Roman Garcia Martinez , a student at Skyline High School, was inducted into the 100 High School Students America Needs to Know About. ™ He was chosen out of thousands of students.
Roman is a dedicated and driven student. He and his family have faced financial difficulties, discrimination, and hardship. Instead of using these struggles as an excuse to do nothing, Roman used it as a lens through which he looks at the world and sees education as the key to betterment and hope — for himself, his family, and the whole of society. He is committed to attending college, takes AP courses, a member of his school STEM program, and a delegate in his school Model UN program, and works many hours a week outside of school.
Roman is the youngest-ever shift lead at Dutch Bros. Coffee. Roman wanted to pursue a career in medicine. However, after his work in AP Seminar, which focused on the gravest dangers to American democracy, he has decided to double major in political science and sociology. Roman sees the power that education has to put him on a path toward success, and, more impressively, he finds absolute joy in learning.
Over the summer, Roman attended Aquetza, a ten-day leadership program for Latinos from all over the state of Colorado hosted by the University of Colorado Boulder. There he learned powerful tools to fight against injustice, racism, inequality, and to fight for fairness, compassion, empathy, and equity. More than anything, Roman wants to make a difference in his community, and he has taken the leadership skills he’s acquired at Aquetza to the Longmont Youth Center and put them to work. Roman is determined to make his community, our state, and, eventually, the country better for ALL people. Roman is an example of what is right in our country, of what is good, and of what is possible.