The Bennett Scholars Breakfast 2026
Please Join Us
Thursday, March 26, 2026
9:00 am - 10:00 am
Registration Opens 8:15 am
Registration Opens 8:15 am
Join the GMS community to hear Keynote Speaker Eileen Donahoe speak about her experience as a human rights activist & former U.S. Ambassador, and Distinguished Bennett Scholar Alum Speaker Samaria Bernales '12 share the impact of a Bennett Scholars Scholarship on her education and career.
The Bennett Scholars Breakfast is an annual celebration of GMS, our values, and our community. The school’s only fundraising event of the year, the Breakfast plays an essential role in GMS’s ability to fully support the Bennett Scholars Program, which provides scholarships and wraparound support to ten high-achieving girls per grade who are from under-resourced communities and often represent the first generation in their families to be college bound.
In 2026, GMS’s goal is to raise $1.6M for the program. Proceeds from table sponsorships, ticket sales, and donations on the day of the event all go towards funding ten scholarships for the 2026-2027 school year. Past speakers have included Vice President Kamala Harris, Former Senator Barbara Boxer, Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Jessica Aguirre, Cecile Richards, Sheryl Sandberg, Stacy Brown-Philpot, Cori Duncan, and, most recently in 2025, Tara VanDerveer.
Become a Sponsor
$10,000 Celebration Sponsor - 10 tickets with priority seating
$5,500 Inspiration Sponsor - 8 tickets with priority seating
$3,500 Innovation Sponsor - 8 tickets
Purchase an Individual Ticket
$200 per ticket
All tickets include admission, breakfast, and parking.
Keynote Speaker: Eileen Donahoe
Eileen Donahoe served as US Special Envoy for Digital Freedom at the Department of State during the Biden administration and as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva during the Obama administration. She is a co-founder and an affiliated scholar at Stanford’s Global Digital Policy Incubator, at the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. She recently started Sympatico Ventures - an investing and grant-making fund focused on AI alignment.
Earlier in her career, she served as the Director of Global Affairs at Human Rights Watch and was a technology litigator at Fenwick & West in Silicon Valley. Eileen serves as Vice Chair of the National Endowment for Democracy Board of Direcors, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Board of Directors, and Dartmouth College Board of Trustees. She holds the following degrees: BA, Dartmouth; J.D., Stanford Law School; MA East Asian Studies, Stanford; M.T.S., Harvard; and Ph.D., Ethics & Social Theory, GTU Cooperative Program with UC Berkeley. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Distinguished Bennett Scholar Alum Speaker: Samaria Bernales '12
Samaria Bernales is a proud Mexican-Guatemalan alum from the GMS Class of 2012. Today, Samaria serves as a Physical Health Support professional at Hazel Health–the largest school-based telehealth provider for children nationwide–where she supports clinical care through medical interpretation and contributes to a variety of impactful cross-functional projects.
After her time at GMS, Samaria went on to graduate from Woodside High School in 2016 before earning her Bachelor’s degree in Management Business & Economics, with a minor in Spanish, from the University of California, Merced in 2020. During her time at UC Merced, she was awarded a scholarship from Univision, the international television network, where she supported initiatives focused on improving high school systems to better serve students. She is currently completing a Business certification through Stanford University.
Samaria is passionate about community-centered work and dedicated to advancing mission-driven initiatives that support children and families directly. Outside of her professional life, she enjoys photography, traveling, and fitness.
We recognize that not everyone will be able to attend the Breakfast. We encourage you to consider making a gift or pledge in support of The Bennett Scholars Program. Your gift will be recognized in our Annual Report.
Thank you to Google Cloud for serving as a corporate sponsor for this event! If your company is interested in being a corporate sponsor, please reach out to advancement@girlsms.org