Here is what some of the Bay Area’s premier news organizations have to say about the SAGE Scholars Program:

Berkeley Science Review:

“The SAGE, Marjorie Weingrow, spends more time at other corporations’ headquarters than her own office. Directing the several hundred thousand dollar Student Achievement Guided by Experience (SAGE) Scholars program without a dime of support from its founding university requires that she spend most of her time fundraising—something she wasn’t hired for or trained to do.

Marjorie has nonetheless led SAGE in graduating 100% of its low-income, first-generation college students over its eleven years in existence. And all have gone on to career jobs or graduate schools upon graduation. The program has achieved great success through expert-led workshops and classes in career-development, alongside myriad internship opportunities and personalized career advising and coaching. In fact, the SAGE Scholars are so successful in their internships that Marjorie has a hard time sharing the program’s wealth of opportunities with other students not in the program. ‘They want SAGE Scholars,’ she says. ‘Companies ask for them by name.’” More …

San Francisco Chronicle:

“The [SAGE Scholars Program] is a kind of alternate fraternity, refuge, and career counseling center for many of Cal’s lowest-income but most ambitious students. It’s supported by private donations, mostly in the form of corporate scholarships and internships.” More…

CBS 5:

[Marjorie explains], “What we do is experiential. Everything else that the students do here is theoretical.” Marjorie started SAGE at Berkeley ten years ago to help retain low income students and prepare them for the world outside academia. “What we do is start exposing the students to careers,” Marjorie says. “They start researching careers and getting really involved and meeting people in a variety of careers.”

At weekly classes, Marjorie introduces SAGE scholars to different professional experts who teach them everything from presentation skills, to writing and business etiquette. In addition, every student is matched with a volunteer mentor. And a variety of corporate partners provide scholars with paid internships.

And though she manages over 100 volunteers, and is constantly pressed to raise the money that runs the program, Marjorie still stays connected to each and every student. “I also have come from a low income background and didn’t have opportunities available to me,” she says.

She is part role model, part den mother, and full time advocate for her scholars. More …

Wendy Edelstein, UC Berkeley’s NewsCenter:

“Weingrow’s work was acknowledged in November with a Jefferson Award, presented by the American Institute for Public Service and awarded nationally and locally. The award honors ordinary individuals for exemplary community and public service. ‘These students inspire me,’ she says. And cutbacks aside, ‘the need for this program is greater than ever,’ says Weingrow, noting that she was inundated with several hundred applications last year. And little wonder: Those students fortunate enough to be in the program, she says, ‘are thriving, getting jobs and into graduate school, and impressing everyone they meet.’” More…

Cheryl Jennings, ABC 7:

“Many high achieving students who are accepted into colleges and universities are often without financial and sometimes even emotional support. But there is a special program at UC Berkeley that focuses on career development training for students that need it the most.”