At the top of his class Bryan Zamora is an elite student at Jefferson with the grades to back it up. Zamora has a 4.1 GPA, is Senior Cabinet President and was awarded the State Seal of Biliteracy, just to name a few of his accomplishments.
But things weren't always easy for Zamora. As an incoming freshman four years ago Zamora was balancing a lot of new changes in life. Moving to a new neighborhood, having a new baby sister and attending a new school. Starting his freshman year at Jefferson he was initially placed in English Language Learners(ELL). These classes are meant to help teach students whose primary language is not English learn the language better. Zamora is part of the 30% of students at Jefferson classified as English Language Learners.
Zamora had bigger plans for himself though. He requested to be put in regular classes with other native English speakers to push himself to speak the language more consistently. Challenging himself daily he interacted with classmates and studied the dictionary. By breaking the language barrier Zamora quickly realized that he was enjoying school more.
Zamora began to realize that some of his classmates from the ELL classes were disconnected from the school. He knew that many of his friends struggled to integrate into the high school community because of the language barrier narrowing down the peers they could interact with.
Not feeling like a part of the Jefferson community made some students feel unengaged to participate in school at all he says. So, during his freshman year Zamora and a few friends decided to create the International Club. As president and co-founder of the club he wanted to create a space where ELL students could become more engaged in school. The International Club hosts activities and community events as well as meetings to allow students to stay more informed and connected.
Giving back to his community is only the beginning of what Zamora has planned for his future. He has a passion for technology and has already begun his focus of study in at Jefferson in computer science. Outside of school Zamora was accepted into a coding program called, Teens Exploring Technology (TXT). This nonprofit organization was founded by Oscar Menjivar who is originally from Watts, a neighborhood also in South L.A. Menjivar created a program specifically for young minority boys to learn coding and entrepreneurship skills. This self-declared brotherhood says, "The future of our nation is a high quality STEM education for black and Latino boys."
Zamora says TXT was more than just geeking out over coding. He says it helped him develop his public speaking and critical thinking skills by engaging with students in the program. Also, his exposure to other students who went to college changed the way he saw his own future. TXT's mission focuses on young men developing interpersonal skills, and fosters the vision of students becoming leaders in their community and future careers.
Currently Zamora is getting his college applications ready. Like many high school students preparing to go off to college their major concern isn't just getting into the school of their choice but also being able to afford it. Many young students across America fear that paying for college could be impossible without landing financial aid or a scholarship.
The Princeton Review released a 2018 survey of over 9,000 high school students applying to college. The survey showed that: students top ten dreams schools included Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley and USC; 35% percent said the hardest part about applying was completing the applications for admission and financial aid; over the last four years parents and students biggest concern is the level of debt they will accumulate to pay for college.
The price of college tuition is not stopping Zamora from applying to Stanford. It also doesn't deter him from giving back to his community. He continues to dedicate his efforts to helping ELL students. Zamora previously interned with L.A. Unified Board of Education Vice President, Nick Melvoin and helped analyze and develop strategies of support for ELL students. Through TXT Zamora was also an assistant teacher who taught web development to transitional foster youth; he was chosen as the student representative of the Summer Coding Leadership Academy (SCLA) 2017 and developed two mobile applications during the program.
Zamora is currently set to graduate in spring 2019 and his formula for success to future coders is always knowing that successful people don't, "following paths they create the paths."