Sandberg, who stepped down earlier this month as the longtime chief operating officer of Meta, Facebook鈥檚 parent company; and Goldberg, founder and CEO of Fresno Unlimited, took the mentorship aspect seriously. Both assumed that role themselves for two students in the inaugural 30-member scholarship class that became the first to graduate college last month.

鈥淚 am so hopeful about the impact these students will have in the world and am confident they will build a brighter future for us all,鈥� Sandberg told 蜜桃影视 via email this month.

The Goldberg scholarship was created to honor Dave Goldberg 鈥� Sandberg鈥檚 husband and Rob Goldberg鈥檚 brother 鈥� who died in 2015 at age 47. Dave Goldberg, the CEO of SurveyMonkey, was close with KIPP Foundation CEO Richard Barth, and all the scholarship recipients are alumni of the charter school network, which predominantly serves low-income students of color. 

Sandberg鈥檚 mentee was Maleah Densby, a Duke University graduate who struggled with veering from her long-determined plan of being a pre-med major and eventually, a doctor. Floundering at first in her hardcore STEM classes, Densby, a top student, credited Sandberg with helping her to see that her grades did not define her or her dreams.

鈥淥ver the last four years, I鈥檝e seen Maleah excel in her classes, wrestle through hard decisions, and navigate challenges both small and big. I鈥檓 so inspired by her drive and determination 鈥� and grateful for the special relationship we have built,鈥� Sandberg said.

 鈥淚 have tried to teach her a thing or two, but I am certain she has taught me more, especially about perseverance.鈥�

First-generation, low-income students face multiple barriers graduating college 鈥� nationwide, the six-year completion rate is 28% 鈥� and while the Goldberg Scholars had many additional supports, COVID also blew a hole through their college careers.

Rob Goldberg鈥檚 mentee was Metzli Garcia, a 2022 UCLA graduate and the first in her family to earn a college degree. Her dad cried, she said, when she told him she had gotten into UCLA and graduating 鈥渋s a super big deal for my family.鈥� When staying that high-stakes course became difficult, Garcia said, having someone like Goldberg believe in her made a powerful difference.

Goldberg said for him, that person had been his older brother.

鈥淒ave was the person who instilled confidence in me and helped me to believe my dreams were attainable,鈥� he told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淲hen I was 22, I started a company 鈥� Dave had started a digital media company a year before and not only did he help me become a founder and an entrepreneur (at a time when there was no internet or access to online resources about starting a company), he also showed me how impactful it was to take time out of your day to help others, and to put other people first.鈥�

There are now 93 students in the Goldberg scholarship pipeline, including the 17 who just graduated from KIPP high schools across the country and are headed to college this fall. Looking back on the first four years, Goldberg said he learned what an enemy imposter syndrome can be for these young people.

鈥淚 was raised to believe that college would always be in my future and it wasn鈥檛 until I met these brave Goldberg Scholars that I realized that higher education is not something that is inherent in all of our futures 鈥斅爈et alone a place where everyone feels they belong,” he said. 鈥淥vercoming these feelings of self-doubt makes Metztli鈥檚 achievements, and the entire inaugural class鈥檚 accomplishments, all the more impressive.鈥�

Here are five of those graduates:

MALEAH DENSBY

Duke University 

METZLI GARCIA

UCLA

HORUS HERNANDEZ

University of Houston 

JALIWA ALBRIGHT

Duke University

BREON ROBINSON

Duke University

Disclosure: Campbell Brown oversees global media partnerships at Meta. Brown co-founded 蜜桃影视 and sits on its board of directors. Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to KIPP and 蜜桃影视.

The nation鈥檚 largest group of K-12 charter schools said last week that the will provide four years of mentoring, summer internship assistance, financial literacy training, networking advice and funding to defray college costs 鈥� supports valued at $60,000 per student. The grant covers 50 students a year, up to 250 students over five years.

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For KIPP students such as Harlem-raised Airam Cruz, who landed a spot in a prestigious high school as a result of attending a KIPP middle school, and then entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, these networking-assist scholarships mean everything.

Cruz, who was chosen for a similar (which inspired the Rales) got a summer internship at a computer gaming company as a result of meeting the company鈥檚 chief executive officer at a 2018 Silicon Valley dinner hosted at the house of Facebook鈥檚 Sheryl Sandberg Goldberg is her late husband.

