown to provide more support to San Miguel alumni: maintaining connections with students through continuous check-ins, facilitating test preparation and college visits, mentoring students through the college application process, and adding a second counselor have all helped San Miguel alumni achieve college enrollment rates that defy the odds. While Latino males enroll in college at a rate of 30%, San Miguel alumni boast an 80% enrollment rate in the last decade.
Yet Project North Star will be the program’s most significant inflection point. Its goals include:
Growing the alumni counseling team from two to three (and to four by 2028)
Building stronger career pathways and employer partnerships
Developing advanced data systems to better track and support each student
Providing sustained guidance from seventh grade through age 25 (and beyond)
Graduate Support Director Alfonso Motta shared, “Our goal is for our graduate support program to become a model for other schools to support graduates in the area of college and career readiness and advising.”
With this investment, San Miguel School is not only strengthening support for its own graduates but also pioneering a sustainable model of comprehensive alumni care that can serve schools nationwide.