2016-17

Alina Guerra
Alina Guerra was born in El Sereno, CA and raised in El Sereno/East Los Angeles. She graduated from CÁLO YouthBuild (YouthBuild Charter’s Boyle Height’s campus) in June 2016. She is currently attending California Miramar University where she is studying Business. After earning her degree, Alina hopes attend USC to receive her Masters in Social Work. What keeps her striving is the promise she made to her grandma before she passed, which was to be the first one in the family to attend college, make it big, and get out of the struggle.

Fernanda Garcia
Fernanda Garcia was born and raised in South Los Angeles. She is 25 years old and currently attending Los Angeles Trade Technical College as a freshman. She graduated and obtained her high school diploma from YouthBuild Charter School of California's South LA site at CRCD. She is proud to be the first in her family to obtain a high school diploma and enroll in college. Although her major is currently undecided, Fernanda knows she wants to be in a field that allows her to help others somehow. What keeps her going is the passion to become educated because she knows that with an education she can have a better future. She is happy to be surrounded by people who support her and motivate her to give it her all, so that she can obtain her degree.

Saul Castano
Saul Castano is 18 years old and was born and raised in South Los Angeles. He is a graduate of YouthBuild Charter School's South LA campus at All People's Community Center. Saul is currently attending Abraham Friedman Occupational Center where he is taking a Graphic Design class. While enrolled at YouthBuild Charter, Saul participated in CODEchella, where he learned how to code in HTML and CSS. After completing his class at Friedman, Saul plans to enroll at Los Angeles City College and eventually transfer to UCLA for Graphic Design and Animation. He chose those fields of study because he finds it amazing how people can create different worlds and experiences with computer technology.

Jose "Niko" Salas
Niko Salas was born in Compton and raised in Inglewood and Lennox, CA. After coming out during his freshman year of high school, Niko experienced animosity at home, causing him to lose focus on school and his future. After three years of struggling to find stable housing and working jobs that were going nowhere, Niko found CCEO YouthBuild in Lennox. At YouthBuild, Niko was afforded many opportunities and grew into a natural leader. He graduated as Salutatorian of his program in 2013. After graduating from YouthBuild, Niko served for two years as an AmeriCorps VISTA member at YouthBuild Charter, where he was in charge of alumni relations. He currently works for CCEO YouthBuild. Niko also serves on the YouthBuild California State Alumni Council, which aims to encourage alumni and future graduates to take leadership roles in their communities by developing voices and action for change. He is currently attending El Camino College and hopes to one day become a director of his own YouthBuild program.

Kenny Altamirano
Kenny Altamirano is from Gardena/Inglewood, CA and graduated from YouthBuild Charter School of California in 2011. A recipient of the Janis Matero Art Scholarship, Kenny is currently attending Los Angeles Southwest College and has only six more credits to complete before he plans to transfer to a four-year university to continue his studies in Art. His interest in art began at the age of seventeen, when he realized art was a way he could express himself. Art has impacted his life because it helps through tough times and releases stress. Although he has natural artistic talent, he likes that he can further develop his skills as an artist by taking more formal art courses in college. Kenny plans to eventually further his education by obtaining his MFA, so that he can teach as a professor in community college. He wants to be able to teach the history of art and the power of art. Kenny was the first person in his family to graduate high school and attend community college. He is glad that the Education Is Forever Scholarship Program is helping him make his educational dreams and vision into reality.

Francisco Martines
Francisco Martines is a 2015 graduate of YouthBuild Charter School of California's Inglewood site at the Youth Justice Coalition. He is currently studying Sociology at Santa Monica College. He hopes to become a probation officer to help youth like himself who were locked up and dealt with substance abuse (he is almost two years sober now). Francisco wants to change the juvenile justice system from the inside out and help youth that are system impacted to attend college, achieve their dreams, and make a difference in their own community. He recognizes that there aren't many Chicanos that want to be a probation officers, and he wants to inspire youth to find their identity and their voice so that they can be someone important. At SMC, Francisco serves as Vice President of the Homeboy & Homegirls Club and also created a substance abuse program there for students. He continues to work with the Youth Justice Coalition and participates in a men's circle group there where he helps other young people. Additionally, he works with Operation Street Kids alongside his mentor Jojo Sanchez. Francisco is also a member of the LA Brown Berets.

