The facts are clear: college determines career paths and life skills. But not everyone shares the same opportunity.
Only 10% of youth from low-income families hold a bachelor’s degree by age 25, compared to 77% of middle to higher income youth. Students Rising Above (SRA) is determined to change the odds. We understand the rewards and obstacles students face in defying expectations, and how their success can lift up entire communities. Since 1998, we’ve helped craft, nurture, and navigate college experiences that lead to meaningful careers. We value character over GPA, take pride in personal commitment, and measure success with proven results.
Enlisting comprehensive support, personal relationships, and career guidance, we’ve become the most successful college completion program in the nation. Join us as we redefine what’s possible for the next generation.
MISSION & VALUES
Our Mission
SRA empowers students facing systemic barriers to define and find success through education, career, and in life.
Vision
SRA envisions a world in which every person can achieve economic and social equity.
Our Values
“I am really impressed with the helpfulness and quality of the content [on the SRA Hub], and would love to participate in more lectures/other SRA resources for my own growth...Thank you so much!!”
College Student
OUR TEAM
Interested in joining us on our mission? Join Our Team
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VIEW PROFILERose Allen
Senior Manager of College Success - SOAR
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VIEW PROFILEElijah Barnard
Development and Communications Lead
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VIEW PROFILEAngela Bugayong
Interim CEO
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VIEW PROFILELaura Cashion
Director of Finance
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VIEW PROFILEMelissa Castro-Pulido
College and Career Advisor II
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VIEW PROFILEPatricia Dalao
Institutional Giving Manager
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VIEW PROFILEJarschire Dennis
College and Career Advisor
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VIEW PROFILEFern Echevarria-Flores
Development Lead II
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VIEW PROFILEEdylwise Fernandez
Alumni Program Lead II
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VIEW PROFILELuna Flores
College Success Program Lead II
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VIEW PROFILEChristy Foedisch
College Success Program Manager, College and Career Advisor
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VIEW PROFILEMary Gomez
College and Career Advisor
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VIEW PROFILEAliza Heslop
Director of People
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VIEW PROFILEJay Japra
Director of Operations
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VIEW PROFILEJessica Loria
Career Development Program Manager
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VIEW PROFILELeonard Medlock
Director of Product Innovation
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VIEW PROFILEWilliam Mock
Director of Social Enterprise and Partnerships
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VIEW PROFILEBrooke Millan
College Admissions Counselor and Black Student Experience Specialist
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VIEW PROFILETrent Moore
Staff Accountant and HR Lead
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VIEW PROFILEArteivia Muaava
Program Lead II
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VIEW PROFILELong Nguyen
College and Career Advisor
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VIEW PROFILEKarina Nunez
Data Insights Lead II
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VIEW PROFILEMyrtha Ortiz Villar
Senior Manager of Data Strategy and Insights
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VIEW PROFILEVanessa Pepoon
College Admissions Counselor
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VIEW PROFILEKimberly Renderos
College and Career Advisor
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VIEW PROFILEDixie Ruland
Healthcare Coordinator
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VIEW PROFILEIuliia Shurygina
Senior Accountant
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VIEW PROFILEElaine Sidori
College and Career Advisor
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VIEW PROFILERachel Stafford
College and Career Advisor
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VIEW PROFILEMorgan Stanback
Career Development Program Lead
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VIEW PROFILESalote Tenisi
SOAR Internship Program Lead II
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VIEW PROFILELe Tran
College and Career Advisor
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VIEW PROFILERodrigo Pichardo Urbina
College and Career Advisor
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VIEW PROFILEDena Vongchanh
Director of Development
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VIEW PROFILEVeli Waller
Senior Manager of College Success
Board of Directors
- Carlyn Clause
- Maurice Brewster
- Queen Denchukwu
- Diana Campoamor
