History

Summer Search Silicon Valley launched in September 2005 under the leadership of Executive Director, Kamba Tshionyi, and Board Chair, Ken Olivier with Magdalena Paul as founding board member.

With the continued support of our funding partners and referring schools, we now serve 84 students from 27 Peninsula, San Jose and Hayward schools. Our goal is to serve 250 students annually by 2013.

Staff

Monica Hanza, Program Director
Hagar Berlin, Bay Area Director of Development
Cynthia Diaz, Program Associate and Outreach Coordinator
Michael Melamed, Program Associate
Irene Nyavor, Program Associate
Tina Shauf, College and Finacial Aid Advisor
Lea Antonio, Bay Area Events Specialist
Meghan Kirkpatrick, Bay Area Grants Specialist
Cristina Ramirez, Bay Area Alumni Coordinator
Alicia Reza, Bay Area Development Associate

Monica Hanza, Program Director
I graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in Literature and Art History. Upon graduating, I enrolled in AmeriCorps, where I spent 2 years as an environmental advocate and program manager for inner-city literacy and tutoring program. I was drawn to Summer Search's mission of giving students the opportunity to get out of their environment to discover that their only limits are the limits they put on themselves. I have been working with Summer Search since 2004 and transitioned to the Silicon Valley office in 2009.

Hagar Berlin, Bay Area Director of Development
Hagar was born in Israel and lived in the Netherlands as a young child, but spent most of her youth growing up Queens, New York. Hagar attended college at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. After graduation, she returned to New York where she began her fundraising career at Urban Education Exchange, a non-profit that partners with inner city schools to improve reading instruction. In 2004, Hagar relocated to San Francisco where she joined the development team at Jumpstart for Young Children, a national early childhood education non-profit. Hagar served as Jumpstart’s Development Director, securing the organization's operating budget in California and Washington States and spearheading Jumpstart’s annual Read for the Record Campaign. In 2009, Hagar left Jumpstart to pursue a Masters of Education with a focus on Policy and Organization Leadership Studies at Stanford University. Upon graduating from Stanford, Hagar was thrilled to join Summer Search as the new Bay Area Director of Development, charged with supporting fundraising efforts in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and the North Bay.

Cynthia Diaz, Program Associate and Outreach Coordinator
Cynthia was born in Nicaragua and raised in San Francisco's Mission District. She graduated from Gateway High School and attended Mount Holyoke College where she received her BA in English. Cynthia is also a Summer Search alumna and feels very fortunate to recruit and mentor students with the potential and drive to serve as role models for their communities.

Michael Melamed, Program Associate 
Michael was born and raised just outside of Phoenix, Arizona.  He attended Macalester College where he received his BA in International Studies.  At Macalester, Michael was a 4 year starter on the varsity soccer team reaching the NCAA Division III quarterfinals his freshman year.  After college, he worked a year as a paraeducator at Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona before serving two years as a Youth Development Peace Corps Volunteer in rural El Salvador.  Michael is excited to work with such talented youth in their journey to achieve their dreams.

Irene Nyavor, Program Associate
Irene came to the US from Ghana to attend Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, where she majored in Economics. She continued on to Harvard Divinity School, from which she graduated with a master's of divinity degree. While there, Irene interned with a Chicago nonprofit that mentors at-risk teenage girls from around the country. That experience and her awareness of the flaws in Ghana's education system convinced her to pursue career opportunities involving at-risk youth and education, which in turn, led her to Summer Search. Irene is thrilled that her work with Summer Search will enable her to connect deserving youth with life-changing opportunities.

Tina Shauf, College and Financial Aid Advisor
Tina was born in a US Air Force Base in Angeles City, Philippines. She left the Philippines at the age of 2 and was raised in Hawthorne, California, in Los Angeles County. After attending Leuzinger High School, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Social Welfare with an emphasis in Sociology at UC Berkeley. As a first-generation college student, she found UC Berkeley’s social and academic environment challenging. She then created her own network of support by being an organizer in the Pilipino American Alliance, while serving on the board of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation from 2003-2006. In more recent years, she has been working with Babae (“woman” in Tagalog), an organization committed to empowering Filipinas through education and advocating for women’s rights. She discovered Summer Search’s amazing work through her close friend Jaylyn Silvestre, a Summer Search alumna, and was drawn to Summer Search’s curiosity and belief in the healthy growth of young people. She is honored to be a part of this family!

Lea Antonio, Bay Area Events Specialist
Lea Antonio was born in the Philippines, and moved to Los Angeles, California, with her family at the age of three. As the youngest of four children, Lea witnessed the daily challenges, and also accomplishments, of her typical first-generation immigrant family. She earned her B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles, and spent the next few years as a corporate librarian for a software company in Pasadena. In 1992, she joined Fox Broadcasting Company, where she spent several years in corporate event production and coordination, and continued to work freelance as an event designer after the birth of her two children. Now living in the Bay Area, Lea is excited to join the Summer Search team.

Meghan Kirkpatrick, Bay Area Grants Specialist
Meghan grew up in San Jose, California. She received a BA in American Literature and Culture from University of California, Los Angeles and an MA in English Literature from San Jose State University. During college, Meghan spent a year studying Spanish Literature in Granada, Spain. She loved living abroad and decided to join the Peace Corps after college, where she served as an Environmental Education volunteer in Bolivia. Before joining Summer Search, Meghan taught in various settings, including Dahl Elementary School, Almaden Tutoring Club, and San Jose State University. After a year and a half as a Program Associate for Summer Search Silicon Valley, Meghan is excited to join the Bay Area Development Team as the Grants Specialist. She looks forward to sharing her passion for Summer Search’s work with foundations and corporations throughout the Bay Area.

Cristina Ramirez, Bay Area Alumni Coordinator
Cristina has a BA in Psychology and an Ethnic studies certificate from University of San Francisco, and a Masters in Social Work from San Jose State, with an emphasis in schools and special education. Before joining Summer Search, she worked as a clinical social worker in the community-based agency, La Clinica de la Raza, with children, youth, adults, and their families. She first learned about the strength and uniqueness of Summer Search through her brother’s experiences as a Summer Search student. Cristina joined the San Francisco office in 2002 as a Program Associate and within two years became the Program Director. She continued to mentor students, and managed and trained staff to ensure program quality. In 2007, Cristina became the Associate Director of Summer Search North Bay, partnering with the Executive Director to hire and train mentors to increase student capacity. Under Cristina’s leadership they doubled mentors, implemented training structures that have allowed staff to learn the mentoring in a third of the time as in the past. Cristina also helped increase second year student retention rates from 80% to over 90% each year. Fall 2009 Cristina transitioned to a new role as the Bay Area Alumni Coordinator and is excited to oversee the success of the Alumni Program

Alicia Reza, Bay Area Development Associate
Alicia was born and raised in Orange, California. She remains a proud Southern Californian albeit happily relocated to the Bay Area. She attended the University of California at Santa Cruz and holds a BA in Sociology. During her 4 years there, her main focus was the evolution of the Juvenile Justice System in the United States and its reform. The child of two educators, Alicia is a natural advocate for educational equality and, therefore, a great fit for Summer Search. Outside of work she enjoys photography, spectator sports, beach vacations, and kickboxing.