SALINAS VALLEY DREAM ACADEMY
WE INSPIRE. WE ENGAGE. WE EMPOWER.
ABOUT
Salinas Valley Dream Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit youth leadership organization that is inspiring, engaging and empowering high school students to strive for higher education while at the same time becoming active participants and servant leaders in their community. It is composed of 100 students each year from throughout the Salinas Valley who participate in various activities and life-changing experiences designed to sharpen their understanding of the potential they have to live powerful lives and positively impact the community around them. As part of the Academy, students hold Saturday meetings at the Cesar Chavez Library in East Salinas where they participate in team-building and leadership activities, engage community leaders as part of a dynamic speakers’ series, participate in community service activities, visit and explore numerous colleges and universities, and fundraise to take a year-end educational trips to the East Coast or Europe. In short, Dream Academy envisions a community where youth are inspired to dream and empowered to act.
VISIONARY / MAIN ORGANIZER
“I truly believe that exposure to coding... can change the lives of so many young people in our community- I know it changed mine!”
Hello! My name is Marco Pizarro-Silva and I am a senior at Salinas High School. I am a fun-loving teenager who is fascinated by innovation and making everything I do as creative and efficient as possible. The Dream Academy, the organization that I helped found, has been an integral part of every fabric of my life and it has inspired me to reach for the stars, has helped me to develop a love for tech, and has developed in me the desire to help my community. One of my favorite pastimes is coding; my ROV team and I were honored to win second place against colleges and universities in the highest division of the MATE International ROV Competition and last year I founded my own robotics team -- NextGen ROV. I have been fortunate enough to have participated in 4 different hackathons at the University of Michigan, San Francisco, and at UPenn twice. These have been amazing experiences that have helped me learn and grow immensely. I have been blessed in so many ways and my dream is to continue to use my love of technology, theater, and business to bless others who have not had the same opportunities which is why I have been working hard alongside my family and so many community members to make this hackathon a reality for students in our local middle and high schools. I truly believe that exposure to coding and learning about the many opportunities in the tech industry can change the lives of so many young people in our community- I know it changed mine!