Honoring Mike Wood: Champion for Educational Equity
In loving memory of Mike Wood, a longtime friend, advocate, and champion of Bridge the Gap, we are deeply honored that his family has asked for donations to be made in his name.
Mike believed deeply in educational equity and in the potential of every student. His commitment and generosity have left a lasting mark on our work—and in our hearts.
Members of our team who worked closely with Mike shared this about his impact:
“Smarty Ants was an incredible gift Mr. Wood shared with Marin City youth. The program he created was extremely captivating for our students and provided amazing literacy support. Smarty Ants enhanced our academic program and made a huge impact on the educational experience of our Bridge The Gap students.” – Hope, BTG Staff
“Michael Wood, known as ‘Mr. Mike,’ to all of the students and staff of the Sausalito Marin City School District (SMCSD), brought a program that he developed called Smarty Ants, to the after school program at Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Marin City, in 2015. Along with the Tiburon Rotary Club, he supplied laptops and tablets so that we had a way to use the program. Mike would visit with the students two or three times per week to personally work with each student to ensure that they were understanding the program and learning to read. To celebrate their milestones in the program, Mike would send each student home with their own personalized sheet cake and have weekly pizza parties. When he wasn’t able to be present, Mike would call to chat about the students’ progress. To this day we use Smarty Ants over the summer to keep students reading over the break. We also use Smarty Ants when students need a little extra help or as a fun activity to do on the computer. Mike really cared about the students and staff of SMCSD. He was a great friend and will be greatly missed.” – Shayla, Marin City Library Staff
