Carlos and Stefan Piedrasanta are brothers, alumni of LearnServe programs, and both recipients of the prestigious Posse Scholarship program. We talked with them recently to learn more about their experiences as LearnServe students and Posse Scholars, as well as the connections they draw between the two programs.
How were you involved in LearnServe? What social challenges did you focus on in our programs?
Carlos: I participated in the LearnServe Fellows program back in 2014. I chose to focus my social venture on addressing the issue of educational inequity in my home town of Rockville, Maryland. The mission of my venture was to provide one-on-one mentorship opportunities for a local elementary school, by pairing high school students with specific 5th graders who lived in at-risk environments.
Stefan: LearnServe has been a big part of my life for the past two years. I began as part of the LearnServe Fellows program. I had heard about it from my brother Carlos because he had done it when he was a sophomore, and I was very excited about the program. My venture focused on education, secondary education specifically. It involved a mentorship program between high schoolers and at-risk middle school students. At the end of the program, the mentors and the students would meet with the middle schoolers’ parents and share a portfolio of what steps would be helpful for them to take next. After going through the Fellows program, I knew that LearnServe was something I wanted to keep in my life.
I then participated in the LearnServe Abroad program, traveling to Zambia. Here we taught classes, painted schools, met social change and community leaders, worked with our peers in Zambia to help tackle problems of local deforestation, and enjoyed a wonderful experience.
Over the next school year I stayed involved with Learnserve as part of the LearnServe Alumni Ambassador program. It was really great to be able to help the current fellows form their own social ventures.
Did your experiences with LearnServe change how you interact with the world?
Carlos: Service is a lifestyle, not a pastime. It takes dedication, commitment, and sacrifice. LearnServe taught me how to advocate for myself and actualize my aspirations. Participating made me realize my passion for educational equity, and it was one of the first places where I was introduced to the power and possibility in education.
Stefan: My experiences with Learnserve have really helped me continue to impact my community, specifically through school clubs. As I grew older in high school I also became an officer in many of my clubs. I used the skills I learned from LearnServe to create mission and vision statements, smart goals, and a budget for these student organizations. One of the main things I took away from LearnServe was collaboration. After the program I was always looking to highlight the best in other people, as well as talk to them about things they don’t like in the world. Specifically I would ask them the LearnServe question, “what pisses you off?” I really enjoy having tough conversations about hard topics, and LearnServe helped me speak about those things constructively.
What is it like being a Posse Scholar? Is there a connection in your mind between LearnServe and the Posse Scholarship Program?
Carlos: LearnServe was the catalyst for my journey to college. It connected me to the Posse Scholarship opportunity and prepared me to be a scholar.
Living my early years in Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Mozambique I grew up in an environment where fighting for social justice was expected and demanded by my parents. When we moved to the United States, participating in LearnServe taught me how to advocate for myself, discover my voice in environments where I was often silent, and most importantly internalize the idea that service is a lifestyle and not a pastime. LearnServe gave me the confidence to enroll in the International Baccalaureate Program at my high school, a program where the majority of students did not look like me or live close to me. After an immense amount of hard work and support, I became a Posse Scholar and actualized my dream of going to college. Not only did LearnServe nominate me for the scholarship, but my mentors at LearnServe encouraged me to pursue it and helped shaped me into a person who would thrive in an environment like Posse.
Through my experiences I began to learn more about the systemic inequity within the education system that held back my friends who were not afforded the same opportunities I was. What my family, LearnServe, and Posse did and continue to do for me symbolizes a necessary systemic change that I believe will help students actualize their aspirations and overcome obstacles to getting a quality education. LearnServe inspired me to continue the work I began as a 10th grader, and so I established Connecting Grinnellians, a student-led organization that collaborates with members of the community to address the issue of educational inequity within the Grinnell-Newburg education system. Through the implementation of Access Programs we have been able to provide students with free resources such as food, clothes, and shoes as well as specialized academic assistance.
Stefan: One main thing I have realized through the Posse Scholarship program is the power of diversity. I have learned that diversity does not only include different cultures, but also different life experiences, values, and communities. The more we can be exposed to different things and challenged by different things the better. I have also learned how important it is to be able to work as a group. A leader alone is one thing, but a group of leaders that can grow together is another.
LearnServe and Posse are very connected in my mind. Besides the fact that LearnServe nominated me for the Posse Scholarship, a lot of the values in the two programs are similar. Each program highlights the power that different minds can bring together to make change. LearnServe specifically looks at the power and creativity that is within the minds of teens. While Posse primarily focuses on bringing change through diversity. Each program also teaches skills and provides training for how to make change in your community. Learnserve definitely helped me improve my communication skills and leadership, which helped me throughout the Posse process.
What would you like young changemakers to understand about social entrepreneurship?
Carlos: I would like to emphasize that true leadership is not a person’s ability to make others believe in them, but rather a person’s ability to make others believe in themselves. Service should be community-driven, structured in a way that is sustainable, and managed cooperatively and collaboratively. Service is not an individual endeavor ‒ it is not something you pursue to make yourself feel better, but rather something you dedicate your life to and actively seek out. Service is not easy, but that’s what makes it life-changing.
Stefan: The first key point I would like young changemakers to understand about social entrepreneurship is that it is hard, especially as someone who is young. However, it is important not to give up. A lot of the time, the things that are hardest in life are worth it the most. Another point is to just keep talking. Always talk about what you’re working on or what you want to see changed. You never know when a conversation could help with your venture. Also, the more people you tell, the more accountable you are to actually follow through.
That leads to my final point ‒ to stick with it. No matter how difficult or frustrating things get, always remember that the goal is to help bring change, and you can’t give up on your cause.