2018-2019 Grants Funded

Festival of Colors

Festival of Colors aimed at bringing diversity to the Palo Alto community. Through the celebration of the Hindu Festival, Holi, this event provided music, colored powder, and henna tattoos to youth & teens, while allowing them to explore a different culture.

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Girls in Future Technology (GIFT)
Girls in Future Technology (GIFT) is a mentorship program composed of high school teenagers that work together to teach and mentor students at local middle schools computer science. The group meets weekly and hosts monthly workshops in many different computer programming languages at the various middle schools throughout Palo Alto. The goal of GIFT is to create a support group that inspires girls to continue learning computer science.

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Girl Up Palo Alto
Girl Up is dedicated to changing policies and raising awareness to support United Nations programs that help girls around the world in need. The group is dedicated to developing leadership skills necessary to make a positive difference in the lives of girls everywhere through education, fundraising, advocacy, and service. 

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GunnHacks
GunnHacks is a 24-hour programming event where high school students are able to explore the practical uses of computer science. Run by students, made for students; GunnHacks invites all students, no matter the skills level, to attend their event and learn coding.

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Intramural Basketball Sports Program

The Intramural Basketball Sports Program engages Gunn High School students in a facilitated sports tournament during the school day. This break from the traditional school day encouraged students to get active, develop a sense of team and community, and have fun.

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Mapping Project
The Mapping Project allows youth in the community to learn, develop, and utilize technological skills to help map hospitals, shops, or other public spaces that are currently not on Google maps and Apple maps. With a community consisting of many technological advanced youth, this event will allow youth to utilize their skills to help various communities.

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MathUnboxed

MathUnboxed provides an opportunity for middle and high school students in Palo Alto to create social change by reducing inequities in education. Palo Alto students develop leadership skills, empathy and a sense of purpose by volunteering as math tutors to at-risk students in our neighboring communities. 

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NextGen AI

NextGen AI is a resourceful space where teens can learn about artificial intelligence and machine learning. With access to free computational resources as well as mentorship from experts in the field, students are able to utilize a hands-on and project-based approach to demystify machine learning.

 

PalyHacks
PalyHacks is an international 24-hour hackathon for high school students hosted at Palo Alto High School. Run by students, made for students; PalyHacks invited anyone with an interest in technology to build a project.

 

PA Roots
PA Roots is a teen run magazine for Palo Alto youth. The magazine serves as a platform that represents the teen voices of Palo Alto. The goal of PA Roots it to augment teen voice and to highlight the skills and talents of teens in the community.

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Project Enybody

Project Enybody is a collaborative of Palo Alto teens focused on raising awareness of and combating climate change through various events, social media campaigns, and educational projects. The word "enybody" is intentionally spelled with an "E" instead of an "A," with the idea to make 'ENY' an acronym for Earth Needs You.

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Robotics for All

Robotics for All is a teen-developed organization where teens can make a difference in economically disadvantaged communities by introducing and teaching robotics to children at local elementary schools. Through weekly, two-hour sessions teens are able to develop and maintain relationships with youth and encourage them to explore the STEM field.
 

Robotics Team
Robotics Team is a newly-formed community robotics team for teens in the Palo Alto community. Through a temporary build season, teen mentors are able to teach students the fundamentals and advanced techniques in robotics. The robot is entered into the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) robotics competition. 

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Scribere
Scribere is an online literary journal for middle school and high school aged youth that provides writing feedback to aspiring writers. The submission process is quick, transparent and efficient. Scribere is published four times a year and their goals is to inspire youth creativity.

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SfN Wonder
SfN Wonder is a free multi-speaker symposium that captures the intersections of neuroscience with society, technology, and teenagers' everyday lives. The event's goal is to encourage exploration of the diverse neuroscience discipline while being educated on the topic through speakers and activities. 

Stellar Science Enrichment
Stellar Science Enrichment connects Palo Alto high school mentors with at-risk elementary school students in Mountain View weekly to do hands-on science activities. This connection allows kids to reinforce science skills while helping teen mentors to build meaningful relationships, leadership skills, and their involvement in the broader community.

Super Smash Bro’s Tournament Series
Super Smash Bro’s Tournament aims at providing youth with the space and opportunity to meet other Bay Area teenagers who share similar interests in the video game. Through a friendly and competitive environment, this tournament allows teenagers to connect and interact.

Teens Exploring Code
Teens Exploring Code III is a hackathon targeting beginners and experienced developers alike, where there is an opportunity for teens with any amount of experience in programming to bring their ideas to life. In 24 hours, participants will learn programming techniques in workshops and use them to develop independent or team projects, demonstrating what they have learned throughout the event.

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Terrarium for Teens

Terrarium  for Teens was an event that gave Palo Alto teens a chance to exercise their creative and artistic abilities by building a terrarium. Teens were given the opportunity to build the terrarium by filling up a transparent container with soil, rocks, plants, and other decorative materials.

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The Fringe Class
The Fringe Class is a short film about a group of homeless teenagers who burnt out and lost their way, and now are trying to survive on the streets. The project was conceived by James Franco, and is being produced by Iris Torres as well as Tom and Betsy Franco. The goal is to inspire viewers to persevere through difficult times and reach out to those in need.

Tibco Empower
Tibco Empower was a free summer coding camp for middle schoolers that aimed at teaching youth the basics of the programming language Python. Tibco Empower was one week long and located at the Tibco Headquarters in Palo Alto. Over the course of the week, students learned the fundamentals of Python, syntax and had the opportunity to utilize these concepts in projects they developed from scratch.

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ToCalendar
ToCalendar is a computer program built by teens for teens in Palo Alto. The program helps relieve students’ stress by importing their homework list documents into calendar applications, such as Google Calendar and Schoology— truly putting all homework in one place and freeing students from checking multiple homework documents.