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Spark SC is a student-run organization at the University of Southern California. Through our Project Launch and Power Up programs we work closely with students at USC Hybrid High School, where our goal is to inspire a culture of innovation, expose these students to their creative potential, and connect makers across diverse communities. Many students of Hybrid High School come from communities that face significant social problems such as gang violence, and 75% of the 2018 graduating class qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. These students lack similar career opportunities and exposure as those in other communities, which is why we created Project Launch and Power Up.
Project Launch is a semester-long program that provides the skills for ambitious, underprivileged high school students in downtown Los Angeles to succeed in today's rapidly growing technology sector. To expand our reach, we also run Power Up, a two-day all-girls tech and entrepreneur conference for female high school students at Hybrid High. The program will provide them with a foundation in technical and professional skills, hopefully jump-starting and strengthening their interest in technology and entrepreneurship. With Project Launch and Power Up, we will provide some of the lacking resources (e.g. role models, co-curricular and networking opportunities, and persistent access to technology) that these students are not able to receive elsewhere. This will allow them to have a more equitable footing once they reach college.
Our Mission
We want to help inspire first-generation high school students to tackle issues in their community through entrepreneurial solutions. We want to hold a diverse range of workshops in skills ranging from graphic design to web programming, pair each high school student with a USC student as a mentor, and partner with companies like Buzzfeed and Science Inc. to expose our students to industry opportunities. We want to be able to:
In order for us to accomplish these, Project Launch and Power Up will allow us to:
We believe in young people’s capacity to grow, learn, and succeed. USC excels in providing its students with opportunities to build skills, secure jobs, and become leaders—we want to extend this empowerment to students in the surrounding community as well. Our goal is to foster diversity in entrepreneurship and enable a diverse generation of future leaders.
But in order for us to make all of this happen, we need donor support!
Our Goal
Over the last three years, we have had amazing success thanks to all of our donors and sponsors. This year we not only want to continue that success, we want to grow and be able to inspire even more students.
We are trying to raise $5,000 in support of our campaign that would go to support the following:
No matter the size of the gift you choose to make, every gift matters!
For example, a gift of $5 will help pay for one student's lunch at our day-long hackathon and a gift of $10 will help to pay for one student's transportation between USC and Hybrid High for the semester.
We hope you're as inspired as we are by the students we are trying to help. Please make a gift TODAY in support of our Power-Up Campaign.
Thank you for your support! FIGHT ON!
For individuals and corporations interested in donating at the $500 and above, we encourage you to checkout the Spark SC sponsorship page on our website and contact us at gosparksc@gmail.com.
Read more about the past success Project Launch has had and how our students attest to the deep impact of our program here. Project Launch has also been recognized in articles by the LA Times and USC’s Daily Trojan!
For more information about SparkSC, please follow us on social media at:
The Official SparkSC Website: https://www.projectlaunch.io/
SparkSC Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/gosparksc/
SparkSC Official Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/gosparksc/?hl=en
SparkSC Official Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/gosparksc?lang=en
The University of Southern California is a 501(c)(3) organization, so gifts and donations to USC are considered charitable contributions. Gifts in support of the Student Projects Fund are tax-deductible in accordance with State and Federal law. Donors to USC should contact their tax advisor or tax accountant when inquiring about their individual tax consequences. USC’s federal tax I.D. number is 95-1642394.
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Make sure to come back and check out our “Updates” tab for news about our campaign, as well as to see YOUR NAME posted as one of our loyal donors. If you have any questions about this campaign or would like to remain an anonymous donor on our “Updates” page, please contact Jane Ong, Senior Associate Director of Development for the USC Viterbi School of Engineering at: jane.ong@usc.edu / 213.821.2921.
Thank you for your support! Any gift size can go a long way and we want you to know that we greatly appreciate your support by sending you a personalized thank you letter from our team.
Your support truly makes a difference. To thank you for your gift, we'd like to send you a personalized thank you email that includes a video of what we are doing with our Project Launch campaign.
To thank you for your generosity we'd like to invite you to attend a future SparkSC team event.
Thank you very much for your gift! For your support, we'd like to give you a subscription to the SparkSC e-newsletter.
As a thank you for your gift in support of Spark SC, we'd like to send you an official SparkSC t-shirt.
Thank you for supporting SparkSC at the Hypernova Level! For your generosity we'd like to send you an official SparkSC t-shirt and recognize you on our official SparkSC website and/or social media pages.