Speaker 1: Okay, Remia and Sofia are in the studio, hi, and
this is their theme song. So I guess it's gonna
be the best day of all of our lives. Thank
you guys for blessing us with uh with this song.
Sophia and and Remia are both students graduating, graduating, graduated.
I'm I'm forgetting it.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, we're graduated goal ties of twenty six.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so I was wrong. You're not Generation Alpha,
your generation Z. Yeah, they don't want to hear that.
So I'm you know, I'm having I'm having struggle here
getting more information. So I know that you guys one
is a valedictorian and one is a salutarian.
Speaker 3: Right, No, I'm a salutatorian, salutatory.
Speaker 2: I was head of school award recipient.
Speaker 1: Okay, let me get the accolades straight, all right. So,
and you guys just graduated really near the top of
your class. So congratulations to you. Yeah, I mean, I
think you know, we we don't have a lot of
gen Z that listened to KBLA talk fifteen to eighty.
We're hoping to get more. But I think that sometimes
the millennials and the gen xers and the boomers can
can stereotype you guys a little bit. Maybe a little
bit little bit.
Speaker 4: I hear the like Gen Z is a lot lazier
because we have our phones, like we just rely online.
But I really feel like using the technologies really helpless
cultivate better skills versus like using it to supplement those skills,
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely, And honestly, I've been on the radio a
long time and I feel like every generation we say
they're lazy, Like every general, the next generation, you know
Gen X we were, you know, was lazy, and now
then we said the millennials were lazy. Now it's like
every generation is not motivated. I feel like adults get older,
adults get what I call selective amnesia and forget what
they were doing when they were your age. That said,
I really appreciate you being here and sharing your perspective
on various different topics. I mean, I congratulate you guys
both on your graduation big plans. So feel where are
you going?
Speaker 2: I will be attending UC Davis this fall. I'm going
to be majoring in sociology.
Speaker 1: Wow, okay, awesome, And where will you be going with.
Speaker 4: Mea, I'll be going to UC Berkeley and I'll be
majoring in electrical and computer engineering.
Speaker 1: What so really lazy?
Speaker 2: This is just for showing.
Speaker 1: So. And you graduated from Saint Mary's Academy Go Bells,
which a lot of people you know may be not
familiar with. Tell me a little bit. You guys have
a lot of school spirit obviously. Oh yeah, tell me, Sophia,
tell me a little bit about why you have so
much enthusiasm.
Speaker 2: I think in terms of enthusiasm for Saint Mary's as well,
it's because they also have enthusiasm for you. So it's
reciprocated in that. And I think as you move forward
and you go from underclassmen to upperclassmen, you feel a
lot of that love, and so you want to give
it back. And so I think that because Saint Mary's
was good to me as well as to both of us,
I think it's only it's only good for me to
give it back to them and to also talk good
about the school, because they really deserve it. And so
when you when you're around girls from SMA, you're like,
oh yeah, you can feel the energy, you can feel
their brightness and their enthusiasticness. And I think it's so
important to also carry that with you. So I think
that's why I get so excited talking about sam mauries
because I'm like, oh, yeah, you walk in, someone's singing, dancing.
It's super energetic, and I love that.
Speaker 3: About it absolutely.
Speaker 4: I feel like, especially like once you go for the
first time, I remember being nervous, like as a freshman,
like as you should be, but like junior seniors, like
upperclassmen coming up to us going like hey guys, hey,
everyone's so excited, like literally, people singing all the time
in the pavilion, and when you leave the school wearing
your thaie color like we're gold tie is the best
color obviously, but when you leave the school and people
will come up to you like, hey, I was an
alumni of SMA, Yeah, this was my Thai color. We're
the best taig color. Even though if it wasn't gold,
that's not true.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I love that the school spirit and the enthusiasm
because there's an intentionality about that, right. It's not just
we show up and we see what happens. It sounds
like you show up and you set the intention to
be vibrant and be to be.
Speaker 2: Light exactly yes. And also when you're just walking down
the street and someone sees your uniform and they're like, oh,
go gold, or they'll say, oh, I was a green tign.
That's so like insane to me because just by a
thie color, just by what you're wearing, you're already so
connected and there's so much history and lord to it.
