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Free Bilingual Online Literacy Apps for Riverside County Families
As part of the Literacy by 5th Grade Initiative, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edwin Gomez is providing free access to a suite of bilingual learning programs for all students in Riverside county.
From pre-reading activities and read-to-you stories, to alphabet recognition songs and grammar rules games, these interactive, new tools from Footsteps2Brilliance are now available to our youngest learners 24/7.
- Go to www.myf2b.com/riverside.
- Click the Register for Free Today button.
- Enter your home zip code and click the Check my Zip Code button.
- Select your school district from the options provided.
- Click the Register in English or Registrarse en español button.
- Follow the prompts to complete your child’s registration.
For more information, please see our recent press releases:
Can Riverside County Students Read Three Million Words This Spring? - 2/24/2022
RCOE Offers Free Access to Interactive, Early Literacy Program, Footsteps2Brilliance - 1/26/2022
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One High School. Two Students. Nearly $600,000 In Scholarships.
Post Date:01/15/2021 11:22 AM
Each year, a national nonprofit organization called QuestBridge aims to increase the percentage of talented low-income students attending the nation’s best colleges.
A record number of students (1,464) from the Class of 2021 will have the full cost of attending their dream universities covered as part of the QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship Program.
In Riverside County, four students from the Class of 2021 have been selected as part of the 2020 QuestBridge National College Match—including two seniors from Ramona High School in the Riverside Unified School District.
Jennifer Chavez-Veyna’s friends call her by her nickname, “Valedictorian.”
For a student who has received nothing less than an “A” in any class she’s ever taken, it is a nickname that will most likely become a reality when she graduates at the top of the Ramona High School Class of 2021.
“My friends just started calling me that, and that’s how people know me,” Jennifer shared humbly. “But now, they’ve started calling me Princeton.”
In early December, Jennifer learned that she had been named a QuestBridge Scholar and had been “matched” with a school on her priority list. The ultra-exclusive scholarship will cover all of Jennifer’s tuition, housing, meal plans, and books for four years at one of the most elite schools in the nation—a total scholarship value of $280,000. Jennifer will participate in work-study to contribute $3,500 during her time at Princeton and will be able to graduate without any student loans.
“Most people don’t know this about me, but I almost failed Kindergarten,” said Ramona High School senior, Perla Alvarez. “I was only 4 and I was in princess la-la land.”
Recommendations were made to hold her back a year, but Perla’s mom refused and pushed her to a higher standard. In middle school, Perla talked her way into honors classes. In high school, she jumped into advanced placement (AP) courses when others around her didn’t think she could do it.
“I had to prove people wrong all along,” Perla said. “Many people said I couldn’t do it.”
The same motivation that has driven Perla during her K-12 career and led to a 4.5 GPA, has landed her an exclusive QuestBridge Scholarship that will pay all her costs associated with attending Claremont McKenna College.
“I remember that the transition was rough. People can be mean,” Jennifer said. “I was new and only spoke Spanish, but my mom gave me a dictionary and I remember carrying it around everywhere I went because I was determined to make it here.”
Jennifer’s focus on learning the language paid dividends as she quickly earned the designation of “English proficient” by the fourth grade. Jennifer loved reading as a young child and remembers her second grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary, Mrs. Paula Tonkin, who retired in 2015 after 23 years of service.
“She spoke no Spanish, but she was kind, read me books, and gifted me books,” Jennifer said. “She was the first one who said to me: ‘You can make it.’ After that, I was doing it on my own because my mom only spoke Spanish.”
Jennifer’s competitive streak began to emerge as she loved accumulating points in the Accelerated Reader (AR) program. Her academic confidence continued to grow with each passing year and she will most likely graduate at the top of her class in 2021 before she heads off to a new world at Princeton University.
“I know that I have to be there for my younger siblings. I knew I had to go to college, save money for them, and help find a way for them to go to college too,” Perla said. “It wasn’t just about me, it was about being the example.”
Although both Perla and Jennifer attended Sierra Middle School together, they were part of different friend groups. Perla jokingly describes their relationship as “partners in crime and not really in competition.”
Jennifer and Perla live only a street or two away from each other. In the middle of the night, if one was confused about a topic, they would contact the other.
“It was nice to have her there with me in the middle of the night, if I was confused about something in the middle of the night, we could contact each other,” Perla said.
More than once, they would hear the scary sounds of gunfire echoing through their neighborhood
“I would hear things in the neighborhood, and would check with her to see if she heard the same thing,” Perla said.
