Gilead Sciences – Nohely Peraza took a bus from her East Palo Alto house to a School in another city when she was in elementary school. The local commute program aimed to address the lack of diversity in schools in high-income regions while also creating educational opportunities in low-income districts. It felt like a separate universe to Nohely; the houses were larger, and the surrounding area was significantly less racially diverse than the one she lived in. 

“I would tag along with my mom at her job cleaning houses, and they were all in neighborhoods where I went to school,” Nohely says. “I also had the provided brown paper bag lunch, as opposed to others who brought homemade lunches.”  

But things changed as Nohely entered high school. Every day on the bus, she’d been passing Eastside College Preparatory School, a small private high school and Gilead Foundation grantee in East Palo Alto. While students must apply, Eastside favors low-income students and those who are the first generation in their families to attend college, and tuition is waived. Nohely heard about Eastside from a friend’s mother, and when she realized she could continue her education in her own area, surrounded by people with similar life situations, she jumped at the opportunity. 

“I persuaded my mother to take me to a school open house.” “I fell in love because of how college-oriented it was,” she says. “My parents didn’t get a high school diploma or a college degree, but they would always tell me, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but you’re going to college.” 

Nohely was accepted to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, after attending Eastside High School and excelling there. When she graduated in 2020, she wanted to give back to the community that had meant so much to her, so she returned to Eastside as a teacher. She now teaches freshman World History as well. 

Nohely’s path exemplifies Chris Bischof’s objectives for the kids, with a concentration on preparing first-generation students from low-income homes for college. When Eastside debuted in 1996, 65% of East Palo Alto students did not complete high school, and less than 10% of high school graduates went on to college. 

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“I believed we could provide more opportunities for students in our community,” Chris explains. “Everything we’ve done since the school’s inception has been aimed at achieving that goal.” 

This ongoing approach has included creating a rigorous environment to assist pupils start the school on the same educational levels and to increase their confidence to succeed. The school day is lengthy, lasting from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. There is plenty of opportunity for one-on-one tutorials between students and teachers, and programs run all summer. Students can also choose to be residential boarders at the school, allowing them to fully immerse themselves in the academic experience. 

“Our students come in with a wide range of academic backgrounds,” Chris says. “However, we meet students where they are, providing multiple layers of support to help every student reach their full potential and succeed in college.” 

Nohely now gets a kick out of seeing pupils participate in rituals that meant a lot to her when she was little. “We have a graduation tradition where students are given roses to present to their family members and supporters,” she explains. “It’s very beautiful, because just one graduating student touches so many lives.” 

The Gilead Foundation supports Eastside’s efforts to continue to expand in distinctive and innovative ways as part of its mission to improving health equity via educational equity. And the school intends to extend its offerings to pupils each year. 

“We’re always learning how we can improve,” Chris explains. “We want to make sure that if the students put in the effort, it‘s a guarantee that they’ll go to college.” 

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