The Del Pilar Leadership Academy is filled with anywhere from 25-40 plus freshman students at San Luis Obispo High School helping better themselves and the community.
At one time, the group was using their energies to be disruptive in school according to members that I talked spoke to. But instead of punishment, they were given the opportunity to organize and use that energy for something positive; thus, the Del Pilar Leadership Academy was born.
“We could put it into something that's good for our community and for us," Freshman Christopher Estrada said.
Greg Gillett is a lawyer in San Luis Obispo with his own practice. He saw an opportunity to help create a curriculum that:
“recognizes the students’ socioeconomic circumstances and ethnic backgrounds, aiming to integrate them effectively in the school community and promote holistic cultural change in the educational environment.”
“We're more diverse every year that goes by," Gillett explained of the educational system in San Luis Obispo. "We really need to address the needs of those populations. And each individual student. “
Through Del Pilar, kids like Sergio Vargas are integrating themselves into the student body and becoming more confident.
“It started like changing me personally because like I was able to go and say hi to people I've never talked to,” Vargas said.
In addition to learning the life skills like organization and accountability, the group came up with two main goals: Attend a speech and/or meet former President Obama and conduct a community service project that attracts the attention of famed Youtube creator MrBeast.
“These are very, very smart young men that are very, very capable," Gillett re-emphasized. "We just have to give them the tools and we'll be reading about them in a positive light for the rest of our lives.”
Overall, they want to inspire both change in themselves and others.
“What excites me the most is like just basically improving ourselves and being better than what we were before,” Vargas stated.
“in a way, [we want to] rebrand and be in a way, inspiration," Estrada added.
The Del Pilar Leadership Academy will be present at Saturday’s Love Laguna Middle School campus beautification. The group will also be traveling to Sacramento May 16 to immerse themselves in the state government system by talking state representatives to help show what’s possible for them in the future.