Throughout the day, both students checked in with each other—awaiting news that could forever change the trajectory of their lives.
“When Perla told me that she got into CMC, I was so happy for her,” Jennifer said. “But, at the same time, I was scared because I didn’t think there was much of a chance that they would take two students from the same school.”
Fighting off the anxiety throughout her school day, she was on the phone with a friend at 4 p.m. who read the email for her that revealed Princeton as her match.
“I called my mom who was at work. She cleans houses and she sat down in the bathroom,” Jennifer said. “I told her that I got into Princeton. For her, she saw it as a $300K scholarship and didn’t even know the name of the college. She soon started doing research and found out facts about the school. She said, ‘Did you know that Princeton was ranked #1 university in 2019-2020?’”
For Jennifer, it won't feel real until she leaves for school in the fall.
"Finding out I was matched with Princeton takes a lot of anxiety off for the rest of the year. Figuring out how to pay for college was the hardest aspect for me. I thought the safest bet was going to be to try and go to community college. It wasn’t just about me, I wondered what my mom was going to do if I didn’t get the scholarship.
Perla had been applying for scholarships since her sophomore year and she first heard about the Questbridge opportunity from a Ramona High School student in her chemistry class who had received the award and was accepted into a dream school.
“I started the application at the last minute. Luckily, they extended the deadline, and I knew that wasn’t coincidental. This extension happened for a reason, and I knew I needed to apply,” Perla said.
For Perla, the family tradition of waking her up at midnight for her birthday to sing “Feliz Cumpleaños” didn’t have the same impact because she was already awake and checking for announcements on the scholarship.
“That day was 12 hours of pure anxiety,” Perla said. “My friends kept asking me if I had heard, but I was busy in class until I could finally check at noon.”
Perla also asked a friend to be on the phone with her as she opened the email.
"I didn’t think I could handle the news by myself,” Perla said. “I thought ‘I can’t open this email. I’m scared.’”
After a countdown with her friend, she opened the email.
“I screamed bloody murder. I didn’t know I could scream that loud,” Perla said. “My family came rushing in to check on me, and I couldn’t say anything but just pointed to the confetti on the screen. I thought somebody was pranking me.”
Mr. Lim describes the exclusivity of the scholarship as “like Jennifer and Perla competing with 10,000 other Jennifers and Perlas.”
“On the day they found out, I was on pins and needles all day waiting to hear from them both. I figured they didn’t want to share with me the bad news,” Mr. Lim said. "This has been the greatest news I’ve had all year, and it’s been a tough year. I can tolerate all the other crazy stuff because this just tops it all.
Mr. Lim has kept track of the QuestBridge Scholars he’s worked with during his career—a total of 8 in his 14 years as a counselor and 25 years in education.
“Mr. Lim has done so much for us, and I don’t know how he does it,” Perla said. "He brings us opportunity after opportunity.”
“When Mr. Lim first told me about QuestBridge during my junior year, I wondered why I had never heard of it before,” Jennifer said. “I’m lucky that Mr. Lim is so invested in us as students because he is the one who pushed me to go for it.”
After an active shooter threat at her school, and learning of someone killed by gun violence, Perla became more involved in a non-profit organization aimed at improving community engagement and living conditions.
“I want to fight for change and I don’t want to see these things happen anymore,” Perla said. “I want to make the world better because I know that this isn’t how it is supposed to be.”
What Perla used to think were firecrackers in the neighborhood, she now recognizes as a danger that her brothers will be growing up with too, but she won’t be far away.
Although she anticipates the homesickness and missing the warm weather, a staff member within Riverside USD has already volunteered to purchase any winter clothes for, according to Mr. Lim, the first Ramona High School student to attend Princeton.
“I'm okay with moving out and I’ve always kind of thought college is where I’m going to find myself and find what I love,” Jennifer said.
Although Jennifer is still researching majors, she hasn’t ruled out the pre-med route and planning ahead for medical school to become a doctor.
“I want to work with kids as either a pediatric surgeon or a pediatric oncologist,” Jennifer said. “I know that working with children can take a heavy toll, but the reward is the greatest because I will be giving that baby the rest of their life ahead of them.”
Return to full list >>A record number of students (1,464) from the Class of 2021 will have the full cost of attending their dream universities covered as part of the QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship Program.
In Riverside County, four students from the Class of 2021 have been selected as part of the 2020 QuestBridge National College Match—including two seniors from Ramona High School in the Riverside Unified School District.
Meet Jennifer Chavez-Veyna
For a student who has received nothing less than an “A” in any class she’s ever taken, it is a nickname that will most likely become a reality when she graduates at the top of the Ramona High School Class of 2021.
