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Student Jacob Alcantara with Donor and Mentor Jeff Polonsky

 

When Jacob Alcantara walked across the stage at a scholarship ceremony, he expected a handshake, a photo, and maybe a polite email afterwards.

He didn’t expect the donor behind his award—a retired Bay Area native named Jeff Polonsky—to become one of the most influential people in his life.

Jacob, a first-generation college student raised by a single mother in San Francisco, was one of Jeff’s scholarship recipients. After the event, he introduced himself with the same determination that has carried him through long workdays, 19‑unit semesters and weekend labs.

Jeff handed him his phone number, assuming, as most students do, that he would send a quick thank‑you and move on.

Jacob isn’t most students.

“I wanted to stay in contact,” Jacob said. “I wanted to show my appreciation. And Jeff was so adamant about helping me … it just meshed.”

Neither of them knew that day that the scholarship would lead to something more: a friendship built on shared values, parallel life experiences and a mutual desire to give back.

 

A Bay Area story, two generations apart

Both men were born and raised in the Bay Area, in working‑class families. Both found identity and discipline through sports. Both believe deeply in the power of encouragement.

Jacob, now a student at College of San Mateo, is pursuing a career in health care, with interests ranging from imaging, nuclear medicine, and respiratory therapy to becoming a physician assistant. He’s an athlete, a coach and a young man determined to build generational wealth for his future family.

“I want to stay in the Bay Area more than anything,” he said. “It’s a gem. You invest now, and it pays off later. This is where I started, and it’s where I want to end.”

Jeff understands that sentiment. He grew up in Daly City and experienced profound loss early in life. He lost his mother at 17, and although his father remarried that same year, Jeff was largely on his own.

In that difficult period, four women stepped in and provided the kind of love and thoughtfulness that only comes from a mother. One of those women was a first‑generation Mexican American named Emy Sosa. Jeff loved her, and she loved him for the rest of her life. He is still best friends with her oldest daughter, Michelle, with whom he went to junior high, high school and college.

Those relationships shaped Jeff deeply.

“I’ve had wonderful relationships with first-generation Latino Americans,” Jeff said. “Supporting a first‑generation student felt like a way to honor that.”

 

A different kind of giving

After retiring, Jeff re‑evaluated his philanthropy. Over the years, he had donated to many charities, but the constant mailers and impersonal updates left him wanting something more intentional.

“I realized I wanted to focus our giving on one young person at a time,” he said. “Someone we could meet, encourage and follow through their journey.”

Finding the right program took time. Jeff reached out to high schools, counselors and community groups before finally connecting with the San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation. When he read Jacob’s application, something clicked.

Jeff and his wife, Wendy, attended the ceremony together. They met Jacob, his mother and his girlfriend. By the time they left, Wendy—who initially thought this was “Jeff’s thing”—was all in.

“She said, ‘I’m so glad we’re doing this,’” Jeff said.

 

From scholarship to mentorship

What followed wasn’t part of any formal program. It grew out of conversation.

They talked about travel—Tahoe, Thailand, family trips. They talked about finance—stocks, planning, and long‑term goals. They talked about school, work and the pressure of being first‑gen. They talked about life.

As Jacob wrestled with the realities of becoming a neuroradiologist—the years of schooling, the debt, the long stretch without income—Jeff stepped in as a coach. He connected Jacob with a neuroradiologist in San Diego. When Jacob’s plans began to shift, Jeff introduced him to a physician assistant he knew well, helping him explore different health care careers that aligned with his passion.

“Jeff has been the light in a dark path,” Jacob said. “He’s helped me go the right way.”

Jeff describes it more simply.

“I’d say he’s a younger friend,” he said. “It keeps you young, having someone driven in your life.”

 

Two generations, same lesson: Why mentorship matters

A woman at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center once told Jeff something that stuck with him: “The students who receive mentoring are the ones who succeed at the highest level.”

Jeff took that to heart. He believes donors can offer more than financial support. They can offer stewardship, perspective, and connection.

“It’s one more box you can check,” he said. “If you want to maximize the value of your scholarship, get to know the student. If nothing comes of it, fine, you still helped. But if something does, it can last long after the money is spent.”

Jacob agrees.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” he said. “Mentors have seen things you haven’t. They can guide you through situations you don’t know how to handle yet.”

 

A partnership that lasts

Both men believe their relationship will continue long after Jacob leaves College of San Mateo.

“I think we’ll stay in touch for years,” Jeff said. “He’s easy to like. And I respect him.”

Jacob doesn’t hesitate.

“He has helped me so much. I’m super grateful.”

In a region where the cost of living pushes many young people away, Jacob wants to stay—to work in health care, to coach, to build a family, to plant roots.

And in a life in which Jeff’s own children and grandchildren live across the country, this mentorship has brought youthful energy back into his orbit.

Two lives intersecting at exactly the right moment.

This is what happens when a donor doesn’t just give but shows up. This is what happens when a student doesn’t just accept but reaches back. When scholarship becomes friendship, it’s a reminder that sometimes the most meaningful gifts cost nothing.