Amber Duron
Amber Duron is a 2016 graduate of CÁLO YouthBuild (YouthBuild Charter School's Boyle Heights campus.) While at YouthBuild, Amber won the Resilience Award, the Student Mother Award, the Outstanding Attendance Award, and the Little Steve Jobs Award at CODEchella, where she also earned a Certificate of Achievement for 40 hours of web design in HTML, CSS and Java. She also has a fantastic motivator-- her daughter. Amber enrolled at YouthBuild just two weeks after giving birth to her daughter, and it changed her whole perspective on life. Amber is currently attending East Los Angles College, where she is studying Computer Science. After completing her Associate's, she hopes to transfer to the USC Viterbi School for Engineering and continue her studies in Computer Programming/ Computer Science. Amber likes computer programming because it involves dealing with challenging problems. Amber's mother always told her, "If you love your job it's not a job," and that's how Amber feels about programming.

Jennifer Sacayon
Jennifer Sacayon is a 2016 graduate of YouthBuild Charter School's South LA campus at All People's Community Center. She is currently enrolled at Santa Monica College, where she is studying Chemistry. After she receive's her Associate's, she plans to continue her studies in Chemistry at UCLA or Pepperdine and eventually get her Doctorate. Jennifer credits her love of chemistry to having an amazing chemistry teacher who taught the subject in a way that was easy to understand. After her teacher brought up the fact that chemists got paid well, Jennifer decided to look into the job more and realized it would be perfect since she could make good money and have fun doing it. Jennifer also loves makeup and realized majoring in chemistry could land her a job working for makeup companies where she could formulate new products. Jennifer thanks YouthBuild for helping her overcome her lack of ambition and pushing her to do things out of her comfort-zone. According to Jennifer, "Once I found the confidence I needed, I kept pushing and pushing to better my work as a student. Because I am a strong leader now, I can advocate for myself, which comes in handy in college. With the life skills and traits I received from YouthBuild, failure is just a mindset that I have dropped and replaced with optimism and industriousness."

Aura Xec
Aura Xec is a 2015 graduate of YouthBuild Charter School's South LA campus at All People's Community Center. She is currently studying Humanities at Pasadena City College. Her dream is to become a social worker. After she completes her AA, she hopes to transfer to New York University to finish her Bachelor's degree and eventually earn her Masters in Social Work. Helping others has always been a lifetime goal of Aura's. At a very young age her mom taught her that it was better to give than to receive. "There were many careers I could have chosen," Aura says, "but social work has a very special place in my life." Aura would like to give back to children who need help because she had a tough childhood herself. Separated from her parents at the age of 8, Aura and her siblings lived in Guatemala while her parents moved to the U.S. to try to support them. "Growing up I decided that if I were to make it to college, I would want to become someone who helps children. I want to help kids the way someone should have helped my siblings and me. If I want to graduate college, I know I will need so much support because I will be the first person in my family to ever take this path."

Griselda Martinez
Griselda Martinez is a 2016 graduate of LA CAUSA YouthBuild (YouthBuild Charter's East L.A. campus.) She currently attends East Los Angeles College, where she is studying Psychology. The daughter of immigrants, Griselda grew up in a very tough neighborhood in East L.A., where she witnessed on a daily basis kids getting jumped by other kids that were involved with gangs. Weekends were filled with the sounds of gunshots, and Griselda's parents never let her go out and play with friends. Griselda was excited to be the first in her family to graduate from high school and go to college. After she completes her Associate's, Griselda plans to transfer to Cal State LA and major in Criminal Justice. Her goals and aspirations in life are to get a career (not just a job), own her own car, live in a nice home, build a family, and live a good life. "I know that in life the only way you can be successful is through education," Griselda says. "It’s never too late to fix your mistakes and refocus on your education."

2016-17 Scholars