Students at San Ysidro High School were celebrated Thursday during the 5th Annual College Signing Day, an event hosted by Teens Rise Foundation and the San Diego Foundation that featured nearly $100,000 in scholarships and laptop giveaways for graduating seniors.
The celebration, held at Swiss Park & Hall in Chula Vista, brought together more than 300 students and family members as seniors publicly committed to their college and career plans in front of peers, educators, and community partners.
“In communities like San Ysidro, talent has never been the issue. Access has,” said Gaby Millán, executive director of Teens Rise Foundation. “College Signing Day is the moment that milestone becomes real — not just for the student, but for their parents, their grandparents, their younger siblings watching from the audience.”
Millán said the event carried particular weight in a community where college attainment remains limited.
“In San Ysidro, only 10 percent of adults hold a college degree,” she said. “When our seniors walked across that stage and announced where they are going to college, they were often doing something no one in their family had ever done before.”
According to organizers, the event has grown over the past five years into one of the most anticipated annual celebrations in South County San Diego.
What began as a smaller recognition has expanded into a large-scale program featuring live scholarship announcements, laptop giveaways, and public commitments by graduating seniors.
“Every year, we hear from parents who tell us that watching this event inspired them to encourage their younger children to set their sights on college,” Millán said. “That ripple effect — one family at a time — is exactly what we hoped to build.”
The event also highlighted the financial barriers first-generation students face as they transition to higher education. Surprise scholarships and laptops were provided to help address those challenges.
“Textbooks, housing deposits, a working laptop, the cost of getting to campus — these are expenses that students from more affluent families take for granted,” Millán said. “When we announce a surprise scholarship at College Signing Day, we are not just handing a student money. We are removing a specific obstacle that stood between them and a successful start.”
Millán also shared the story of Emma, a San Ysidro student who was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Last year, Emma became one of only eight students in all of San Diego admitted to MIT,” she said. “She did not get to MIT in spite of where she came from. She got there because of who she is, and because of the support she needed to let that show.”
Community partners included the Sweetwater Union High School District, Blue Shield of California Promise, Winward Academy, and the San Diego Foundation.
“Our vision is not simply to celebrate college acceptance letters,” Millán said. “It is to build a generation of South Bay leaders who return to invest in their own community.”
She added that students left the event recognizing both their achievement and the support behind it.
“They are not alone,” she said. “And this is just the beginning. College is not the destination; it is the doorway.”
