Eric Tran is a senior at Skyline High School who is concerned about the endless stories close to home about violence in his community. Unfortunately some people learn street smarts through a bad experience, so Eric is determined to research and develop a new way for his community members to avoid theft and assault.

Fiona Blackburn is a motivated young leader who is currently a junior at ACLC. She loves volunteering in her community and helping animals, particularly Toucans. She is a strong believer that everyone deserves to be heard and we should support those who do not have a voice. With her passions in mind she has planned a couple different fundraisers in her community to raise awareness about environmental and animal rights issues. She’s growing a artistic tree at school where each leaf hosts a person’s name that has contribute to her project supporting Cool Earth and the World Wildlife Fund.

Florinda Calmo is a senior at Skyline High School who immigrated to the U.S. in 5th grade. She remembers her struggles growing up without speaking very much the English language, and being pushed into unfamiliar territory. Her struggles have become her passion to help educate young people who experience English as a Foreign Language. For her FLI project, she designed and led workshops for elementary school students to realize the positivity and uniqueness of growing up with English as a second or even third language.

Britney Brooks is a senior at Skyline High School who is inspring her peers, teachers, and community to learn more about the environment and ways each individual can contribute to improving our world. On Tuesday, March 27th Britney held an Environmental Fair full of information and games to learn more about global warming, carbon footprints, compost, recycling, and Bay Area environmental organizations. Everyone walked away with new knowledge and a pledge to help the environment in a new way. Britney will be following up with all who attended to make sure all pledges are fulfilled!

Joe Mangahas & Jerek Rettinghouse are learners at ACLC who are passionate about sports and supporting youth access to the equipment and benefits of athletics.  The duo will be working with the local community to raise awareness about the lack of resources abroad and hope to collect sporting equipment for youth in the Philippines.

Fatima Zelanda, Francesca Marinez, and Shemuel Ong from Gateway High School recognize the equity divide between citizens and immigrants in the United States. As they explore immigration and economic justice, they plan to address issues facing immigrants in the United States through their FLI project.

Narda & Vanessa are seniors at Skyline High School who are passionate about art. At the Declare 2011 event they connected with students and alumni at other schools who share the same passion. Together they created a vision of creating a legacy for unknown heroes. They are currently deep in research and with their artistic talents they will be creating a mural to celebrate our history’s leaders that deserve to be recognized and honored for years to come.