The Neurodiversity Alliance

Nationwide, 1 in 5 children and adults have some type of learning difference. I’m one of them. Throughout elementary and middle school, I had a harder time understanding concepts that most kids would grasp easily. I had teachers tell me I wasn’t smart and I lacked the ambition to learn. I even had a teacher tell me that math wasn’t 'my subject.' I ironically went on to be a math major. Luckily, I had a teacher in high school who identified my difficulties to be a disability rather than an intelligence issue and the school began providing me with the support and learning tools I needed to succeed. It has taken me awhile to feel both confident and empowered by my learning disability and it is something I am still working on improving. 

As I run a half marathon at the end of October, I am hoping to raise money for a charity that will help empower and support more students with learning differences. Eye-to-Eye is the only national mentoring movement pairing kids with learning and attention issues with similarly identified college students. What sets them apart is their strong focus on social-emotional-learning (SEL). UCSF has found that this type of learning is particularly important for students with learning differences. SEL will help children build self-esteem as different learners, value their unique minds, and inspire them to advocate for their needs in the classroom. This foundation welcomes people with learning differences into a community that helps them transform their self image from one of self doubt to empowerment by peers who face similar challenges. 

All the money raised will go towards creating more chapters across the country that will help increase student’s self esteem and therefore their personal growth. The supportive communities created will also help prevent students from failing and going down the wrong path. I believe that Eye-to-Eye has the ability to provide students with the core social-emotional skills to succeed in both a classroom and life environment.

Thank you for considering to support our Eye to Eye chapter. 

Eye to Eye pairs high school or college mentors who have learning differences with middle school students who also face the same challenges. This nationally-recognized program offers strategies to build social-emotional, self-esteem, and self-advocacy skills. 

The Marin School is a small high school community which provides great support, and which includes many students with LD.  It is the perfect place to support middle schoolers with Eye to Eye. In this second year of our chapter, we are committed to serve more mentees from Venetia Valley Middle School, a local public school. 

Our volunteers from left to right (Will Donohue, Jennifer Berchard, Ryan Wood, Emily Spencer, Hank Greenberg)

The funds that we raise are fully tax deductible in support of Eye to Eye, a 501c3. 

To learn more about what Eye to Eye does and other schools they are at, visit their website: https://eyetoeyenational.org/