So I think it's really cool to see.
Speaker 4: Usually you only hear of that like in the university
space or a college. Yeah, get so patriotic or like
like riled up by their school, but not to have
that as a high school or it feels so like empowering,
like no matter where I go, like I'm a goal time,
I'm about like we're all together.
Speaker 1: So it's really cool, and I'm sure it's really refreshing
for our KBLA delegation because again back to the stereotype,
some of which we will break down today because why not,
it's Friday. It's that young people are like, oh, we
don't care about anything, we don't care about school, We
hate adults, we hate people, we hate education. Sophia laughs.
Speaker 2: I know because I have to disagree. Yeah, if you
won't get to say married, it's completely different. Atmosphere.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so I mean obviously you said they give
love to you, they care about you, so that's part
of it. But also some of the malaise that we
do experience from teenagers is you know, developmental hormonal. I mean,
you guys are dealing with a lot, right, I mean
you're growing into a whole adult human, so I think
you know some of it, some of it is baked
into that cake. So what is it that you guys
do yourselves personally? We can start with you, Rema, to
keep that spirit of enthusiasm and joy and engagement I know.
Speaker 4: For I mean personally, I think it's just having hope.
Like I know that if I work hard now, like
when I in the future, it's gonna like benefit me.
Like you kind of you put the hard work now,
and you, I mean you have fun too, Like that's
why you try and go out with friends, like you
do the little things that make you happy. I know
me personally, I love art, even though I'm going to
do engineering. I love to paint on my own time.
I like to make crafts for my friends. I like
to skateboard with my neighbors. Like there's little things I
do to keep me motivated, like having little breaks throughout
my hard work, all the like the things we do,
all the accolades we receive. But I think what really
helps is having that hope and knowing that, like I'm
going to work hard now I'm having fun with what
I'm doing and in the future it's really gonna help
benefit me in my career and building that generational wealth
and everything.
Speaker 1: And how about you, Sophie, I mean, I know you
don't become, you know, get all these accolades without working
really hard too.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I have to agree with Romeo over here
because I think that while it's good to also focus
on your academics, you also have to take care of
yourself first before you can dedicate yourself to something so important.
And so I play soccer on my free time. I
dance for Glorrico, so that's also good for my mind
as well as my body. And then once I'm okay,
then I can get to work and start studying. And
then once you're able to do that, then you know
what you want for yourself. And so because I'm like,
you're applying to Colledron and like, but I want to
see myself succeed because I see the girls around me
do as well, as well as the women at our school,
so I just I want to achieve that as well.
Speaker 1: And for those who didn't follow because you said it
kind of fast foo, I'm so sorry, no apology needed,
but you know they might not be up on what
floordigo is that that's you know, cultural dance, right, And
I see that you're part of La Casa Latina Club.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's the club.
Speaker 1: So clearly staying connected with your culture is part of
the formula for for sure.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm very Yes, I've been dancing since I was
six years old, I believe over ten years. And when
we got to SMA, actually there wasn't a club for
Latinas and so one of the upper classmen created it
and I saw it as an opportunity to just involve
myself and continue this beautiful legacy that is our culture.
And so I would dance at performances and at our
assemblies and it's just amazing to see how many people
really do care about what we have to say.
Speaker 1: And REMI you're part of the Associated Student Body and
Student Leadership Council, a whole bunch of club, the Anime club,
but also the Black Student unions, so clearly that cultural
connection is important for you too.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: I know I personally, I am a return in American.
My parents are both immigrants from Maritra, and so for
me personally, I remember trying to find that connection between
my African identity and the Black American identity was a
struggle for me, especially like coming in as a freshman
and I kind of felt like do I have a
place here?
Speaker 3: But I think joining in.
Speaker 4: I really saw how we empowered all types of African
students at SMA, and so with that, I know, me
and my sister and I believe there's three to four
other Reacheran girls and a few other Ethiopian girls as
well at SMA, and so we started doing a reacher
In Ethiopian dancing as well during the Black Student Union
assemblies every month or not every month every year?
Speaker 1: Sorry, Oh so we could get to it every year.
