2023 Personal Statement Workshops

826 Valencia is proud to announce a series of very special Personal Statement workshops for 2023! This fall, we will be offering six in-person workshop opportunities. 

We’re inviting all high school seniors in SFUSD to register, attend, and get that extra boost of support, and all available 826 Valencia tutors in the community to come out to support them as they write, revise, and edit these important responses. We are hoping to support more than 200 students this fall. 

Here’s how it works: Students and tutors can sign up for one or more tutoring sessions, which run from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in person on Fridays from September through November.

• Friday, September 29 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at 826 Valencia
• Friday, October 6 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at 826 Valencia
• Friday, October 13 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at 826 Valencia
• Friday, October 20 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at 826 Valencia
• Friday, October 27 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at 826 Valencia
• Friday, November 3 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at 826 Valencia

826 Valencia will pair trained tutors with students to provide individualized feedback on their college application essays. All personal statement and scholarship essay writers are welcome, whether they’re just starting, almost finished, or somewhere in between. 

Here are what some of last year’s students and tutors had to say about our Personal Statement event series: 

• “It helped me look and review my PIQs in a new light. The highlight was the one on one and the feedback.”
• “Working with a tutor made the writing experience more dynamic. From this, I learned how to make my essay more concise. For the best part, I was able to share my thoughts out loud and build my essay with constructive feedback from the tutors.”
• “It is always inspiring to hear the incredible stories of strength and resilience displayed by these amazing young people. They often do not perceive their own triumphs.”

Now that you’re excited, please spread the word! Our current record is serving 191 students during a single weekend, and this year we are aiming to serve even more with our six-day workshop series. 

Registration for students and tutors is now open. Read on for details on how to sign up—we anticipate that spots will go quickly! 

If you have questions, please contact Programs Director Ryan Young at ryan@826valencia.org.

Can’t make it to the event, but still want to get involved? Please consider sharing the opportunity with your network and making a donation to 826 Valencia. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we are able to offer our free writing programs to thousands of youth in San Francisco each year. Click here for more information.

Ready to jump in? Registering for the event as a student or as a tutor is easy—just follow the links below:

Students: Click here to register! You may sign up for up to two workshops. 

Tutors: Sign up on our volunteer calendar! You will need to be a registered volunteer with 826 Valencia to attend these workshops. Read more on our website about getting started as a volunteer with 826 Valencia this fall. Feel free to contact us at volunteer@826valencia.org with any questions. 

*Please note: All tutors are required to attend a training on the Personal Insight Questions (PIQs). If you have already attended our training on the PIQs, you will not need to attend again this year. We will offer both in-person and online webinar versions, which you can find on our volunteer calendar. 

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