Justine Stamen Arrillaga
Justine Stamen Arrillaga is the Founder and Co-Chair of the Board of The TEAK Fellowship, a program that helps talented New York City students from low-income families gain admission to and succeed at top high schools and colleges.  Along with academic support, TEAK provides leadership training, exposure to the arts and outdoors, mentoring, career experience, and assistance with the high school and college application processes.  Today, TEAK serves 150 Fellows and 100 Alumni.
 
Justine's vision was to create a program that would help young people overcome economic handicaps and cultivate their personal assets.  The death of a former student, DeWitt White, inspired her to turn that vision into reality.  DeWitt was a gifted pianist whose talent defied the poverty and hardship that surrounded him.  In the end, the odds against him were too high; he was murdered in 1997 at the age of 17.  His life, and death, reinforced for Justine the importance of giving all young people the chance to use their gifts.  In January 1998, at the age of 28, Justine founded The TEAK Fellowship in memory of both DeWitt White and her friend Teak Dyer.  Justine and TEAK have been featured in The New York Times, People, Money, and other national publications.
 
For eight years, Justine served as Executive Director of The TEAK Fellowship and managed its growth.  During that time, Justine worked with the staff and Board to place six classes of Fellows into academically selective high schools with full or almost-full financial aid.  TEAK has placed the Fellows in top high schools including Andover, Collegiate, Deerfield, Exeter, Spence, and more than 50 others.  Colleges and universities attended by TEAK Fellows include Amherst, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Wesleyan, and Yale.  In 2004, TEAK reached its goal of full capacity (150 students in 7th through 12th grade).
 
Since inception, TEAK has helped one hundred percent of its active Fellows earn admission to one or more academically selective high schools.  They have secured over $24 million in need-based financial aid, representing ninety-five percent of their total tuition.  One hundred percent of the active Fellows in the first six TEAK classes graduated from high school and were accepted at one or more colleges and universities.  These 120 students collectively earned $17 million in need-based scholarships and financial aid.  Twenty-five percent of Alumni matriculated to Ivy League universities and 63% matriculated to other top tier schools.
 
A fourth generation Californian, Justine grew up in Los Angeles and attended Westlake School for Girls.  After graduating from Brown University in 1992, she lived and worked in New York City for thirteen years.  From 1993 to 1995, Justine was Assistant Director of The Tiger Foundation at Tiger Management, where her responsibilities included evaluating hundreds of community-based programs and co-managing millions of dollars in grants.  From 1995 to 1997, she was Director of Summerbridge at Riverdale, an academic enrichment program in the Bronx.
 
Justine is a painter and volunteers at the Veteran's Administration and Fisher House.  She is a trustee of the Fund for Teachers.  Justine and her husband, John Arrillaga, Jr., have three sons.