Also as part of that Goldberg scholarship program: Cruz, now 21, had his own mentor for four years of college, former Samsung Chief Innovation Officer David Eun. 鈥淚 texted him almost any day about anything. Life advice, school advice.鈥�

What鈥檚 truly newsworthy about the Goldberg and Rales scholarship programs is why they are needed in the first place.

Two decades ago, KIPP and other top-performing charter networks started out with a simple promise to parents: Send your sons and daughters to our schools and we will get them enrolled in college. As years passed, however, every charter network found out that enrolling in college wasn鈥檛 the same as graduating.

As early as 2009, KIPP leaders realized their college-going students were falling short on actually graduating, and in April 2011 released a starkly worded revealing that only 33 percent of its KIPP middle school students were graduating from four-year colleges within six years.

While that rate was three times the national graduation rate for low-income, minority students, it was far below what KIPP had predicted: a graduation success rate of 75 percent. That was a wake-up call for KIPP, which launched aggressive changes including expanding its network to opening elementary and high schools to give students more time on task with KIPP teachers and counselors.

While those changes, and similar ones at other college-focused charter networks around the country, succeeded in boosting college graduation rates, KIPP and others soon discovered yet another unpleasant reality: simply earning a college degree wasn鈥檛 enough. Too often, their graduates settled for jobs that fell short of the kinds of professional opportunities landed by white and Asian college graduates.

That amounts to underemployment, explains Tevera Stith, senior director for National Alumni Impact at KIPP.

鈥淲e see more and more students not having access to proper networking who then struggle to get the kind of work experience needed to land the perfect first job that will propel their career,鈥� said Stith For college students coming from middle- and upper-income families, those internships and first-job connections often come from family connections.

A 2016 survey of KIPP college graduates revealed that roughly half felt they were underemployed. The most common reason is having to pass on unpaid internships during their college years.

鈥淲hen they can get a paid job at a local supermarket they are absolutely going to take that supermarket job,鈥� said Stith.

Programs such as Rales offer students salaries for summer internships that don鈥檛 pay.

Underemployment is what I saw first hand when reporting the book, , which documented the first graduating class at KIPP鈥檚 Gaston College Prep, a school in rural North Carolina located in a town where college graduation is not an expectation. But in this class, 61 percent of the graduating seniors earned four-year degrees within six years, a rate that exceeds the degree attainment rates for middle-class students.

While that success rate was impressive, it soon became clear that a fair number of those alumni didn鈥檛 consider themselves successes in life, at least not when compared to middle-class college graduates. While they were all employed, their jobs often fell into the category of underemployment, such as a finance major working as a bank teller.

These latest iterations in the learning curve around what it takes to get low-income minority students into college, through college and into a job commensurate with their skills, explains the multiple name changes for KIPP鈥檚 college promotion programs. It began in 1998 as Kipp To College, then in 2008 became KIPP Through College. In 2021 it became which acknowledges both the need to help students with non-college careers and that even college graduates need ongoing assistance.

Other charter networks make similar efforts. The New York City-based Success Academy schools, for example, have their .

The Northeast-based , which usually turns in the top college graduation rates, rivaling the success rates for middle-class students, also recognizes the need for follow-up support. Uncommon is building a network to link all its alums and connect them to outside organizations for career support.

Chicago-based Noble Network of Charter Schools offers one-on-one career counseling and networking events as well as employer programs like .

Aide Acosta, Noble鈥檚 chief college officer, said a 2016 survey of their alums showed that six months after earning college degrees only 41 percent had full-time employment or were in graduate school. Compared to middle-class college graduates, she said, 鈥渙ur students were having different career exposures.鈥� After launching Noble鈥檚 coaching/job placement efforts, that number is now up to 80 percent.

Some students get exposed to multiple programs. Kourtney Buckner, for example, attended a KIPP middle school in Atlanta. KIPP then helped her win acceptance at George Washington University. Buckner, a junior who plans on being a lawyer, has a KIPP college adviser who checks on her and the network helped her land a KIPP-supported summer internship at a Washington-based nonprofit.

At the same time, Buckner is also a scholar, a program that ensures first-generation students find a network of similar students to support them in college. 鈥淗aving a Posse cohort here has made all the difference,鈥� said Buckner. 鈥淚 have nine other (Posse scholars) here and I also have a Posse mentor.鈥�

Applications for the Rales Scholars Program opened Oct. 1 to KIPP high school seniors or KIPP middle school alumni now in their senior year. The first group of Rales scholars will join the program in May 2022.

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York provide financial support to KIPP and 蜜桃影视.