Christmas Comes Early for Jean Parker Elementary Students: An Early Gift

Last week my daughters came home from kindergarten with an INCREDIBLE bag full of school supplies. They were so excited that they have not stopped writing and drawing on the mini-whiteboard tablets they received. In fact, I first learned about their new supplies when one of my daughters filled a whole mini-whiteboard with “P” words as she had recently learned in school. She then painstakingly transferred these words to a piece of lined paper to preserve for posterity. (See the picture on the right.) My daughters are just learning how to write and seeing their display of new-found academic pride moved me more that I could have imagined.

Christmas Comes Early for Jean Parker Elementary Students: K to College

Although the bag of supplies seemed like an early Christmas gift from Santa, I learned they were actually provided by an organization called K to College, an organization dedicated to helping underserved students to access higher education. My daughters’ school, Jean Parker Elementary, is a San Francisco public elementary school located on the border of Russian Hill and Chinatown. The majority of students are low-income (83% students receive free and reduced lunch) and 75% are English Language Learners. Despite these odds, the school has a strong academic program and its students perform well on standardized academic tests. Nonetheless, many families cannot afford the basic supplies that many students from middle-income take for granted: crayons, colored paper, scissors, glue.

Christmas Comes Early for Jean Parker Elementary Students: Basic School Supplies

Seeing my daughters so excited about learning because of this recent gift, has raised my awareness of what an impact basic school supplies can have on student academic success. This gift made my girls feel so special and proud to be students, which in turn increased their motivation in school. Watching this process has made me want to support K to College’s amazing work.

As of this post, K to College has already donated the first 1,250 of more than 150,000 school supply kits to students. For the cost of only $22, you can help level the playing field for low-income students. Click here to read more about the program, or join the facebook page to read more testimonials of teachers, parents and family members who’ve been served by the program. Then click here to join me in donating to this great organization!