- Phoenicia Fitts
- Frank Troutman
- Matt Houston
- Anastasia Novozhilova
- Stephen T Parlett
- Nathan Porras
- Carolyn Reiser
- Julius Robinson
- Dipti Sirisinahal
- Veronica Toscano
Alumni Association Leadership Committee
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VIEW PROFILEVeronica Toscano
Santa Clara University
Cisco -
VIEW PROFILEStephanie Soria Mendoza
University of California, Berkeley, 2015
Palo Alto Unified School District -
VIEW PROFILEEnoc Lira
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, 2007
Daedalus Structural Engineering -
VIEW PROFILEBianca Yarborough
University of California, Irvine, 2007
Burrell Communications -
VIEW PROFILEZachary Tabb
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, 2007
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, 2018 -
VIEW PROFILEAbbas Ayub
San Francisco State University, 2011
Oakwood School -
VIEW PROFILEAlfonso Taylor
Ohio Wesleyan University, 2011
GuardiCore -
VIEW PROFILELorna Contreras-Townsend
St. Mary’s College of Moraga, 2008
Gap Inc. -
VIEW PROFILEAlexandria Lujan
University of California, Berkeley, 2012
CollegeSpring -
VIEW PROFILEEia Gardner
Agnes Scott College, 2013
Oakland Unified School District -
VIEW PROFILENathan Porras
Sonoma State University, 2014
Shopkick -
VIEW PROFILESimone Evans
Manhanttanville College, 2014
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers -
VIEW PROFILESumat Lam
Stanford University, 2014
Box -
VIEW PROFILECindy Dam
University of California, Los Angeles, 2015
Students Rising Above -
VIEW PROFILEGerardo Zaragoza
Yale University, 2015
Facebook -
VIEW PROFILEAnastasia Abello
University of California, Riverside, 2016
Sutro Biopharma, Inc. -
VIEW PROFILECarol Ashley
University of California, Santa Cruz, 2016
Google -
VIEW PROFILENirvana Felix
University of California, Berkeley, 2016
Scholar Match -
VIEW PROFILEAngelina Brand
University of California, Santa Cruz, 2017
826 Valencia -
VIEW PROFILEJessica Castro
University of California, Santa Cruz, 2017
Students Rising Above
OUR SUPPORTERS
Students Rising Above gratefully acknowledges the contributions and expertise of the community partners who share our mission and help us achieve our goals.
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J.W. Bagley Foundation
- Barulich Family Foundation
- S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation
- College Futures Foundation of California
- Comis Foundation
- Enersen Foundation
- Carl Gellert and Celia Berta Gellert Foundation
- Hilltop Group Charitable Foundation
- Koret Foundation
- Stanley Langendorf Foundation
- Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation
- Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation
- Joseph R. McMicking Foundation
- McMurtry Family Foundation
- Robert H. and Helen P. Odell Fund
- Joseph Pedott Perpetual Endowment Trust
- Rock Foundation
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation
- Sippel-Farb Family Foundation
- Leo M. Shortino Family Foundation
- May and Stanley Smith Charitable Foundation
- Solid Rock Foundation
- Stephen and Ayesha Curry's Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation
- The Filippi Foundation
- The Fremont Group Foundation
- The Julia Burke Foundation
- The Kimball Foundation
- The O'Shea Foundation
- The Soulé Foundation
- The William Randolph Hearst Foundation
- Wayne & Gladys Valley Foundation
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826 Valencia
- Aim High
- Alameda County Social Services Agency
- ALearn
- AppsFlyer
- Anthem Blue Cross Foundation
- Aquarium of the Bay
- Arborwell
- Atlassian
- Autodesk, Inc.
- Axiom
- Bay Area Legal Incubator (BALI)
- Blue Shield of California
- Boston Private Bank & Trust Company
- Breakthrough Collaborative
- Breathe California of the Bay Area
- Brutocao Vineyards & Cellars
- Buddy System
- Burns & Wilcox
- California Public Utilities Commission
- CBS 5 - KPIX
- CBS Interactive, Inc.
- Charles River Associates
- Charles Schwab & Co.
- Chevron
- Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute
- Cisco Systems, Inc.
- Civil Liberties and Public Policy
- CollegeSpring
- Columbia University Internship in Building Community
- Cultural Vistas
- Cupertino Electric, Inc.
- Current Marketing
- Dodge & Cox Investment Managers
- DonorsChoose.org
- Dr. Halpern-Felsher's Lab at Stanford University,
- Department of Pediatrics,
- Division of Adolescent Medicine
- East Bay Regional Park District
- Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC)
- Elevate Tutoring
- Ernst & Young LLP
- Errigal, Inc.
- Facebook, Inc.
- Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
- FireEye, Inc.
- Franklin Templeton
- Fresh Approach
- Future Public Health Leaders Program
- Galileo Learning, LLC
- Genentech, Inc.
- Glide
- Google, LLC
- Hack the Hood
- Hafner Vineyard
- Health Career Connection
- HDR
- Hidden Villa
- Human Impact Partners
- Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
- JCYC College Access Programs
- Justice Now
- Kaiser Permanente Community Benefits,
- Northern California Region
- Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Legal Aid of Sonoma County
- LifeMoves
- Lyric Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- Marcus Foster Education Institute
- Maven Recruiting Group
- Mentoring in Medicine & Science
- Mesosphere, Inc.
