Luis Toledo, 19, Environmental Science
“I know environmental racism is a huge thing and a lot of these individuals, they don’t have a voice because they are people of color and so I kind of want to be that voice. If you’re a black or brown person, a lot of the times having white teachers kind of discourages you from thinking highly of yourself and your academic career, so on that side, you try to maintain a sense of self confidence while you’re in college. Being first generation of immigrant parents, and seeing how hard they struggled and what they did to get here just so that my siblings and I could have a better life definitely motivates me to do good in school cause I kind of owe it to them and myself.”