Issue link: http://fairmont.uberflip.com/i/1511157
ALUMNI ACTION! BRIDGING THE OPPORTUNITY GAP IN JOB ACQUISITION E arning a spot on Forbes' "30 under 30" list is a remarkable achievement that speaks volumes about one's influence in their field. Such is the case with Weston Seid, Prep Class of 2011, who was celebrated by Forbes for his meaningful contribution to the education sector. After graduating from the Prep, Weston went on to earn a B.S. in Business Administration, Finance & Entrepreneurship from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He spent two years as a consultant for a Big Four accounting firm before following his passion and co-founding Oppti, a platform that helps connect high school students with internships, jobs, and volunteer opportunities. According to Weston, who spent several years mentoring high school and college students, "... it became clear to me that students needed a better way to train and gain access to opportunities. Many jobs started to rely on internship experience as a proxy to gauge potential performance during the hiring process, but internships were extremely hard to come by. To lead a company that focuses on bridging the opportunity gap and improving workforce development is fulfilling on many levels." FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL TO COLLEGE FRESHMAN A s the old adage goes, "Where there's a will, there's a way." That certainly holds true at Fairmont, where we strive to be a school that places no limits on what our students can achieve. So when Historic Anaheim alumna Stellina Ao was ready to take pre-calculus in the sixth grade, her teachers and administrators went to work to make that happen. The very next year, at age 12, Stellina was accepted to California State University, Los Angeles through their Early Entrance Program! And the math class she took the first semester of her freshman year? Pre-calculus – which she says she was extremely well prepared for. As a computer science major with a double minor in mathematics and biomedical engineering, Stellina's research interests included artificial intelligence and neuroscience. Her driving passion is to create a detailed computational model of the human brain.