I came into REDI Lab not knowing what to expect, not knowing what I wanted my project to be about, and having no idea where to start. From the moment I walked in, I could tell that what I was going to do during my time at REDI Lab wouldn’t look anything like traditional school. My assumption was correct. From the start, I noticed that REDI Lab allows you to expand on your own ideas rather than follow a strict curriculum. I had never learned like this before, and honestly, it was scary at first to learn in such an open and independent way.
At first, I was fixated on the idea that my project had to be perfect. This mindset made me struggle because I didn’t know what my project was going to be about, what I was going to do, or how I was going to do it. Later, I realized that this was the real problem: having a fixed mindset was holding my ideas back.
One fact I learned at the beginning of REDI Lab helped kick-start my project: Martin Luther King Jr. once got a C in public speaking. I immediately asked myself, how did one of the most influential public speakers get a C in public speaking? I thought about it for a moment and realized it wasn’t his fault; it was the curriculum’s fault. He didn’t have the same perspective on public speaking that was expected of him.
That realization inspired me to start my project and get my ideas out there, even though I still had more question marks than answers. I began to understand that uncertainty is not a bad thing but a good thing that provides room for growth in your idea. From that, I started to question myself on what my values are and what is my why. After some thought, I concluded that one of my biggest values is education and being able to go to a prestigious university. I thought about that on a bigger scale, and I realized there are many motivated and focused students that were not able to pursue post-secondary education — not because of lack of determination or focus, but because of lack of money. And this is the reason I decided to create ScholarBridge, a foundation that aims to support high school Latino students in their goals and aspirations of pursuing post-secondary education, whether it’s college or trade school.
Even though I’m still at the beginning of my journey, nothing is official yet, and I still lack funding, I hope that in the upcoming years I am able to make this dream a reality and be able to accomplish my long-term goal of helping out students like me who are motivated by school but need help money-wise with education.
