When Samantha Alvarez helped hand out desktop computers at Cleveland Elementary recently, she was reminded of the day her own family received one from the Computers for Families program run by Santa Barbara Partners in Education.
“It was this wonderful full-circle moment for me,” she said. “The computer was revolutionary in my house.”
Alvarez, a UCSB graduate, is the daughter of immigrants and grew up sharing a top bunk with her sister in a small, crowded house.
She remembers the after-school program at Hollister Elementary School fondly, and most of all, she recalls the day the new computer arrived at her home.
Alvarez told her story Wednesday at the Business & Education Partnerships Breakfast.
The event celebrated volunteers, businesses and community members who help provide classroom visits, career fair speakers, paid internships for students and the Computers for Families program that’s handed out more than 10,000 desktops to local students.
Partners in Education “highlights the power of a true effective partnership” in the community, Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Bill Cirone said at Wednesday’s event.
Person-to-person connections are the essence of what the organization does, Executive Director Chelsea Duffy said.
Santa Barbara High School student Julia Danalevich is working at a Transition House internship through the Partners in Education program and hopes to study social services in college.
She has the goal of attending Stanford University and thanked the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Barbara, Partners in Education and the Dons Net Cafe for support along the way.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.