Mid-Year Report, Mid-Year Challenge

Farther Foundation just celebrated its second birthday. By the end of this summer, we will have awarded more than $60,000 in scholarships enabling 32 deserving, low-income, high-achieving, high school students to participate in enrichment programs on 6 continents and 16 countries. We have partnered with 17 educational program providers and our scholarship winners have come from 21 Chicago area high schools. Each one of our past scholarship recipients who have now finished their high school education will be going to college in the fall – several to very prestigious schools (see our Mid-year Report for details).

The success above is made possible because of donations from people like you. More than 120 different donors have supported Farther Foundation in our first two years.

Mid-Year Challenge

One of our generous supporters has challenged us to raise at least $1,500 from new donors.

We have been offered a 2 : 1 Matching Gift Challenge: 

If we can raise $1,500 in donations from new donors by July 15, 2010, $3,000 will be contributed by our challenge donor to Farther Foundation. Here is a great way to support a life changing cause while getting a lot of bang for your buck.

Take a look at our Mid-year Report to enjoy stories and photos by and about the students we support. If you are a past donor, please don't forget us, we appreciate your generosity and need your continued support.

Go Farther!

Griselda Garibay Joins Board of Farther Foundation

Since its founding in 2008, Latina girls have been Farther Foundation’s largest group of scholarship applicants and recipients. That is one reason why Farther Foundation is so pleased to have added a new voice to its Board of Directors. Griselda Garibay brings great and diverse experience to the board along with her passion to empower youth to meet their potential as culturally skilled and global leaders. Farther Foundation looks forward to the benefit of her experience, leadership, unique point of view and inspiration to the students we serve.

Mrs. Garibay is a proponent and an example of the benefits of educational travel experiences on future academic and career success. As a first generation college student, she greatly benefited from travel throughout her academic experience to expand her personal and professional horizons.

Why not Antarctica?

This year Farther Foundation will award grants that assist 16 deserving high school students to travel to 9 countries on 6 different continents and participate in significant and potentially life changing educational enrichment programs. Maybe Antarctica is a little too cold to contemplate in the midst of a Chicago winter when most of our travel scholars are researching their programs and submitting their applications, but given their aspiration to learn and eagerness for opportunity I won’t be surprised to see an Antarctic application sometime soon.

When our students depart on these programs, they are truly grateful and believe they are setting out on a once in a lifetime experience. By the time they return they realize that this is just the beginning and they are inspired and driven to shape the experience of their own lives.

We will be sharing stories of our student travelers in more detail as the year goes on, but here now is a brief rundown of their destinations and programs for this year:

Boys vs. Girls (Scholarship Applications)

In 2009, only three of Farther Foundation’s sixteen scholarship winners were boys. For us, this was a phenomenon due to application quantity not quality. We simply did not receive anywhere near the number of applications from boys that we did from girls. This disparity in applications between the genders mirrors experiences in other scholarship programs for college tuition and high school enrichment programs. We have also heard from many educational travel providers that see the same imbalance in applicaions to their programs.

At Farther Foundation, we evaluate each scholarship application on its own merits and grant no special consideration according to gender, race or ethnicity. We are pleased however, when at the end of a program year, we can look back and see that we supported a diverse group of students to participate in a wide array of programs.

We are pleased therefore that the first two applications approved by Farther Foundation in 2010 were from boys. Andrew will travel to Uganda to explore that African culture while participating in service projects, and Justice will study paleontology and participate in an actual dig in South Dakota. In their applications, Andrew said,

“I have heard a lot about Africa - that it is the beginning of great civilizations, and, at the same time, I have heard that it is a place of great chaos and poverty. I don't want to just hear what others say about Africa - I want to go and visit myself.”,

and Justice said,

Andrew and Justice will be following in the footsteps of the three fine young men who traveled the world last year and immersed themselves in unique experiences with Farther Foundation scholarships. Lawrence (pictured above), who journeyed to Ghana last year described his experience this way:

Go Farther!

Travel Off the Radar

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Farther Foundation is proud to have been recently featured on Off the Radar with an interview of Farther Foundation founder, David Weindling. Most of our supporters are avid travelers and we are pleased to have this opportunity to inform more travelers about our organization, its mission and programs.

Off the Radar is an online magazine and newsletter for adventure travelers providing reliable information about destinations and companies that offer guests a genuine, personal experience. It is also a lively and informative publication with striking photography.

This past week was highlighted not only by my Off the Radar interview, but my daughter also received good news about her SAT college exam scores and then departed for Paris to take part in a month-long language immersion program.
 
Our family is proud of my daughter’s success and grateful that we have been able to help her participate in an educational travel program. Both these factors will help her be accepted at the college of her choice when the application and admissions process starts next year. We don’t take for granted her successes or opportunities, but our family does live in a socio-cultural environment where it is reasonable to have these expectations.

At Farther Foundation, we support students who are as eager and able as my daughter, but do not enjoy the same socio-economic opportunities. The cost of educational travel programs is out of reach, and research has indicated that standardized test results may be affected by socio-economic status. Farther Foundation seeks to address both these factors by not only providing student scholarships for educational travel programs, but by partnering with schools and community organizations that are actively supporting students with tutoring, mentoring and college preparatory work.

With our support, deserving students will have every chance to succeed that my daughter has, and their ultimate success will be based upon their own initiative and ability.

Go Farther!

Read more on our blog.

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Farther Foundation just received a few photos from Jim Stein, Director of the Road Less Traveled, a teen travel program provider. The Road Less Traveled offers Service Learning, Language and Service, Adventure Expeditions, Global Perspectives, Leadership Training and Family Service programs for students ages 13-19 and families in some of the most spectacular places on earth.
     
Usually when one thinks of points of departure for outdoor adventure the mind runs to cities in the West or in the mountainous and coastal areas of the Northeast. For exotic international excursions you think of departing from major coastal cities like New York and San Francisco.
 
Road Less Traveled however has its home in Chicago. I would never sell Chicago short; it’s been my home for most of my life. It’s a world class city with a diverse population and boasts a long and beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline. But, we are a long haul from a mountain, an ocean or an international border.

Road Less Traveled and Farther Foundation prove however, that where you come from is not as important as where you are going and what your expectations and aspirations are.

Read more on our blog.