Speaker 3: Yet, yeah, absolutely, So.
Speaker 4: I think I raided a point to try and connect
with my culture in school, and I do it as
well out of school. I'm a part of SALA, so
it's the School of a Reacheran Languages in Los Angeles
and it's a nonprofit organization. So I try and meet
with them at like maybe every Sunday when I'm not
too busy, and so I really love like being with
my community, being with my people, and I think it's
really empowered me to be more confident who I am.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you guys have time for all this.
I'm at your resume. Make it me time. Sophia and
Ramia are here and we are giving a a gen
Z view on some but also you know, recent graduates
headed off to college, your perspective on a few things,
and if you want to join in the conversation, eight
hundred and nine two oh fifteen eighty is the number
of course you can do what all these other folks
are doing. Jump in the YouTube at KBLA fifteen eighty
on YouTube and put your comment or your question there.
I'm Dominique de Prima. Happy Friday from all of us
at KBLA Talk fifteen eight. Yes, you're waking up with me,
and you're waking up with Sofia and Ramia. Sofia, thank
you guys for being in today. I want to talk
about a few things. Sofia Omelo and Ramia Techle Yes,
having yes indeed again getting it together here on the pronunciations. Okay, Ramia,
Why why engineering?
Speaker 4: I think for me, I really grew up in a
space where I saw a lot of like building and
like entrepreneurship, not that much in like the typical way
of that people owning business and stuff like that. Like
especially my parents first came in like first gen, and
so with us, I saw how my dad loved like
fixing and tinkering little computers, and like whenever my laptop
broke or something, instead of buying a new one, he
would just sit up all day trying to learn how
to fix it, trying to learn how to fix the cabinets.
And I love just watching him do that. And I
think with me, I'm someone who really loves art and
I love seeing that combination together. And so that came
with a lot of exploration throughout my childhood of like
seeing ways to combine art into engineering because it's something
I loved so much, and I learned that through coding,
through designing, through making so many innovations. I think it
especially like impressed me when I saw other Ritrians or
black women in STEM and in engineering. And when I
saw them, I immediately was like I want to be
like them, and I want to do what they do
because it was just so impressive to me. So I
think that really inspired me.
Speaker 1: You have a certification AI Powered Woman, Human Centered AI Leadership,
so obviously you're not ing a fright No AI.
Speaker 3: No, I'm not.
Speaker 4: I really feel like I know AI is something that
fears us a lot, and I think that's a really
big reason I want to get into engineering because I
feel like we can use these resources to help our
future generations. And I think the problem now is it's
very valid when people be are afraid of AI is
going to take over my job, AI is going to
ruin my future. And I think that's something America's really
much cultivated in society. I think it's a horrible thing.
And so I know, last summer I got the opportunity
to study abroad in Japan, and I saw how AI
and robotics was used to really help every member of society.
I saw how like instead of people who were disabled
or people who were a part of the elderly, instead
of them being afraid of AI taking the jobs that
they could have had, and instead worked with them.
Speaker 3: I saw how there were like let's say, cafes.
Speaker 4: Where people were able to work from home and control
robots instead. So it gave them even more jobs instead
of leaving them at home to really do nothing and
not feel like a part of a growing, technologically advanced society.
And so it made everyone feel more helpful and more
happy to be a part of it and to grow
AI together. I feel like in America we're all really
afraid of it, and I think if we work together
and got everyone involved, we diversified the people creating the technology,
then it would be something that everyone enjoyed. It could
be something that benefited everyone instead of just the rich
and the empowered.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, we tend to weaponize
pretty much everything in this country, so maybe in a
different model, AI has a different implication. It sounds like.
But you know the other thing that we hear a
lot about AI, and I throw this to you, SOFIA
is about the campus panic that we see at a
lot of universities. Maybe you guys were just at high school.
You haven't had to deal with this yet, but the
professor is not being sure how to deal with it
and whether or not kids are using it to write
papers or take tests, and how to you know, how
to limit it and how to welcome it in. So
I mean, since you're not in college yet, you might
not have this experience. But maybe you want to pile
on to what Ramya said about AI your own thoughts
on AI your generation.
