DreamCatchers

Happy Halloween from the DreamCatchers staff! 🦋🎃 👻 💚🖤

✨Student Spotlight ✨

Meet John, a DreamCatchers seventh grade student! John has been a part of DreamCatchers since the fall of 2023, and shared that his favorite DreamCatchers memory has been playing Fortnite with his friend Jose during our scheduled Brain Break time. When John grows up, he wants to be a CEO or the president of the United States and shares that the best advice he’s gotten is to “never give up!”

✨Classroom Director Spotlight ✨

Meet Katie, a DreamCatchers classroom director and college sophomore. Katie has been a classroom director since January of this year. She shares that her favorite DreamCatchers memory has been the staff versus students kickball game during this past summer, which the staff won! Katie’s dream career is working with kids, either with psychology or education and shares that the best advice she’s heard is to “do something you are passionate about, because you will ultimately be successful!”

✨Tutor Spotlight ✨

Meet Mayu, a tutor at DreamCatchers and a highschool senior! Mayu shares that her favorite part of DreamCatchers so far has been when the student she was tutoring gave her candy as a thank you gift. When Mayu grows up, she wants to be a biologist and shares that the best advice she’s gotten is, “Just try to do your best!”

✨Classroom Director Spotlight ✨

Meet Eva, a DreamCatchers classroom director and college junior. Eva has been a classroom director at DreamCatchers since the summer of 2023. She shares that her favorite DreamCatchers memory is when “when [DreamCatchers staff] play games against [students] outside and sometimes [staff] beat [the students] and they sometimes destroy [the staff]”. Eva’s dream career is being a writer and shares that the best advice she’s heard is “Don’t listen to the people who doubt you because in reality, they only doubt themselves!”

✨Tutor Spotlight ✨

Meet Aritra, a tutor at DreamCatchers and a junior at Gunn High School! Aritra shares that his favorite DreamCatchers memory has been watching his student grow over the years and learn to focus better. When Aritra grows up he wants to be a mathematical economist and shares that the best advice he’s gotten is “don’t fight battles without a reason!”

✨Student Spotlight ✨!

Meet Jose, a DreamCatchers seventh grade student! Jose has been a part of DreamCatchers since the summer of 2022, and has shared that his favorite DreamCatchers memory has been playing Fortnite with his friend John during our scheduled Brain Break time. When Jose grows up, he wants to be a guy that does a good job and shares that the best advice he’s gotten is to “never back down”!

✨Classroom Director Spotlight ✨!

Meet Ana, a DreamCatchers classroom director and Master’s degree student! Ana has been a classroom director at DreamCatchers since the summer of 2022, and has shared that her favorite DreamCatchers memory has been “creating bonds with [her] students and getting to know them”. Ana’s dream career is being an elementary school teacher, and shares that the best advice she’s heard is “There’s going to be obstacles in life, but they’re just little bumps in the road”.

✨Student Spotlight!✨

Meet Adriel, a DreamCatchers eighth grade student! Adriel has been a part of DreamCatchers since the summer of 2022, and has shared that his favorite DreamCatchers memory has been going on fun trips such as our annual summer program Great America trip. When Adriel grows up, he wants to be a scientist and shares that the best advice he’s gotten is to “remember that you’re smart”!

✨Tutor Spotlight!✨

Meet Reese, a tutor at DreamCatchers and highschool senior! Reese shares that her favorite DreamCatchers memory has been seeing the students improve each time she attends DreamCatchers programming. When Reese grows up, she wants to be rich, and shares that the best advice she's ever gotten was, “If you don’t like the way something is, do something about it”!

✨ Student Spotlight! ✨

Meet Adelle, a DreamCatchers seventh grade student! Adelle has been a part of DreamCatchers since the fall of 2023, and has shared that her favorite DreamCatchers memory has been when the staff ordered fast food for the students during our summer program, and they all had a picnic outside with friends. When Adelle grows up, she wants to be a chef or dentist, and shares that the best advice she’s gotten is to “Be yourself”!

✨Classroom Director Spotlight!✨

Meet Phela, a classroom director here at DreamCatchers and college sophomore! Phela first joined DreamCatchers as a mentor in 2020, and this past summer he joined us as a Classroom Director. He shares that his favorite DreamCatchers memory has been “anytime [his] students are able to understand something they didn’t think they could understand”. Phela’s dream career is to be a scientist, and shares that the best advice he’s heard is “Don’t give up”!

