Save Our Youth Center

06/12/2026

SOY’s Summer Program starts on Monday! There are tons of different types of activities from arts and crafts to sports and wellness, book club and tutoring for those in summer school, swimming, and tons of field trips! Check out the flyer and register on our website. Free for NMUSD students who are registered SOY Members. Looking forward to a great time! Join us!

06/12/2026

So exciting to look back at our seniors who graduated from EHS last week! So exciting to see them graduate. Congrats to our SOY Senior speakers!!

06/03/2026

05/26/2026

Thanks to the Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach for putting on the Roy Emerson Tennis Classic that had SOY as one of its beneficiaries. Mary Cappellini, SOY’s Executive Director, received a $10,000 check from Chris Garber, the tournament director. The owner of the club, Eric Davidson, and the tennis legend, Roy Emerson, helped present the award and thanked SOY for what we do for our students in Newport Mesa. It was a wonderful weekend of incredible tennis. Our own SOY Board member, Randi Gordon, pictured with Mary in the last photo, also played in the tournament and came out to watch the presentation. Thanks again to .nb

05/25/2026

Friday afternoon was a fun afternoon with a bike trip to the beach! Many junior high youth got on the SOY bikes at our center and were led by our staff down the river bike path to the beach! They had fun on the sand and in the ocean before they rode back! Great way to kick off a holiday weekend! Happy Memorial Day everyone!

05/20/2026

These amazing seniors received special awards at the SOY 2026 Senior Awards Night. In order of photos: Ángel Mondragón received the 4-year $50,000 Myers Memorial Scholarship and will be attending UCI. . David Perez received the 4- year $40,000 Lamb Family Scholarship and will be attending UCSB. Briseyda Cabrera Mejía received one of the two $10,000 Jean Forbath Scholarships, and Sayuri Camacho received the other one. Briseyda will be attending UCSD and Sayuri CSU Chico State. The Youth Leadership Awards from each high school went to Alejando Partida of Costa Mesa HS, going to CSULB, Quinn Onstott, heading to CSUF, and Monique Sburlea, going to UCR, of Early College HS, and David Perez of Estancia HS. They received certificates and special medals as well as their SOY Scholarship of $3,500 to $5,000 each. Three senior girls received the CASCWA scholarship of $1,000 for overcoming adversity and moving forward with their goals to attend a college or university: Gianna Brewer, Early College HS, will be attending UCLA; Devoni Bustos, Estancia HS, is an ANGEL Scholar and will be attending USC; and Lupita Cortes Mondragon, Estancia HS will be attending San Jose State.

05/20/2026

Devoni Bustos, SOY Senior Class Speaker at Annual Senior Awards Night 2026

05/19/2026

Congratulations to the 40 SOY Seniors who received their scholarships to college last night at the Annual Senior Awards Night for the class of 2026. They worked hard for their goals and have accomplished amazing things going to incredible colleges and universities. With their involvement in SOY and their community service they have shown commitment and a will to serve others. Congratulations! SOY is so proud of you! Thanks to the SOY Donors, we gave out $319,000 in scholarships! More about the scholarship winners in the next post to come!

05/16/2026

The UCI Free Clinic Project and By Any Means Club came to SOY to put on a medical clinic workshop for our students interested in becoming EMTs. They had the students participate in stop the bleeding activities with fake blood and the students loved it! It was a great afternoon and our SOY students realized that once they are in College there are a lot of ways they can give back to the community. We thank our UCI student volunteers for their time!