The Bay Area is considered a haven for opportunity, especially in the technology sector. However, it’s not exactly an equal opportunity; those in underserved communities don’t often have the same access to jobs in the tech field.
LatinXTech is out to change that.
The members of the nonprofit, consisting of Mountain View High School seniors, teach computer programming to elementary students with limited resources.
Ryan Tellado, who founded the organization in 2023, said he came up with the idea while volunteering at a local homeless shelter, where he met a boy interested in video-game design.
“I was thinking of kids like him who are really passionate about creating something and would put in the effort to do something like that,” Tellado said. “I feel like anyone with the right foundation and passion can get started and make a real impact in the field (and) I wanted to create opportunities for them.”
Tellado added that while he was talking to his friends about his idea, many became interested and wanted to join him. Soon, LatinXTech was founded with Tellado as president, Axel Edin as vice president, Rohan Dempsey as chief finance officer, David Zimmerman as chief marketing officer and Timothy Chen as chief logistics officer, Tellado said.
The group used the next couple of months to set up, with members emailing multiple Title I elementary schools in the area to see if they could hold workshops there, Tellado said.
Their first workshop was held last fall at Landels Elementary School in Mountain View, where they taught students how to use the computer program Scratch, Edin said.
“The direct impact we have on the kids we’re teaching is really amazing,” Edin said. “We see this like passion and joy in these kids and it is better than we anticipated. We are happy that it worked out like how we imagined. That is what we aim to do.”
Many of the students enjoyed the workshop so thoroughly that they felt the need to give back, Dempsey said. A group of students approached the volunteers and handed them an envelope with cash they had raised to support the project, according to Chen. Another student completely fleshed out the project they had focused on at the workshop on his own time and brought it in to show the volunteers, Chen added.
“It made me feel like we were actually like doing something (and) that this wasn’t just another activity that you were trying to put on your college resume,” Chen said. “I was actually like doing something that had an impact that I cared about.”
LatinXTech’s big break came during the summer of senior year, when Tellado was invited to a conference held by the Youth Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California. There, Tellado said he made connections with other Latinx students who were interested in the same issues.
“I presented the work that I was doing with (LatinXTech) and just preached to as many people who I felt would want to take on this role in their communities,” Tellado said. “It was pretty amazing to see how many student leaders did step up to launch their own initiatives in their own communities.”
Tellado added he kept talking with the students after the conference ended and many started chapters in their schools. Because of the expansion, the founders went from having overlapping responsibilities to more individualistic roles such as communicating with other chapters, setting up a standardized curriculum and managing finances, Edin said.
The founders made sure chapters had the freedom to teach what they wanted, Edin said. While the founding branch mainly teaches Scratch, other chapters focus on a wide range of STEM topics from biology to robotics, Dempsey said.
“The work at LatinXTech is super inspiring and fresh,” Tellado said. “No one is going to tell you that your idea is bad, you can implement it and see what happens. When those ideas do come to life and you see that the kids are really excited to learn, it is really reaffirming that the work we’re doing is making a difference.”
Edin said he is proud of the impact he is making with LatinXTech and the growth he has seen both in himself and his team members.
“I remember when we started,” Edin said. “We were in English class, creating slideshows, trying to contact schools. We weren’t sure exactly where it was going. Now, everyone has really grown into it. I hope that people seeing this will be encouraged to also try to contribute. Just find something you’re passionate about and just spread it to others. It will have a much more positive impact than you think.”
To donate to LatinXTech and for more information on the organization, visit latinxtech.info.
