Grevelin Uleno | Photo: Andrew Shipley
SEO (Sponsors for Educational Opportunity)
SEO Scholars is a free, eight-year program that successfully educates and mentors underserved public high school students to and through college, setting the standard for academics, mentorship, community, positive peer pressure, and a powerful, lifelong network — and boasting a phenomenal 90% college graduation rate. (New York, New York)
I was born and raised in the Bronx. I’m the first person in my family to be born here in the States. Also I was the first person in my family to go away for college. I’m getting my PhD because I want to be able to give back in ways that are important to me. A big part of my success started at a program called SEO in downtown Manhattan. SEO not only pushed me to apply to Bucknell but they also were able to financially support me. Right now I’m getting my MA/PhD in clinical psychology because I really want to focus on mental health disparities within marginalized communities. I can’t say that I’d be who I am without the Kravises and without SEO. All of those sacrifices that I had made were worth it.
Grevelin Uleno, Graduate Student, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois
Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis | The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation
Their generosity spanning an incredible diversity of interests, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis have improved countless lives in New York City and across the country. The couple’s commitment to such institutions as the Sloan Kettering Institute and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as to transformational programs like SEO, has also been strengthened by the hands-on role they play in many of the organizations they support.
