Dante Alvarado-León addresses an audience about his big dream of helping low-income students succeed in college.

One of most inspiring experiences Dante Alvarado-Leon had growing up in Chula Vista was constantly visiting orphanages in Tijuana with his family.

“On the weekends, usually on Saturday mornings, my mother would take my siblings and I to give donations to an orphanage in Tijuana,” Alvarado-Leon remembers. “Every time we arrived all the children would come running to the entrance door with a big smile on their faces. It was true joy for them. I used to play around with the children, share with them stories, and hear theirs as well.”

It was remembering some of those stories that helped him stay focused in helping others during his first year at the University of California in Berkeley, where he is now a sophomore majoring in computer science and business administration.

“Growing up in Chula Vista I was exposed to a diverse environment,” said Alvarado-Leon, who graduated with honors from Olympian High School in 2013. “Coming to the U.S. for an education presented me with a gateway of opportunities. Escaping the insecurity plaguing Mexico has taught me to dream big, to aspire for greater things, and most importantly to want to develop opportunities for others.”

Some of those opportunities are two student-run organizations he has helped launched during his time at Berkeley.
The first one is SmileyGo, a platform for companies to use to find non-profit organizations they can donate resources to. This month he will become the organization’s Chief Executive Officer.

The second one, which he founded, is esQela, an online platform of sorts focused on empowering students and providing them with resources, such as tutorial videos, information on college applications, and a community of support.

“Both are similar in that they revolve around the idea of social entrepreneurship and are platforms to increase the access to education,” Alvarado-Leon said.

Education, he said, is key to providing a better future for Latino students, and for low-income students throughout the world.
“Seeing students being discriminated by school faculty, high instances of poverty around me, and suffering amongst people in developing worlds, I feel the need to do something,” he added. “Just like my grandparents and parents have showed me the way, I want to do the same and be the guiding compass for others, to share my knowledge to inspire and help them achieve their dreams.”

Both projects are already having an impact in San Diego, according to Alvarado-Leon.

“By starting the SmileyGo San Diego branch, university students from around the county have been able to become part of a community of friendly, global leaders that are driving change and improvements for their communities,” he said. “esQela is a project that is more targeted for students, especially Latino students. I envision that more and more Latino students will be accepted to universities in the U.S. and at the same time feel that they have the support that they need to successfully emerge as the leaders of this country.”

Alvarado-Leon’s main goal is not only to help others, but to inspire young Latinos to do also try to improve the lives of those around them.

“Ultimately, I hope to inspire other students and younger generations from San Diego and around the world that they can do the same,” he said. “That they are capable of becoming catalysts of change, and leaders in their communities by using their education to help others and to discover solutions to the global problems affecting out environment and society.”

After graduating from Berkeley in a few years, Alvarado-Leon plans to start his own tech company, without losing his social consciousness.

“I want to use my education to create and develop workshops and computer science classes in local schools and libraries to teach students, adults, and immigrants, in Spanish and English how to code, so that one day we can all work together to introduce technology to Chula Vista and develop programs to benefit our community, create more opportunities for others, and improve the world as a whole,” he said.

“In doing so, not only will I be able to introduce my community to the wonders of programming, but also create pathways for others to succeed and provide under represented communities with a toolkit so that they can have a greater positive impact in the world,” Alvarado-Leon said.

To learn more about Dante Alvarado-Leon’s projects, and to support his vision, please visit www.esqela.org and www.smileygo.org and follow SmileyGo on its Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/SmileyGoCorp. There you will be able to find videos, stories, and more information about the organization.

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