- Minami Tamaki, LLP
- Mission Bit
- Monument Crisis Center
- Motive Power, Inc.
- National Charity League
- NERA Economic Consulting, Inc.
- O2 Marketing + Design
- Oakland Unite
- Occupational Health Internship Program
- Okta, Inc.
- OpenText Corp.
- Oracle
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP
- Pacific Gas & Electric
- Port of Oakland
- PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
- Project Avary
- Project Pull
- RythmOne
- Rising Sun Energy Center
- Rodan + Fields
- Rombauer Vineyards
- Running Start
- SAP Labs, Inc.
- San Francisco 49ers
- San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District
- San Francisco District Attorney’s Office
- San Francisco International Airport
- San Francisco Recreation and Park Department
- San Jose Downtown Association
- San Mateo County Transit District
- Sand Hill Global Advisors, LLP
- Santa Clara Valley Water District
- Scarborough Insurance Agency
- Sharks Foundation
- Sherpa Digital Media, Inc.
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- Southwest Airlines
- St. Paul’s Episcopal School
- Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research
- Program (SIMR)
- Steve & Kate’s Camp
- Subaru of America Foundation, Inc.
- Summer Health Professions Education Program
- Target Corporation
- Tesla
- The Fresh Air Fund
- The Greenlining Institute
- The Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society
- The Partners Program
- The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco
- Transwestern
- Union Bank
- United Way
- University of California, Berkeley
- USA Marketing
- Vali Cooper & Associates, Inc.
- VISA, Inc.
- Wagner Family of Wines
- Warriors Community Foundation
- Wells Fargo
- Western Digital
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
- Yahoo! Employee Foundation
- YMCA Camp Jones Gulch
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Arborwell Named Scholarship
- Atlassian Named Scholarship
- Bassett Furniture Bay Area Named Scholarship
- Comis Named Scholarship
- D.E. Allen & R.O. Segura Named Scholarship
- East Bay Insurance Agents Charitable Fund Named
- Scholarship
- Len and Marty Brutocao Named Scholarship
- The Julia Burke Named Scholarship
- Lex Brainerd and Carlyn Clause Named Scholarship
- Wallace DeYoung Named Scholarship
- Duemey Family Named Scholarship
- Nick Gandhi Academic Excellence Named Scholarship
- The Carl Gellert and Celia Berta Gellert Foundation
- The Joseph Gomes and Sharon Brown Named
- Scholarship
- John and Gwenda Hanson Named Scholarship
- Jack and Jill of America - Contra Costa County Named
- Scholarship
- Jean and Alan Kay Named Scholarship
- Haldane King Named Scholarship
- Roberta Sung and Chinnie Kwan Named Scholarship
- FusionStorm Named Scholarship
- Ed and Susan Lowe Named Scholarship
- Florence and Joseph Nolan Named Scholarship
- ODell Named Scholarship
- Linda Rindt Named Scholarship
- Shartsis Friese LLP Named Scholarship
- Kate Steinle Scholarship Fund
- Sue's STEAM Named Scholarship
- Stone Family Named Scholarship
- Tamao Sakai Named Scholarship
- Wendy Tokuda Named Scholarship
- Robert Warehouse Named Scholarship
- Mary Wikstrom and Andrew Grimstad Named
- Scholarship
- Sheldon and Rosemary Wong Named Scholarship
- Quest Foundation
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Tamra M. Adams, DDS
- James Anderson, DDS
- Daniel Armistead, DDS
- Michael Y. Chan, DDS
- William C. Chan, DDS
- Marry Cooke, DDS
- Darrel Dang, DDS
- Richard A. Fagin, DDS
- Kurtis Finley, DDS
- James Y S Ho, DMD
- Tri Huynh, DDS, PHD
- Alexander Ivanoff, DDS
- Michael McDonald, DMD
- Michelle Olsen, DDS
- Daniel T. Sullivan, DDS
- Rick Tabor, DDS
- Jennifer Terry, DDS
- Tamir Wardany, DDS
- Colin Yoshida, DDS
- Ed Revelli, OD, FAAO
SRA CAREERS
Join Our Team
At Students Rising Above, we’re making a difference in the lives of thousands of low-income students through our award-winning college completion program and our online program, the SRA Hub. We are looking for talented leaders who are eager to help students break the cycle of poverty and create a new generation of employees and leaders from diverse backgrounds committed to positive change.
For more information about careers with Students Rising Above, please contact. We welcome you to send us your resume and a brief cover letter regarding your interest in working at SRA.
[email protected]
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GET INVOLVED TODAY
Whether donating money, time, or expertise, your collaboration with Students Rising Above creates a world of opportunity for everyone.