Kids Will Go to UCI After All

Scores of donors offering thousands of dollars came forward Thursday so that gifted but impoverished kids could attend a UC Irvine summer program that had lost its scholarship money.

Leonard Nimoy, famous for his role as Mr. Spock on the “Star Trek” television show, and his wife, Susan, pledged $10,000 and urged other foundations and donors to match that amount.

Fifty phone calls offering money flooded into Holder Elementary School in Buena Park, where sixth-grade teacher Daniel Chen had been distraught over the possibility that his seven gifted students who were accepted to the program but lacked the $675 weekly fee would be unable to attend. UCI received more than 20 calls.

The Irvine office of Morrison & Foerster, a San Francisco law firm, tried to sponsor the seven children from Chen’s class, but by the time they reached program officials, Chen’s students had already been covered. Instead, the law firm sponsored eight students from Sierra Intermediate School in Santa Ana who were in the same situation. And in addition to writing them a check, the attorneys plan to visit the school and mentor the children.

In the end, enough money came in to fund nearly two-thirds of the 88 students who were accepted into the summer program for gifted students but lacked the money to attend.

“This has never happened before,” said Darlene Boyd, who runs UCI’s Pre-College Academy. “I can’t tell you how happy I am.”

The donors learned about UCI’s lack of financial aid for the program in a Times article Thursday about the plight of these students, many of whom had given up their lunches to polish their academic skills and tutor other students to increase their chances of being admitted. Last year, the UCI program that provides gifted students a taste of college life had scholarship money for about 100 of the 700 or so bright youngsters who attended. But this year, its corporate sponsors backed out because of the shaky economy.

That situation brightened Thursday, as the phone in Chen’s classroom rang continually.

Chen said it was one of his proudest moments as a teacher. He is hoping enough money can be raised for the school to set up a trust fund for needy children to attend the program every year. He also wants to send other students who are eligible for the program but did not apply because they didn’t think they would get financial aid.

“My students are ecstatic, and so am I,” he said.

The donations came from various sources, including retired folks with some extra money, law firms, service clubs, charitable foundations and the UC Irvine Chicano-Latino Alumni Assn.

“What made us decide to donate?” Marcia Alper of Pasadena asked. “The absurdity of losing those bright kids for not a huge amount of money.”

Alper and her husband, Marshall, grew up in poverty, she in Boston and he in Manhattan, she said.

“As we grew up, we needed some help and we got it,” she said. “There’s so much money that our society spends wastefully, and here’s a bunch of kids who are willing to work and take responsibility, and they need a hand, and that’s something we can give.”

Another donor, Sandie Fallagan of Huntington Beach, said she and her husband planned to give $200.

“My mom was Mexican, raising four kids by herself,” she said. “We were lucky. I would hate to think of other children not getting those chances. . . . A little bit can help if everybody does a little bit.”

Olivia Martinez, whose two daughters were accepted to the program but would not have been able to go without donations, said the outpouring of support had surpassed her wildest expectations.

Martinez, a widow who has devoted herself to her children’s education, said she was especially moved by contributions to the school in her daughters’ names.

“Everybody was crying,” she said. “We’re just overwhelmed. It’s just beyond words.”