“My friends just started calling me that, and that’s how people know me,” Jennifer shared humbly. “But now, they’ve started calling me Princeton.”
In early December, Jennifer learned that she had been named a QuestBridge Scholar and had been “matched” with a school on her priority list. The ultra-exclusive scholarship will cover all of Jennifer’s tuition, housing, meal plans, and books for four years at one of the most elite schools in the nation—a total scholarship value of $280,000. Jennifer will participate in work-study to contribute $3,500 during her time at Princeton and will be able to graduate without any student loans.
Meet Perla Alvarez
Recommendations were made to hold her back a year, but Perla’s mom refused and pushed her to a higher standard. In middle school, Perla talked her way into honors classes. In high school, she jumped into advanced placement (AP) courses when others around her didn’t think she could do it.
“I had to prove people wrong all along,” Perla said. “Many people said I couldn’t do it.”
The same motivation that has driven Perla during her K-12 career and led to a 4.5 GPA, has landed her an exclusive QuestBridge Scholarship that will pay all her costs associated with attending Claremont McKenna College.
From Riverside to Mexico to Riverside (Jennifer)
Born in Riverside, Jennifer’s family left for Mexico shortly after she started to walk. She attended preschool and kindergarten in Mexico and returned to Riverside as a second-grade student at Jefferson Elementary in the Riverside Unified School District.“I remember that the transition was rough. People can be mean,” Jennifer said. “I was new and only spoke Spanish, but my mom gave me a dictionary and I remember carrying it around everywhere I went because I was determined to make it here.”
Jennifer’s focus on learning the language paid dividends as she quickly earned the designation of “English proficient” by the fourth grade. Jennifer loved reading as a young child and remembers her second grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary, Mrs. Paula Tonkin, who retired in 2015 after 23 years of service.
“She spoke no Spanish, but she was kind, read me books, and gifted me books,” Jennifer said. “She was the first one who said to me: ‘You can make it.’ After that, I was doing it on my own because my mom only spoke Spanish.”
Jennifer’s competitive streak began to emerge as she loved accumulating points in the Accelerated Reader (AR) program. Her academic confidence continued to grow with each passing year and she will most likely graduate at the top of her class in 2021 before she heads off to a new world at Princeton University.
Serving as an Example While Supporting One Another (Perla)
Perla Alvarez has five siblings—including two younger brothers ages 4 and 6. When she was filling out applications for college and scholarships, she would tell her brothers exactly what she was doing to make sure they knew the importance of education.“I know that I have to be there for my younger siblings. I knew I had to go to college, save money for them, and help find a way for them to go to college too,” Perla said. “It wasn’t just about me, it was about being the example.”
Although both Perla and Jennifer attended Sierra Middle School together, they were part of different friend groups. Perla jokingly describes their relationship as “partners in crime and not really in competition.”
Jennifer and Perla live only a street or two away from each other. In the middle of the night, if one was confused about a topic, they would contact the other.
“It was nice to have her there with me in the middle of the night, if I was confused about something in the middle of the night, we could contact each other,” Perla said.
More than once, they would hear the scary sounds of gunfire echoing through their neighborhood
“I would hear things in the neighborhood, and would check with her to see if she heard the same thing,” Perla said.
“12 Hours Of Pure Anxiety” - Announcement Day For Jennifer and Perla
The announcement of recipients of the QuestBridge National College Match was set for December 1, 2020. Both students circled the date on their calendars and waited anxiously for the day to arrive. For Perla, the day held extra excitement as it marked her 17th birthday.Throughout the day, both students checked in with each other—awaiting news that could forever change the trajectory of their lives.
“When Perla told me that she got into CMC, I was so happy for her,” Jennifer said. “But, at the same time, I was scared because I didn’t think there was much of a chance that they would take two students from the same school.”
Fighting off the anxiety throughout her school day, she was on the phone with a friend at 4 p.m. who read the email for her that revealed Princeton as her match.
“I called my mom who was at work. She cleans houses and she sat down in the bathroom,” Jennifer said. “I told her that I got into Princeton. For her, she saw it as a $300K scholarship and didn’t even know the name of the college. She soon started doing research and found out facts about the school. She said, ‘Did you know that Princeton was ranked #1 university in 2019-2020?’”
For Jennifer, it won't feel real until she leaves for school in the fall.
