Send Latino tech scholar to Boston

Hello,


I am a Mexican-American 10th grade student from Watsonville, California who has always been fascinated with computers and technology.  My passion for what is new and digital has helped me make many friends and turn my hobby into a useful set of skills, but I have often worried that it was only a hobby, not something I could excel in or use to start a career.


I should explain who I am, and where I am from.  I am from a rural part of the country that is primarily Latino, heavily Spanish-speaking, and far more geared toward manual labor and agriculture than it is toward high tech industries and jobs.  Tech has always been seen as something best left to the Silicon Valley, which is about two hours away, not the Pajaro Valley, where I live.  On top of that, I face struggles that not every kid has to face, like having speech disfluency and a type of dyslexia which often causes me to misspell words, and being stuck in words like about (aaaabout) in the middle of a question asked by teachers. My disabilities doesn´t define who I am but makes me better, like Albert Einstein, who also had a speech disfluency and who became one of the most talented scientists in the world. Before I read about Albert Einstein’s disability, I thought that my disability was a barrier that held me back from accomplishing what I wanted.


At my school, a tiny public charter school, I work during my lunch break and after school to help fellow students with their Chromebooks, which every student in my school has, but very few know how to maintain.  This work started as favors to my friends when they had trouble, but has increased in scope to the point where I am sought out by teachers and administrators.  I work closely with our Director of Learning Technology, and the two of us are starting up a Student Tech Cadre in the upcoming quarter.


I recently received an unexpected letter in the mail.  I was nominated by my teachers to receive an award for “outstanding academic achievement, leadership potential, and determination to serve humanity in the field of science and technology” from the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists.  It was a surprise to learn that I was nominated -- and an even bigger surprise to learn that I was selected!


Now I am faced with an amazing opportunity that comes paired with a challenge.  I have been invited to a prestigious award ceremony that will include honored guests and speakers such as Robert Metcalfe, inventor of the ethernet; Buzz Aldrin, one of two people to first land on the moon; and Amy S. Hess who is a personal hero of mine, the executive director of FBI's Science and Technology Branch.  That is obviously one of the greatest opportunity. The challenge is that the ceremony, which my teachers and family all think I should attend, is over 3,000 miles away in Boston.  The total cost to attend is about $2,000, which is far more than my family can afford -- and I am too young to work the jobs that are available to me after school.


I have worked very hard to improve my reading and writing, bring up my grades, and pursue the interest I have in computers and technology.  Because I am used to working through things on my own, I was at a loss as to how I could ever raise enough money to attend this conference.  My friend and mentor Mr. Rich suggested that I start a GoFundMe campaign so that I could take advantage of all the connections that he and my teachers have made through college, work, and friendship over the years.  So while I am not usually one to ask for the help of this sort, I can appreciate the power in adding as many nodes to my network as possible.  If I can harness the power of a cloud of distributed computers to write my campaign in Google Docs, I should be willing to harness a cloud of distributed people who might be willing to help.


Thank you for reading, and thank you for helping me to attend this conference across the country.  I hope it becomes one out of many opportunities along my journey.