KPIX, the CBS affiliate in the Bay Area, recognized Charles Schmuck ’69 with a local Jefferson Award, given to “ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation of recognition.”
After 30 years in advertising, Schmuck decided to go back to teaching. But after several years he realized that many minority students didn’t have money for college, and even when they did, very few finished. So in 2005 he launched the Peninsula College Fund to help first-generation college students.
Working with nine peninsula high schools, the fund provides a qualifying student with a $3,000-a-year scholarship, summer job placement, internships, and mentoring. During its first year the fund supported three students. Today 74 participants are enrolled at colleges across the country, and 51 have graduated.