MEET THE STUDENTS: A Chat with Acceler8 Participant Diego Rodriguez
Acceler8 Education serves high school students and young adults throughout Los Angeles County and the United States. In 2021 we reached over 200 students across the country, and the team is excited to reach even greater numbers of participants in 2022, continuing our nationwide STEM / STEAM learning opportunities, launching initiatives focusing on the Los Angeles Watts area, and addressing issues such as environmental sustainability / green technology. To hear about the Acceler8 program experience from the student perspective, we chatted with 2021 Acceler8 program participant Diego Rodriguez.
I’m 18 years old, born in Pacoima in the LA area. Currently I am starting off my second semester at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). My hobbies are working out and working on cars. I own my own auto detailing business Diego’s Detailing (di3go_detailz), which puts together my interests in cars / tools and making things look clean and perfect.
The reason I got involved in this amazing program Acceler8 is because one day a police officer from my neighborhood came looking for me at my door. She showed me a flyer about some classes Acceler8 was offering and she had to choose one person from the neighborhood to attend the classes. As she gave me more information and social media I started to get really interested in this program. As I attended this program, I saw how many opportunities there are in learning so much whether it’s working on cars or detailing vehicles.
The most memorable moments I remember was when we had guest speakers who motivated us to do better and thrive for our goals. I just felt the connection Acceler8 had with us young teenagers giving out different opportunities for us to explore and different knowledge.
Acceler8 has helped my personal life because it impresses on us teenagers, that there are so many pathways to go around with. The Acceler8 program gave me the opportunity to interact with other people, getting to see new opportunities, and working with cars. Another way Acceler8 has helped me was by mentioning my business on automotive detailing with all the group members and getting so much support and advice. I feel like attending Acceler8 has changed the way I view certain things. For example, I remember one of the guest speakers had said “we have no time to waste” which motivated me to keep going.
My future plans are to continue my journey in getting my bachelor’s degree at CSUN. I will be continuing to expand my business as much as possible, getting to learn new things and different services I can offer to grow my business even more. Although this may take time, I will be soon reaching my goal for a new detailing set up with a new mobile van. Another goal I have is to take wet sanding training to keep on adding services to my business. I’m thriving to make my business grow this year and continue on what I love to do.
For more information about Acceler8 Education, follow us on social media at @acceler8LA. If you or anyone you know would like to get involved with our program as a sponsor, donor, volunteer or participant, visit Acceler8education.org.
