About us

The mission of Summer Search is to find reslient low-income high school students and inspire them to become responsible and altruistic leaders by providing year-round mentoring, life-changing summer experiences, college advising, and a lasting support network.

Summer Search Philadelphia is the newest of seven sites around the country. In 2005, the School District of Philadelphia approached our national office and sought to replicate Summer Search's long-standing national model in Philadelphia. By 2006, Summer Search Philadelphia was established and in operation. Within just four short years, we have already had a tremendous impact in the city. For example:

• Since 2007, we have sent 96 students to summer enrichment programs around the world.
• 100% of our students in our pilot-year cohort graduated high school in 2009 and are currently enrolled in college.
• 100% of our students in the class of 2010 graduated high school and will begin college in the fall.

Staff

Wendy Epstein, Executive Director
Olanike Ayomide, Program Director
Joni Roberson, Program Associate
Lauren Dodington, Program Associate
Makaine Lozandieu, Program Associate
Elizabeth Stamm, Development Manager
Pamela Milcos-Smith, College Advisor
Greg Lowe, Development and Communications Associate
Nasha Taylor, Administrative Assistant

Wendy Epstein , Executive Director
wepstein@summersearch.org
Prior to joining Summer Search, Wendy Epstein worked as an independent consultant providing fundraising, marketing and management services to nonprofit organizations in the fields of arts, education, youth development, social justice, health and human services. Before establishing her consulting practice in 1991, Wendy was Senior Executive for the Philadelphia-based consulting firm of McPherson, Schultz & Associates (now Schultz & Williams), Chief Fundraiser for Allyson Schwartz for State Senate in 1990 (now Congresswoman Schwartz), and Director of Alumni Affairs and Annual Giving at the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts). Wendy started her career in nonprofit administration at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Wendy currently serves on the board of directors of Philadelphia Young Playwrights and is co-chair of the Public Education Advocacy Group at Congregation Mishkan Shalom. She holds a Bachelors Degree jointly from Rutgers University and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and a Certificate in Executive Leadership from the Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute at the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

Olanike Ayomide, Program Director
oayomide@summersearch.org
Olanike comes to Summer Search with experience in community and school based youth leadership programming including the Eastern High School Choir in Washington, DC, the King’s Center in Frankfort, KY, and BuildOn in Philadelphia, PA. Her education in Liberal Arts, Business Marketing, and Nonprofit Management, in addition to her AmeriCorps experience and a United Way Board Training program give her a wide range of experiences and a varied toolkit that will support the growth and success of Summer Search Philadelphia.

Joni Roberson, Program Associate
jroberson@summersearch.org
Joni graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in politics, government and pre-law. She then joined Teach for America and moved to Philadelphia, where she taught 6th, 7th and 8th grade English and Social Studies at the Chester A. Arthur School. During this time, Joni attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned her Masters of Science in urban education. She traveled to Chicago as a teacher researcher to present her findings on Critical Literacy at the 2007 American Educational Research Association conference. As an alum, Joni is currently representing Teach for America as a Corps Area Representative for the Philadelphia region. She joined Summer Search as a program associate in 2007.

Lauren Dodington , Program Associate
ldodington@summersearch.org
Lauren joins Summer Search with a passion for youth development and urban education. After earning a degree in sociology and adolescent education at Vassar College, Lauren was a founding faculty member at the Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction in Manhattan where she taught 11th grade U.S. history and supported students in the college application process. Since moving to Philadelphia in 2008, Lauren has worked with the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children developing leadership and high school retention programs for youth attending West Philly’s public schools. She is currently completing a certificate in nonprofit administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government and is delighted to join the Summer Search team.

Makaine Lozandieu, Program Associate
mlozandieu@summersearch.org
Makaine comes to Summer Search with experience in tutoring high-school students in math, English, and SAT preparation at the Match Charter Public High School in Boston, MA.  After her two-year fellowship at Match, she moved to Philadelphia for her graduate studies in Counseling Psychology.  At Temple University, she worked as a Resident Coordinator in a freshmen residence hall, creating programs that fostered the cultural and civic experiences of first-year students.  Currently, she volunteers at Girls Incorporated of Philadelphia.  Makaine is excited to use her experiences in working with high-school students and college freshmen to support Summer Search Philadelphia.

Elizabeth Stamm, Development Manager
estamm@summersearch.org
Elizabeth comes to Summer Search Philadelphia with over 7 years non-profit development and strategic planning experience. Prior to joining the staff, she served as Director of Enforcement at the Fair Housing Rights Center in Southeastern Pennsylvania, where she actively participated in grant writing, management and reporting, as well as event planning and program/development expansion. In addition, Elizabeth serves as a volunteer Development Coordinator for Children’s Safe Harbor, Inc., a Hispanic youth development organization located in North Philadelphia. Elizabeth is bi-lingual in English and Spanish, enjoys endurance/extreme sports and has traveled extensively throughout Latin America and Europe. She is a graduate of Temple University and holds a Masters degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago.

Pamela Milcos-Smith, College Advisor
pmsmith@summersearch.org
Prior to coming to Summer Search, Pamela worked for an SAT test preparation company for several years. She has done extensive volunteer work in the area of college admissions counseling and has a background in human resource management and career counseling as well. Pamela has worked in education, publishing and biotechnology. She holds an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from Temple University and has most recently completed a certificate program offered by UCLA in the area of college counseling.

Greg Lowe , Development and Communications Associate
glowe@summersearch.org
Greg graduated from Northwestern University in 2005 with a degree in journalism and economics. After graduation, he joined Teach for America and moved to Philadelphia. For two years, Greg taught 7th grade special education at Roberto Clemente Middle School in North Philadelphia. While teaching, he earned a master's degree in special education from Chestnut Hill College. After leaving the classroom, he worked as a legal assistant for a year. Last spring, Greg founded Tipping Points Test Prep, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding access to high-quality test preparation. Summer Search Philadelphia was one of his first clients, and he joined the Philadelphia office shortly afterwards.

Nasha Taylor, Administrative Assistant
ntaylor@summersearch.org
Prior to joining Summer Search, Nasha attended Broome Community College while working with youth at various after-school and summer enrichment programs, college prepatory programs, and civic engagement projects. Much of her leadership and organizing training come from her involvement as a volunteer with the grassroots advocacy organization, Citizen Action of New York, where she was a committe member for the Alliance for Quality Education, a community organizer, and board member. During this time she also served as the lead Event Coordinator for Broome County's Juneteenth Celebration in 2005 and 2007 by working with the City, local business and organizations, and volunteers to revitalize the annual festivities. While earning her undergraduate degree in Philadelphia, Nasha interned at the Temple University Media Education Lab worked on an oral histories documentary film project, and worked with area high school students in various writing and media programs. Nasha holds a degree in Communications and Mass Media from Temple University where she continues to work with the Center for African American Research and Public Policy.