Making Waves Academy students are heading to over 20 different colleges across the U.S.

This spring, 86 students joined Making Waves Education Foundation’s college and career success program, earning college scholarships and support from expert college, career, and financial coaches for up to six years. Program participants graduate from college and land jobs at twice the rate of their peers – and 85% earn their college degrees without any student loans. 

All of this year’s scholarship recipients are from Making Waves Academy in the Bay Area’s Richmond, CA, where many have been classmates since 5th grade. A public charter school, Making Waves Academy has an emphasis on college readiness for all students and admits students through a lottery process, prioritizing students from low-income backgrounds.

After growing and learning together through middle and high school, they are now taking the next step: heading to 20+ different colleges and universities across the U.S., from the University of San Francisco to UC Riverside to UC Irvine to Boston University to Hamilton College.  

Congrats to this year’s scholarship recipients! 

“Congrats seniors! What stood out the most was their ambition and deep sense of purpose. Each student shared a powerful ‘why’ behind their college and career goals and it has been amazing to witness,” shared Dr. Kristina Wright (she/her), VP of student success at Making Waves Education Foundation. 

Students pursuing their “why” in college, committed to recycling their success

Each Making Waves Academy graduate who was accepted into the program completed a multi-step holistic application process, designed to share their experiences, knowledge, and skills.  

Many of this year’s cohort are first-generation college students and students of color determined to break cycles, create a vision for themselves, uplift their families, and create change within their communities.  

To accommodate different communication styles, the application asked students to share their stories of perseverance through short answer writings, personal statements, and one-way video interviews. 

“We want to partner with students on their college and career journey,” shared Aiyana Mourtos (she/her), chief program officer at Making Waves Education Foundation.

“There’s no substitute for that ‘why’ behind pursuing higher education. There’s no substitute for a student’s individual interest and motivation,” shared Mourtos. “So that’s really what we look for in terms of how students express that in their application.” 

Unlike many scholarships that are based solely on academics, Making Waves welcomes students from across academic majors and only requires a minimum 2.0 GPA since that is typically required for college applications. The selection focuses on resilience, purpose, and drive and students were selected because of their commitment to going to college and their powerful “why” for pursuing higher education.

This new cohort is enrolling in 20+ different colleges and universities ranging from Hamilton College to Boston University to UC Davis to Contra Costa College to USC to UCLA. Their academic interests span from political science to law to business to environmental justice. These diverse academic interests reflect an awareness among students that postsecondary success is about more than a degree – it’s about preparing for careers with purpose, impact, and long-term opportunity. 

The newest scholarship recipients shared aspirations from improving health outcomes and representation to supporting clean energy initiatives to improving the justice system to wanting to break barriers in terms of what’s possible as a young person color, first-gen student, or woman.  

“While reading their stories, a number of students shared about working through their own personal challenges. Whether it was academic, like failing a course, they figured out how to get back on track with the right support,” shared Mourtos, who noted this cohort’s high school experience was widely shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“A number of students played a significant leadership role in their family as caretakers to parents who became quite ill or even took care of younger siblings,” shared Mourtos. 

“Personal experiences that they’ve shared of injustice and discrimination and, despite all of that, they have persevered through it and used that to continue to fuel their motivation for what they want for their future.”  

“When I finish my studies in undergrad, my goal is to attend graduate school for political science and make the connections needed to get a career in our country’s political sphere.”

Fatima Cortes
Hamilton College

“My goal is to transfer to USC or UC Berkeley in two years. I am focused on my long-term vision: earning a bachelor’s degree while being financially responsible, building real-world experience, and setting myself up for long-term success, the same way Making Waves Academy has.”

Leilah Howard
Diablo Valley College

“One day I want to start and own a big company. I need to learn more about what makes a business successful, and I know college is the best steppingstone for my career. I’m proud to attend UC Santa Cruz this fall on a full scholarship, majoring in business economics.”

Guillermo Limon
UC Santa Cruz

Not just a college scholarship, a support system that grows with you

Making Waves provides more than just money for college.  

Students also gain a comprehensive support system. Support from Making Waves covers academics, career development, financial aid and budgeting, campus community, and wellness, which drives strong college enrollment, persistence, graduation, and student debt outcomes.

This can range from the Making Waves team partnering with students as they choose the right courses to graduate on time or to make a college budget so they can graduate debt-free. It can mean reflecting with students as they explore their identities and interests, develop goals, and get ready to transition to a job after college.  

“Think of our program like a tree,” Dr. Wright reflected.  

“If you are the tree that is rooted to the ground you have all these branches – social and emotional health, academic success, financial wellness. You have to take care of those things. Once you let go of one, those leaves die and so does the branch which affects your tree. Our goal is balance,” shared Dr. Wright.

This year, Making Waves expanded its coaching model to include more defined roles for college, career, and financial coaching. The scholarship is also more flexible, allowing students to use digital funds toward more education and career-related expenses.  

“We really try to hone in on our coaching support to be more responsive to where students are in their journey,” shared Mourtos.  

“So if they transition in as first and second year college students, we will have much more targeted college coaching support to help them get acclimated to their new college campus, get them acclimated to navigating rigor of academics in college, finding their community.” 

“And as they start to progress in college, they will be paired with a career coach who has more career expertise to really start to prepare to get those experiences to help them transition post-college,” she added. 

“Our students have that front line of defense, someone they can call anytime they need college, career, or financial guidance,” added Dr. Wright. “We help students with the support to get out of their comfort zones, so they can be ready to tackle the world at graduation.” 

The Making Waves program kicked off with a three-day in-person orientation consisting of a college day, financial day, and career day for students to get to know their support team and get prepared for the next steps in their college and career journey.