Pedro Reyes

Low-income students and students of color have been less likely to take advanced math and science classes. Growing up in the San Fernando Valley gave me the opportunity to meet and have friends that went to San Fernando High School. A couple years ago, I learned that girls from the school had partnered up with a non-profit organization to create a solar-powered tent to tackle homelessness and I thought to myself “Wow, that’s amazing!”. As I look back at that moment, I have always thought about all the great things people can do if they had the right resources and opportunities as everyone else.  Success For All (SFA) is an organization that supports girls and boys grades 5th-12th in science, technology, engineering, and math. The organization is located across LA and focuses on helping children in under-resourced communities. The organization encourages young boys and girls to explore these subjects and help them envision themselves in a career as a scientist or engineer. Their mis...

  I think in order to make the world a better place, it has to start with us humans. Before we start to focus on things like education, jobs, and other resources, it is important that we first realize in order to make the world a better place, we have to tackle the root problem: ourselves. When I say this, I mean the relationship people have with one another and the notion of equality. The world can’t be a better place if we don’t learn how to eradicate things like racism, stereotypes, and inequalities. This has to be the first step. The first step has to be to understand basic human rights and the importance of truly making everyone “created equal to every human being on the planet”. This has been a saying that has gone on for many years, but there’s no validity to it. We have seen people constantly attacked and mistreated for the color of their skin, the language they speak, or for the way they behave. The first step to make the world a better place has to be to teach and help hu...