Speaker 2: If I'm being completely honest, I am an AI. I
don't like AI. Oh every time someone talks about like, no,
get jadg Gibt out of your use your brains, because
I know that we're so capable of doing whatever it is.
We can write a five page essay without having to
just ask, oh, give me a five pay say about
and so I think, oh my gosh, everything someone talks
about it. But I think I've also seen that that
teachers are so afraid of seeing their students you resort
to that instead of just asking a question. And if
I saw this clip recently about a man in Texas
who started crying because his students couldn't put together a sentence,
and I think that that has something to do with
AI for sure, because when you don't know how to
do something, it's I your fingertips. Immediately you don't know
what just something, look it up on the internet. And
now there's this new installment that you can just it'll
do whatever you want like it will you ask it
a question and it'll give it to you to perfection.
And so I think when it comes to AI, it's
so hard to use it as a balance, and I
think that there's, uh, there is a balance between using
it but then also using it to your benefit and
using it to just abuse it and just do it
for you. And I guess I would say that I
would prefer people not to use it because I think
that once you when you really sit down and you
you sit with your thoughts and you can see how
much you can do. I mean, obviously sometimes it's good
to get a little bit of help, but that's also
why there are people around you and you can ask
for that help. So that's where I would say, you can,
if you ever resort to AI, come to me and
I will I will tell you how how smart you
are and intelligent and how much you can do. So
if you ever need that help, I know because I
see people doing it. I tell my friends sometimes I'm like,
don't do it.
Speaker 4: Every time she sees the tab open on my lap
of this turned that up.
Speaker 3: But I think it's actually like.
Speaker 4: Coming from an engineering perspective, I really understand like the
fear of like we don't want students to be supplementing
their knowledge with just searching it up.
Speaker 3: But I really think it's just a learning curve.
Speaker 4: Like I'm really like, I'm a big advocate for like
AI is gonna be something that helps us. It's gonna
be something that stays around, and so we should learn
how to work with it versus trying to remove it.
And so I know, especially to say, the first time
they brought laptops or phones into the school space, I'm
sure teachers were afraid, like, oh my god, now kids
are just gonna be googling.
Speaker 3: How to do something.
Speaker 1: Now they're taking them out.
Speaker 2: Yeah now.
Speaker 1: And LUSC has really strict new policies.
Speaker 4: I know, I see like the pockets where they put
the phones in. I know it hasn't come to our school.
I feel like my neighbors like who have go to
LAUSC schools where they put their phones in these little pockets.
Speaker 3: It locks it up, and I'm like, it's really interesting.
Speaker 4: But I feel like there should be ways to add
this technology because in the real world, like if we
stop teaching people how to use phones responsibly, how to
use AI responsibly, how to do things responsibly, then they're
gonna go into the real world finally having access to
these things and abusing it and using it in the
wrong way.
Speaker 3: So I feel like when we teach people how.
Speaker 4: To be more AI literate, which is one of the
things I had to learn about when getting my sort
of certificate from the AI Powered Women's Organization, that a
lot of students and adults aren't like AI literate. They're
not even like knowing how to use these technologies properly.
But when we teach them how to do it, or
when we kind of learn them, like learn how to
use these things responsibly and allowing you to grow your
own knowledge and using it all together, then I think
we'll be able to grow more like responsible technology users.
Speaker 1: What I'm really enjoying right now, you guys are representing
Saint Mary's Academy Gold Thie class of twenty twenty six.
I can see how you guys apparently broke a bunch
of records at your school. Thirty four point three million
dollars in college scholarships among the gold thigh classes. You
all did that, acceptances to all nine University of California campuses.
That's when you guys go, we did that we did
that and twenty seven full tuition scholarship offers. Y'all did
that from one hundred and seventy eight different colleges and universities.
I see all that, but I also see too on
very scholarly but also effervescent young women who appear to
also be friends.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, way back.
Speaker 4: It's actually funny because her sister and my sister are both, like,
you're younger than each other. So that was one of
the things we first talked about, like building our friendship
is that this esme like love runs deep, like our
both of our families come here, like both of our
parents hop out the school a lot, and so I
think both of us are just very involved individuals.