"Finding out I was matched with Princeton takes a lot of anxiety off for the rest of the year. Figuring out how to pay for college was the hardest aspect for me. I thought the safest bet was going to be to try and go to community college. It wasn’t just about me, I wondered what my mom was going to do if I didn’t get the scholarship.
Perla had been applying for scholarships since her sophomore year and she first heard about the Questbridge opportunity from a Ramona High School student in her chemistry class who had received the award and was accepted into a dream school.
“I started the application at the last minute. Luckily, they extended the deadline, and I knew that wasn’t coincidental. This extension happened for a reason, and I knew I needed to apply,” Perla said.
For Perla, the family tradition of waking her up at midnight for her birthday to sing “Feliz Cumpleaños” didn’t have the same impact because she was already awake and checking for announcements on the scholarship.
“That day was 12 hours of pure anxiety,” Perla said. “My friends kept asking me if I had heard, but I was busy in class until I could finally check at noon.”
Perla also asked a friend to be on the phone with her as she opened the email.
"I didn’t think I could handle the news by myself,” Perla said. “I thought ‘I can’t open this email. I’m scared.’”
After a countdown with her friend, she opened the email.
“I screamed bloody murder. I didn’t know I could scream that loud,” Perla said. “My family came rushing in to check on me, and I couldn’t say anything but just pointed to the confetti on the screen. I thought somebody was pranking me.”
Two QuestBridge Scholars. One School.
“These students are my highlights of being an educator,” said Mark Lim, the counselor to both Jennifer and Perla at Ramona High School. “If I could have thousands of these students, my job would be even greater.”Mr. Lim describes the exclusivity of the scholarship as “like Jennifer and Perla competing with 10,000 other Jennifers and Perlas.”
“On the day they found out, I was on pins and needles all day waiting to hear from them both. I figured they didn’t want to share with me the bad news,” Mr. Lim said. "This has been the greatest news I’ve had all year, and it’s been a tough year. I can tolerate all the other crazy stuff because this just tops it all.
Mr. Lim has kept track of the QuestBridge Scholars he’s worked with during his career—a total of 8 in his 14 years as a counselor and 25 years in education.
“Mr. Lim has done so much for us, and I don’t know how he does it,” Perla said. "He brings us opportunity after opportunity.”
“When Mr. Lim first told me about QuestBridge during my junior year, I wondered why I had never heard of it before,” Jennifer said. “I’m lucky that Mr. Lim is so invested in us as students because he is the one who pushed me to go for it.”
Ready To Fight For Change (Perla)
Perla loves science as a potential major, but also has an interest in public policy. She chose Claremont McKenna College, in part, to be close to home for her brothers. She also has an interest in remaining nearby to further her involvement in community connections around the Inland Empire.After an active shooter threat at her school, and learning of someone killed by gun violence, Perla became more involved in a non-profit organization aimed at improving community engagement and living conditions.
“I want to fight for change and I don’t want to see these things happen anymore,” Perla said. “I want to make the world better because I know that this isn’t how it is supposed to be.”
What Perla used to think were firecrackers in the neighborhood, she now recognizes as a danger that her brothers will be growing up with too, but she won’t be far away.
Headed to the East Coast (Jennifer)
“I know absolutely nothing about New Jersey or the East Coast or anything,” Jennifer admitted. “But, I checked out the campus online and it seems to be only an hour away from New York City. So, if New York City is the L.A. of the East Coast, and since Riverside is only about an hour from L.A., I’ll basically be in the Riverside of the East Coast.”Although she anticipates the homesickness and missing the warm weather, a staff member within Riverside USD has already volunteered to purchase any winter clothes for, according to Mr. Lim, the first Ramona High School student to attend Princeton.
“I'm okay with moving out and I’ve always kind of thought college is where I’m going to find myself and find what I love,” Jennifer said.
Although Jennifer is still researching majors, she hasn’t ruled out the pre-med route and planning ahead for medical school to become a doctor.
“I want to work with kids as either a pediatric surgeon or a pediatric oncologist,” Jennifer said. “I know that working with children can take a heavy toll, but the reward is the greatest because I will be giving that baby the rest of their life ahead of them.”
Riverside County Class of 2021 QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship Recipients
Shayla Beltran (Temescal Canyon HS, Lake Elsinore USD) – University of Chicago
Melissa Huerta (Canyon Springs HS, Moreno Valley USD) - University of Pennsylvania
Jasmine Carter (JW North HS, Riverside USD) - University of Pennsylvania
Perla Alvarez (Ramona HS, Riverside USD) – Claremont McKenna College
Jennifer Chavez-Veyna (Ramona HS, Riverside USD) – Princeton University