Del Mar Elementary School students walked into the campus multipurpose room Thursday, awaiting potential recognition and scholarship money.

The event, run by the local nonprofit Success From Within, has become a monthly ritual for Del Mar pupils. The pupils greet the organization’s founder and president, AJ Rassamni, who in turn gives them with high-fives and hugs.

Rassamni and community members take the stage, preaching the importance of self-belief and hard work before teachers announce recipients from their class. Each child’s name is met with thunderous applause from their peers with some shouting out congratulations.

“Your success comes from within, not from your environment, not from the family, not from friends. It is up to you,” Rassamni said. “You need to make that decision. You need see where you want to be in the future and then work on it today within yourself.”

$10 Incentives for Reaching Goals

Success From Within is working to foster this mindset in youth, hoping to improve student outcomes and success. In 2024, the organization began the Wind and Wave Scholarship Program, aimed at doing just that.

The nonprofit grants $10 scholarships for most improved behavior and most improved attendance in each class. And every three months, the organization ups the awards, honoring six students in each class for academic achievement.

New categories are added: top performer in reading, top performer in math, most improved in reading, and most improved in math. The honorees are determined by using i-Ready online individualized lessons and assessments.

“Success From Within really works on building the child’s growth mindset that they can set goals and reach those goals,” said Del Mar principal Nicole Woods. “And through that we’ve been seeing improvements in attendance, in behavior and in academics as well.”

Nonprofit Hopes to Expand Scholarships to Other Schools

Success From Within is piloting the scholarship program, currently in its second year, at Del Mar and measuring its success.

The nonprofit targeted Del Mar because it has many socioeconomically disadvantaged students. The school, which is a feeder for Fresno High, was identified for support by Go Public Schools based on 2024-25 statistics.

Del Mar has improved in math and English language arts, and students now are working to achieve “even bigger gains,” Woods said.

The school is on track for the district’s literacy intervention goal with more than 33.3% of students a year or more behind in SBAC making at least one year’s growth.

“When we think about scholarship, we think about success academically. And so it does really help them improve and work toward that academic success,” Woods said.

Now, Rassamni is working to show these results to community investors, so the program can expand across Fresno Unified.

“We’re going to go one step at a time, so hopefully next year we’ll have five schools or 10 schools, ” Rassamni said. “As we have the proven results that people can see, I know we can raise that money.”

Rassamni is a candidate for Fresno City Council District 7.