Speaker 3: We both are just fun people.
Speaker 2: So we like both of our sisters are red tie
shout out, Yeah are better, but yeah, they're also they're
in the same grade. But I think me and Romya,
I think it was we had we had aps together.
Speaker 4: Yeah, very intent the trauma bonds.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so when we would need help, I like
I would go to Ramya and we would just chat
it up. And then you know, it's easy for we're talkers,
so it'll be easy for us to get off track.
But and then all the way till senior year, we
would we would hang out all.
Speaker 4: The time and we're like calling into like two am,
string ap computer science, like random stuff. I'm just hoping
you could all be over. But we went through together,
so it was fun.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, you make it seem fun, I mean,
and I think fun exactly, so I because we did it.
I do love that, because you know, we we well,
we only have a minute here until news traffic and sports,
and we'll keep talking on the other side of news
traffic and sports. So it wouldn't really be fair to
ask you a question and expect you to answer it
in fifty six seconds. So what I'll do is I'll
set it up and we can talk about it after
news traffic and sports. I think that there's a lot
of talk, I'm sure you hear it about how discouraging
society feels right now. You know, things are expensive, there's
political turmoil. We see a contraction of opportunities, fewer opportunities
perhaps for women, for people of color, for Latinos, for
black people. And I feel like on top of that,
we are seeing these lawsuits which reflect the pressure your
generation has to deal with from the social media world. Right,
You're not only just dealing with school, You're dealing with
this sort of alternate universe of Instagram and Facebook and
Twitter and TikTok. So. I guess what I'd like to
talk about is how you see those discouraging trends and
how you seem to be navigating the world without letting
them dictate or control your lives. Maybe some of the
gen xers that are in our KBLA delegation can take
some notes and get a few hints. You're listening to
KBLA Talk fifteen eighty. You're getting a lot of love
in our YouTube chat, as you should. Future leaders are
joining us in the studio. Sofia Omelo is here and
Rama tech le Yes, yeah, we're getting it together. But
I asked you before news, traffic and sports, and this
was for both of you. You can take turns here.
But you know, there a lot of us who are
not just graduating from high school are discouraged by the
political climate, by the affordability crisis and the pressure that
comes down from social media, which can be in some
cases so severe that people get pushed into you know,
self harm, and like, how do you how do you
handle that you guys are so joyous and you guys
are just a ray of sunshine in the studio today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think for me personally, like I'm someone who
really likes to keep up with politics.
Speaker 3: I know, me and my dad like will talk about
in debate in the car.
Speaker 4: I'll watch the news every night, like we're like that
kind of like duo. And so I feel like, I
think this year is probably the first year where I
really stopped watching the news because on top of like
underst in the pressure of like trying to do college applications,
trying to keep up, like kind of realizing that, like
my life is going to change after this year going
to college.
Speaker 3: Stuff like that, I kind.
Speaker 4: Of just became too much for me to also be
watching the news and seeing like what's going on in
the world, because it kind of be at first it
was like trying to stay politically aware, but now in
that political awareness is really stressing you out, which isn't
a good thing. I feel you should still be political
politically aware no matter what you're doing. It kind of
became a lot for me, So I really understand the
whole idea of like politics stressing out younger generations. But
I think it also gives us a guideline of what
to do. Like whatever we don't see that we don't like,
we learn how to grow from it. I know I
personally have favorite political leaders who I see on social
media that I love what they're doing, and it really
teaches me that when I go into engineering, when I
go into whatever I do in life, when I vote,
that I want to vote for people that I know
will help my generation, will help accommodate. Like crisis is
like social media hurting generations starting like instead of like
eradicating them, but helping students, helping with financial crises and
all stuff like that. So I think politics can be
a helper. But also I guess I could scare off you.
Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like you're giving yourself, you're pacing yourself.
I mean I do that. It's my job to pay
attention to what's going on. But I usually give myself
one news free day per week, and then I might
cram the next day to catch up what I miss.
But I need that mental space. It's like a buffer.
There's other things in life, Sophia, how do you see it?
