Stephen Colbert, DonorsChoose.org, and the Gates Foundation: a news and photo recap

Stephen Colbert’s visit to the Manhattan Bridges High School has hit the mainstream media (including the bloggers Ms Interpreted and I met at the high school itself. . . new media represent!). Here’s a roundup of what the news outlets had to say.

From the Associated Press:

Colbert: Does Bill Gates ever talk about me?
Colbert pushed his real-life cause as he mentioned one that has long been the obsession of his fake-news-host persona: “As I endeavor to protect our children from bears, donorschoose.org is protecting public school kids from classrooms that lack the materials necessary to rigorously prepare them for college.”

From the Seattle Times:

Stephen Colbert teams with Gates, protects children from bears
TV personality Stephen Colbert was around to “moderate” the event, keeping the potentially vehement charity announcement from becoming too extreme. . . He’s a board member of DonorsChoose.org. But considering the organization has 13 other board members and 26 advisers, he’s really not that special.

. . . Under the “Double Your Impact” initiative funded by Gates, requests that promote college-readiness will be eligible for 50 percent funding from DonorsChoose. Projects would include things like student trips to college campuses, classroom books and SAT/ACT preparation materials.

From GothamSchools.org:

At a city school, Stephen Colbert earnestly reports on new grant
Colbert, who sits on the site’s board, made the announcement in the style of his televised interviews, before an audience of students at Manhattan Bridges High School, but without any of his usual mean comments. (He did draw laughs with an awkward attempt to use Spanish, the native language of many Bridges students, to explain that he was a “perdedor gigante,” or giant loser, when he was in high school.) The panel he interviewed included Vicki Phillips, the head of Gates’ education division; DonorsChoose founder Charles Best; and a Manhattan Bridges English teacher.

And last but not least, from our new friend of the blog, DetentionSlip.org:

DonorsChoose, Stephen Colbert & Gates Foundation join forces to promote college readiness
Charles Best, DonorsChoose.org founder, explained how the non-profit came about after a discussion in a teachers lounge. The organization allows teachers to post projects they are seeking funding for on the DonorsChoose website, then, “citizen philanthropists” can fund the projects whole or in part with any amount of money.

They are all about transparency as well, allowing the donors to pick which projects to fund, and giving them a breakdown of how every cent is spent.

The Gates Foundation got involved to match donations 1 for 1 for projects specifically targeted at helping students go on to college.

Great to meet you, Anthony! And now, enjoy a little photographic recap of the DonorsChoose.org event. Click on the images to view them full size:

Additional photos under the cut:

Principal Mirza Sanchez Medina introduces the panelists and moderator Stephen Colbert.

(l-r) Panelists Vicki L. Phillips, director of education at the Gates Foundation; Charles Best, Founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org; and Elizabeth Smith, teacher at the Manhattan Bridges High School.

Stephen Colbert explains the “Double Your Impact” grant – an intense thing indeed, judging from his expression.

A lucky group of students got to sit behind Stephen on the stage.

Stephen animatedly responds to a question from Ms Interpreted.

Stephen poses with students from the Manhattan Bridges High School.

Not a bad way to spend the morning!

Thanks again to all involved; it was a great time! (Additional thanks to Stephen for being so photogenic.) And a tip of the hat to Ms Interpreted for news links.

• Stephen Colbert on “Citizens United v. FEC”
• NBC Olympic team talks about Stephen Colbert (oh yeah, and Vancouver)
• Speedskating team update, Shani Davis and another candid photo
• Stephen Colbert interviewing Neil deGrasse Tyson for PAMKA Forum