✨ Student Spotlight! ✨

Meet Jonathan, an eighth grader here at DreamCatchers! Jonathan’s been a part of DreamCatchers since the summer of 2022, and has shared that his favorite DreamCatchers memory was attending our annual summer program Great America field trip. When Jonathan grows up, he wants to be an influencer and shares that the best advice he’s gotten is “Even if you feel you’re at your lowest point, you can only go up”!

✨ Student Spotlight! ✨

Meet Gigi, a seventh grader here at DreamCatchers! Gigi’s been a part of DreamCatchers since the summer of 2023, and has shared that her favorite DreamCatchers memory has been enjoying the food provided to students and doing her homework alongside tutors. When Gigi grows up, she wants to be a criminal investigator and shares that the best advice she’s gotten is to “Keep moving forward”!

Flashback Friday!

This past summer, FiscallyFit, a nonprofit organization founded by our very own DreamCatchers volunteer, Rishi Hariharan, hosted a workshop for our 8th grade students. Rishi, a rising senior at Gunn High School, established FiscallyFit with a mission to equip low-income students with essential financial literacy skills, enabling them to confidently manage their finances and achieve financial independence. Thank you, Rishi, for helping our students get fiscally fit together! 💸💲💚

Welcome back to school, DreamCatchers students! We are excited for our new and returning students to start up the new school year at and and join us in our afterschool program once again! With a new year, comes new beginnings and adventures! 📚✏️ 💚

During the end of last year’s academic program, our Fletcher students made their way over to to enjoy sweet treats! Thank you to for your donation to help make this fun trip possible 🍭🍬🍫💚!

This summer, students from Paly’s journalism pathway joined our DreamCatchers students for the second summer in a row. They met with us weekly to write informational articles, practice public speaking skills, and play fun games. Our students covered a range of topics in their articles, from littering to the student-athlete life balance. Thank you to our Paly journalism volunteers!

At the end of each week during the DreamCatchers summer program, in lieu of our journalism and robotics curriculum, we have Fun Fridays! Students enjoy popsicles for snacks, do a service project (such as making blankets to donate to shelters) and then play a staff versus student game (pictured here: dodgeball)! This allows our students and hardworking staff some time to relax and unwind after a long week.

Throwback Thursday 🍨!

During the end of last year’s academic program, our JLS students made their way over to to enjoy some delicious ice cream! Thank you to for your donation to help make this fun trip possible.🍦💚!

JOIN OUR TEAM – DREAMCATCHERS IS HIRING! Our afterschool tutoring, mentoring and enrichment program for Palo Alto middle school students is hiring part-time Classroom Directors for this upcoming school year.

This is an amazing opportunity for any local college/graduate students or other adults (must be 18 or older) who are interested in leading SEL (social-emotional learning) lessons and managing our high school tutors. You will guide and mentor our middle school students, making a real difference in their lives. We ask for a commitment of at least 2 afternoons/week, but would love to have you for 4-5. Hours are Monday/Wednesday 2:15-5:15 pm, Tuesday/Thursday 3-6 pm and some subbing is available Fridays 1:30-5:30 pm. Pay starts at $25/hour and increases yearly. Please join us!

To apply, please visit our website at https://www.dreamcatchersyouth.org/classroomdirector

Through our summer robotics curriculum with , students were able to learn Scratch programming in order to create games, control robots, and make videos. In this 8th grade classroom, the students created a maze out of tape and coded their robot to work through it!

We are very proud of our graduating 8th grade class! We celebrated with all our families at Mitchell Park on May 23rd where we handed out certificates and gifted DC hoodies to our graduating 8th graders. Everyone enjoyed delicious tacos and aguas frescas. Now, our 8th graders are moving on to high school, ready to succeed - we will continue to cheer them on along the way! Once you're a part of this community, you always will be!

We were honored to be a part of the CommUNITY Celebration this week. PACF - thank you for your trust-based funding and continued support of the work we are doing to advance our mission of equity in education.

DreamCatchers is honored to accept this years Tall Tree Award from the as the Outstanding Nonprofit of 2022.

DreamCatchers Staff and Tutors have worked to provided over 17,000 hours of tutoring the past year for socioeconomically disadvantaged middle school students in the Palo Alto Unified School District!

The tutoring and mentoring that occurs at DreamCatchers makes a positive impact in students lives. Take a look at the last slide quoting part of the amazing speech that former DreamCatcher student Betsabe gave when she accepted the award for DreamCatchers!

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