A warm welcome back to Gabi Hernandez and Isaiah Tulanda, graduates of UC Davis and Claremont McKenna College respectively. We are excited to have them return to DTS as the newest members of our staff team! They will work directly with high school students as Advisors.  As DTS alumni, they are uniquely equipped for the work – they bring their experience and their understanding of the challenges our students face.  Isaiah shares, “I am thrilled to be working for Determined to Succeed to give back to a program that changed the trajectory of my life. To pay forward all the love, care, consideration, and patience that…

We are thrilled to share that all of our college freshmen are at their respective campuses and have begun fall classes.  Thank you to our generous college dorm sponsors who made sure each student was ready for their new home away from home and for providing outerwear for the students headed to colder climates. 

A huge thank you to our incredible DTS college students who served as summer interns! Pictured below, from left to right, is Ingrid Franklin and Marshall College, Fernando UC Santa Cruz, Mimi, Mia UC Santa Cruz, Alexa Smith College, and Demi Saint Olaf College. Mia shares why she applied for the position and a little bit about her time on the job, “Ever since I was in 9th grade, I have wanted to work as a DTS summer intern. I wanted to be a role model for younger DTS students the way the older students had been for me. As a high school student, I liked being with the interns. They listened to…

DTS Summer 2022 was an incredible success! We ran 13 distinct programs and sent high school students to residential programs at Loyola Marymount University, Santa Clara University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Smith College. And our college students interned for companies in a variety of fields including technology, finance and education.   In the photo above, high school seniors Bryan, Diego, and Andres help Tony brainstorm essay topics forhis UC personal statements. After spending the past four years together as a DTS Class, they are well equipped to engage Tony in thinking about which parts of his life he might want to share…

Since early June, DTS students have been engaged in robust summer programming. Our first four programs were held outside of Los Angeles, allowing students to detach from their regular lives and fully connect with one another: Bridge to College in Ojai, DTS Outdoors Camp in Wrightwood (where our college students served as counselors), a backpacking trip through Yosemite with Lasting Adventures for our rising 11th graders, and a backpacking trip through the San Bernardino Mountains with UCLA’s Unicamp for our rising 12th graders.  In late June, we returned to Hamilton High School for the remainder of the summer. Take a…