A Fond Farewell to Full-Circle Learning

July 2025 - Full-Circle Learning in southern California has been a Mona partner since 2007. Over the past eighteen years, we provided scholarships and operational support for two educational initiatives:

  • a Summer School program in Piru serving children of migrant workers, and
  • an After-School program in Tarzana where the diverse student body speaks 44 different languages.


Both initiatives used FCL's "Habits of the Heart" curriculum to help students achieve academic excellence while integrating arts, character education, conflict resolution skills, and community service. Together, they empowered generations of students to grow and thrive into adulthood, building upon what they learned to resist gang life, appreciate differences, reach for their dreams, and become ambassadors of goodwill and peace.


At the end of 2024, Full-Circle Learning concluded our longstanding partnership sharing that the Piru Summer School was closing due to shifting demographics and the Tarzana After-School program was transitioning to the local Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).  Founding Board President Teresa Langness shared FCL's appreciation for Mona's support over the year:“We thank Mona Foundation for partnering with us to encourage the consistency and longevity of programs that have shaped generations of families new to America.” 

A Look Back at 18 Years of Partnership


Since 2007, Mona and Full Circle Learning helped more than 1,700 young students  improve their academic standing while also embracing their role as humanitarians and change agents.


The long-term impact of the Full-Circle Learning programs on their respective communities have played out in the life choices of participants over the years. While grants, volunteers, and regional donors kept the early years of the after-school and preschool programs afloat, those contributions were insufficient to provide jobs for the summer school. It was in this context that the Mona Foundation jumped in to help fund the programs that became a hallmark of the community. 

 

When the programs began, many young people expressed concern at leaving home for college or jobs, for fear of being deported or disappointing their parents with their absence. Their FCL learning experiences helped them to gradually realize that they could explore the value of their learning and life skills and then return home to bring those assets to their community, whether it be to design safer equipment at the Sunkist plant, or to introduce affordable dentistry, or to conduct agricultural research. 

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Arturo's father, a migrant farmer, had to quit elementary school to work in the fields. Arturo admired his father’s skill sets, but wanted to expand his own potential for service. At one Full-Circle Learning summer school in Piru, he had an epiphany and began to see how his abilities in math and engineering could help him improve the lives of many people over a lifetime. 


With help from his teachers, Arturo received a college scholarship and became the first in his family to enroll in a university. Graduating with honors, he moved into a fulfilling job as a space engineer developing a satellite that scans the world’s emerging drought areas to determine where the next food-security hot spots would be. 


While Arturo's father continues to contribute to the breadbasket of the region, Arturo's preemptive efforts will help feed the populations of the world.