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While teaching 10th grade English in South Central, Los Angeles (Watts), Beth realized that her students had the ability to reach their goals but lacked the resources to do so. Instead of Steinbeck and sentence structure, Beth dealt mostly with shame, anger, pregnancy, drug issues, dissolved families, and the repercussions of working at a school on the front lines of gang wars. However, Beth realized that when given an opportunity, her students were empowered to pull themselves out of their own circumstances.

 

Beth ran a test model to prove her theory. She ran a marathon, raised $12,000 and sent seven of her students on out of school programs within their communities. Upon their return from these programs, all participating students had a fresh perspective on their capabilities to realize their goals. These seven students all graduated from Locke High School. They all went on to college. They all started to believe in something greater than their own circumstances.

 

Beth knew that she had to affect more than these seven students. As a result, the idea for Wishbone.org was born.  

 

Wishbone.org is an online platform that empowers at-risk youth to engage in extracurricular activities of their own choosing.  The site encourages students to participate in self-reliance, researching an out-of-school program that will ignite their passion. Wishbone.org then links the student to an online donor community who can help fund the student's program to promote growth and learning. Once the student successfully submits an application, Wishbone.org matches the student with an advisor to mentor him or her through the program experience. 

 

What does this look like?

Meet Sandra. 

“The community where I live and currently attend high school is infested with gang members, drug addicts, and prostitution. I have watched policemen raid my home several times. I have watched most of my male friends who are not a part of gangs lose their lives in my community. During high school, I was challenged by my own community’s struggles, and it was difficult for me to look past the gates of my high school and dream of something bigger. Winning one of Ms. Schmidt’s scholarships in my sophomore year and being able to research any program in Los Angeles to pursue made me have faith in people again. It made me realize that people care. UCLA’s Mock Trial Institute showed me that my journey to become a great lawyer is not going to be an easy ride. For the first time, I was in a competitive environment with 75 other students who were equally as interested and as determined to become lawyers in the future. Because we were all the same age, I realized that any choices I make must be extraordinary."

 
Students like Sandra must dare their courage everyday to rise above their communities and the low-expectations set for them. You can change Sandra's path by providing her with the greatest gift any child can be given—the opportunity to establish independent thought. 

Wishbone.org is a vision. You can make Wishbone.org a reality. 

 

 

Do you dare your courage? Donate today. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wishbone.org strives to bring opportunity to “at risk” high school students through direct sponsorship of after school and summer programs via online donors. 

It is our belief that when students are given the opportunity to access extracurricular resources on their own, they become empowered to overcome circumstances independently and become more prepared to engage in a collegiate or professional work environment out of high school. Our goal is for all students to participate in self-reliance by researching their desired program and by developing an independent voice to express their choices. 

 

 

How it works. 

Step 1.

A student registers with Wishbone.org to become a member. This permits the student to research programs within his or her city and selected interest. The Wishbone.org research module can also act as a springboard for students to find their own programs within their community to submit for approval. Once the student has selected a program, he or she submits a formal application through our online system. 

Step 2. 

 

Upon approval, Wishbone.org assigns an advisor to the student, helping him or her find a program that suits his or her interests. The student’s program request will then be publicly posted with a deadline and a cost for donors to view.

Step 3. 

Donors will log on and browse students’ posted program wishes, which include a short bio, a photo, and the rationale behind their selected program. Donors can browse students’ posts by geographical location, interest, school name, or expiration date. The donor can choose to fund the student partially or fully, paying via our secure online transaction system. 

Step 4. 

 

After completing the registration process for a given program, students will post thank you notes online to each of his or her participating donors. Donors and students can continually communicate via a Facebook-style module in Wishbone.org’s website, called wishbone.connect. A donor will be notified through the system if a student who he or she has sponsored in the past has posted a new wish, giving the donor the opportunity to track the student and his or her progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The platform relies on three main participants in supporting our students: the donor, the advisor, and the expert. A donor is you, the every day person who wants to see how your contribution directly impacts a specific student’s need. There are no hidden layers to the process; just direct funding. We can tailor the request to a particular school, program, or region. Advisors are recent college graduates who participate in a one-on-one mentoring relationship through Wishbone.org’s advisory program, guiding high school students through the application process and inspiring them. Experts have profiles describing their field of expertise - both their challenges and successes. Selected experts have blogs; students may submit questions for consideration. Although experts may include celebrity types, they are selected by their quality of achievements.

Programs honored can vary in category type and may include programs in academics, athletics, the arts, design, music, architecture, environmental programs or leadership programs. 

 

 

Our model is critical to educational reform. High school students in low-income communities often do not succeed in college or a professional environment after graduation because they have not been exposed to opportunities outside of their environment that build confidence and a skill set to engage within their greater communities. Wishbone.org is a building block, interactively providing students with the resources to pursue an extracurricular program, engaging them in a new, diverse environment outside of their school network. 

 

This model was created based off of a smaller test model, which the founder completed while teaching at Locke High School in Watts. The below data summarizes the effects of this platform. 

 

Data points of project: 

• Funds raised: $12K; 65 different donors participated 

• 200 students given the opportunity to participate; 30 essays submitted 

• 15 students in final rounds; 7 students selected 

• Minimum cost of program: $700; maximum cost of program: $2200 

• Examples of programs: UCLA Stem Cell Science Program, UCLA Mock Trial Institute, USC Trojan Football Camp, Redondo School of Music, New York Film Academy, Hawthorne Drum and Bugle Corps 

 

The Results- Highlights: 

• 100% of participants claimed that the experience exposed them to a new, diverse community within Los Angeles 

• 100% of participants claimed that the experience created confidence in applying to college and in engaging in a professional environment 

• 100% of participants claimed that the experience forced them to think about their future goals and how to best pursue them 

• 5 out of 7 of students wrote their college application essays on experience 

• All 7 students plan on attending college next fall; 2 out of 7 students were accepted to the college where they participated in their program (UCLA and USC) due to faculty mentor relationships the students created while participating in their program

• Project remodeled the direct student-donor connection, sparking further generosity and causing some donors to track the progress of students 

 

 

The concept of “up close” philanthropy via an internet platform is the most advanced, effective, and engaging agent for change. Wishbone.org is offering a completely different product to a completely different market population—programs to “at risk” high school students. 

 

 "At risk" high school students consistently use technology. Considering this high rate of technology usage, Wishbone.org plans on being a tool for students to empower themselves to think about the next step in life and to motivate themselves to stay in high school. 

 

 

 

$15,000 represents a non-negotiable, slim start-up budget, which will turn an idea into a creation.  Our projected impact will provide 300 programs to students in 2011 and 900 programs to students by 2012. By donating today, you will affect 1,200 total students by the end of 2012.   

 

Wishbone.org plans on tracking its success rate based off of participating students' high school retention rates and professional or collegiate matriculation success. 

 

 

 

 

 

During Beth’s two-year commitment with Teach for America, she taught English in Watts, CA to Locke High School sophomores. While teaching at Locke, Beth ran the 2007 Los Angeles marathon, designing a scholarship program for her students and creating the opportunity for seven scholarship winners to select an extracurricular program of their choice. What Beth learned from this experience is that students are empowered to control their own destinies when given the opportunity to do so. Beth is a Connecticut native who currently calls San Francisco home. She attended The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT and Middlebury College in Vermont. She holds her Masters in Secondary Education from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.