Along with the district, the foundation has created an innovative website that allows students in the district to seek college and career counseling and share information with each other.

Guidance Central provides educational information to help students at all district schools prepare for post-high school education and the working world.

The website, located at www.guidance.fuhsd.org, is equipped with a variety of resources, such as information on summer internships and college applications and résumé tips.

"We believe this is money well spent," says Sandie Zander, executive director of the foundation. "The services provided by the website are really needed by all district schools. It's an important enhancement to the resources already available at each school."

According to Zander, while identifying district needs last year, the foundation found that the career centers at each school were very different from each other.

"We found that some schools had great resources and some didn't. So we decided to pursue the task of equalizing the resources and make it available and accessible to students in all district schools," she says.

After a weeklong workshop in the summer of 2002, when career center liaisons from each school met to communicate ideas, the foundation went to work.

The organization first offered career centers at each school a $2,000 grant to acquire the resources necessary to improve their programs.

Then the foundation hired an expert to research and develop the Guidance Central website, which was launched in March.

"We have received some positive feedback from parents. Many have told us the site is very helpful. We plan to do constant updates, continue to expand and improve the site. It's a work in process, and it will never be finished," Zander says.