Blog #10: The End!

Hi everyone, I can’t believe Senior Project is officially over! It seems like just a few weeks ago that I was figuring out how to write Blog #0.

Last Friday, I interviewed 2 MKV Youth Mentors from Irvington High and Robertson High, so I was able to interview 3 people in total (the third being the FUSD Student Support Services liaison). These in-person interviews were extremely helpful in helping me take a look behind the curtain and understand some situations. For instance, I learned that teachers are not notified of which students are unhoused, so they don’t give any leeway to those students if they miss class or turn in assignments late, which in turn further contributes to students’ struggles with academics.

I’ve spent pretty much all of the time working on my SP on my documentary this week. I’m pretty new to video editing, so it took me a while to experiment with different editing apps. I ended up using Videoshop, and I’m glad I did—even though I don’t have much editing experience, Videoshop has a very user-friendly UI. Over the past week, I’ve discovered how time-consuming video editing can be. It took me 3 hours to edit 5 minutes of content! It’s definitely been a steep learning curve, but I had a lot of fun playing around with the different features and figuring things out as I went.

On another note, I have amazing news! I heard back from Fremont Social Services this week, and my funding application for the Pathway to Success grant was approved! The Fremont Education Foundation will be receiving $20,000 per year (subject to funding availability) during the 2025-2028 grant cycle, meaning that the program is fully funded for the next three years! I was admittedly worried about the long-term sustainability of this program, mostly due to finances, but this funding means that the program will continue for at least another few years, and we’ll be able to support at least another 30 unhoused students in their pursuit of higher education!

Thank you so much for following along with me as I navigated this crazy journey full of twists and turns! It’s been such a wild ride, but I had a great time and have learned so much along the way. Not everything went according to plan (like the partnership with Hayward Unified School District or the PayPal campaign), but I’m happy with the way things turned out, and I couldn’t have done this without the support of Ms. Abodouma (my IA) and Councilmember Kimberlin (my EA)!