NEW FEATURE!

Stride is now connected to Paypal and can accept credit card donations!

Be the first to use this brand new feature!!!

Click on the link below or on the DONATION link on our side bar!

Stride is Growing!

Please join us in welcoming Stride’s most recent board member!

Andrea Gorlyn is the Director of Marketing for the LeFrak Organization, responsible for the ongoing development and marketing efforts of the firm’s extensive real estate portfolio.

Over the past five years at the firm, she has undertaken the marketing and promotion of several luxury apartment towers, high end hotels, Class A office space, restaurants, and a variety of other real estate development projects in the New York- New Jersey metropolitan area.

Andrea grew up in New York City, attending the Chapin School. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 with a BA in Political Science. After working at L’Oreal USA for almost 2 years, she joined the LeFrak Organization in January 2004.

Andrea now brings her extensive marketing experience and professional background to the STRIDE Team. She looks forward to joining the Board and dedicating her time and efforts to such a special, inspirational initiative. She believes it is a wonderful way to show appreciation for the educational opportunities she has been so fortunate to have had in her life.

STRIDE Class of 2009!

We’re thrilled to announce that Stride has welcomed its very first class of students into the program!  The selection process was extremely difficult because of the high quality of all of the participant’s applications.  Over the winter holiday, a panel of Stride leadership and Washington Irving faculty took on the task of reviewing the applications.  The application was comprised of 3 essays, 2 teacher recommendations and their high school transcripts.  It was a significant amount of work on top of their regular school commitments, which made their efforts even more impressive and illustrated their enthusiasm towards Stride’s program and their dedication to their education.

TENZIN

Tenzin was born in 1994 in Nepal and raised Tibet.  A Buddhist, she was named by Tenzin Gyasto, the 14th Dalai Lama.  His commitment to peace, honesty and love inspires her.  Tenzin’s goal is to become a doctor.  Her introduction to this field came through her grandfather, a Tibetan doctor, who practiced herbal medicine.  Tenzin and her family arrived in the United States in 2005.  While in Tibet, her sister passed away because she was unable to get the medical attention she needed.
I’ve heard many sad stories of many people’s lives in many countries because there was no doctor and no hospitals or any medical help.  Now I have the opportunity to get [a] good education to reach my goal in this country.  I have to work very hard and try my best to get a scholarship for college to have [a] good education so I can become a doctor.  I can also help people in poor countries; I want to tour some places that need medical help so that I can find out if they need doctors, medicine, medical tools or anything that is related to medicine.
FUN FACTS
-    Loves to garden
-    Dances with her friends to Tibetan songs
-    Likes to experiment with fashion
-    Enjoys listening to different music and plays multiple instruments including the piano and the Tibetan guitar

SAURABH

Saurabh was born in November 1994.  He was born in a city named Kathmandu, in Nepal.  Saurabh and his family immigrated to the Queens, New York in June of 2007.  At the age of 5, Saurabh discovered his love of computers. Today, Saurabh dreams of becoming a computer engineer. His uncle, who is a teacher at The Computer Institute in Nepal, inspires him.
[My uncle] is a unique man of unique thoughts.  He has a positive attitude towards everything…  His personal behavior is just significantly perfect…  I strongly feel that he is the kind of person I really want to be in my future, his feelings and disciplines are what I want to achieve as I progress towards my goal.  I want to succeed in life through hard work and sincerity just like he did.
FUN FACTS
-    Loves to sing traditional Nepalese songs
-    Very optimistic
-    A CRAZY guitar fan
-    Enjoys being creative on many different levels
-    Has a thoughtful nature

ALEJANDRA

Alejandra was born in January 1994.  Her family is from Mexico and she still has very strong roots there.  Before high school, Alejandra’s career goal was to become a psychologist.  She was interested in helping people with their problems and wanted to boost their self-confidence.  However, after a semester at Washington Irving, she discovered her true passion: education.  Inspired by her global history teacher, Mr. Dakarae, she realized that she wants to become a NYC high school teacher and ultimately a principal. She believes that children are the future and would like to help kids like her find the necessary resources to achieve in life
Going to college is very important to me because I see how the people who go to college learn a lot.  College is also very important because many immigrants think that we can’t get a good college education… If I can be successful they can do it to.  It would also be a way to prove to other people and [to] family, but most important to myself, that immigrants can do it.
FUN FACTS
-    Dancing is her favorite thing to do
-    Likes playing the piano
-    A really social personality
-    Has a cheerful disposition