Speaker 2: I think I can touch on what Ramy said. About
social media branch off of it a little bit. I
think that it's super easy, and I'm talking for myself
as well, to just doom scroll, lay in bed, just
just go TikTok. Then you don't like what you say
in tech, so you go to Instagram. You're just switching
off apps.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But also I think, as for myself, I get tired
of it a little bit. I'm like, what am I doing? Like,
I'm just laying down. I should go do something, and
that's when I text rom.
Speaker 1: Mea're like what should we do? Yeah.
Speaker 2: But I think that also there's a lot of pressure
when it comes to social media also being on it,
and I was like, oh, this is how you look
on social media, but in real life you're nothing like that,
or you should post this instead. But I think, like
Ramyo was saying, it's the way that you use it.
Because also social media is really good for finding your
scholarships and seeing what schools you want to apply to.
But I think that it's it's also a balance. I
think everything you need a balance in between, because too
much social media, anything, any too much of anything is
like not so good for you. But I think that
if you have a balance because if you want to
take like a mental break, also, don't go on your
phone or something that I've.
Speaker 1: Been doing is.
Speaker 2: It's not gonna helps get you more stress. It's just
gonna start. But one thing that I started doing is
just the first hour when I wake up, I don't
go on my phone, so just to let myself reset
and just I've just woken up, so I'll just go
to a living room. I'll just drink a cup of water.
And so I think also you have to hold yourself
accountable because no one is really gonna tell you, oh,
get off of social media. No matter how many times
someone complains about social media, Oh you're on it too much.
You're not gonna stop unless you want it to stop.
And so when I'm like, do scrolling, I'll be.
Speaker 3: Like, no, I can't.
Speaker 2: I'm like no, no, no, it has to benefit you.
And also now that we're starting college completely, we're going
away from home. We're not we can't stay in our dorms,
and we're gonna be like, I guess I'll just do
scroll now because I don't know what to do. And
so I think once you start like, oh, you want
this for yourself and go hang out with friends, like
you'll start making memories that you will always remember. You're
not gonna be like, oh yeah, I just dom scrolled,
like oh what did you do when you were younger?
Just sat in bed, I was just chilling. When I
went to TikTok, I would get bored, so I would
go to Instagram like.
Speaker 4: You no, yeah, I mean it's funny because it's like
it's really scary how like tempting it can be, and
how you may start like I'll just take a quick
break at three pm and I see you know, six
o'clock and you've been scrolling for like hours true, or
like you're just going to bed watching TV. Like you
wake up like just going straight to your phone to
check text, Like it kind of just becomes like your
life is revolved around the phone. So I can like accounsel.
I think this morning, I probably woke up as like okay,
who texted me? Or like let me text Sofia, like Sophia,
what are you wearing?
Speaker 2: It like literally happens today. And then I see like
I'm like, oh my god, can I reply me? Because
I didn't check my phone?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, So I think I need to start doing that too,
Like when I wake up, like just give myself an
hour when I go to bed, Like give myself an
hour like read a book or something. So of just
like opening your eyes for a bright screen, immediately closing
them and expecting to just Actually one of.
Speaker 2: My greatest fears before I go to sleep if I'm
like on my phone, like I don't. I can't look
at my phone while the lights are turned off, so
it's just TV. But before you go, I'm like, oh
my gosh, I'm gonna need glasses. I'm sorry, Okay, okay.
Speaker 1: Take it from us, But I mean that's I've done
a version of that, which is an hour before I
go to sleep. I don't let myself because I'll be
stressing and oh wait, breaking news, breaking news, and then
I'll be dreaming about breaking news, and that doesn't make
for good rest. But you're right, I do find a
lot of great news stories, just as you find scholarships.
So I guess the flip side of that question is
what gives you hope? What is that? What you know?
What makes you feel inspired and hopeful?
Speaker 2: M in general in terms of social media.
Speaker 1: Yeah's just in general.
Speaker 4: I think for me personally, I think it's seeing like
innovation like when I see like, let's say someone my
personal idols like Timate Gebru and she's a Reatrin American,
well not America, a Reatrian computer scientist, and she was
an AI advocate at Google and she was then fired
because she was really trying to advocate for diversity with
creating AI.
Speaker 1: I read about her and she was warning about some
of the dangers of the evasiveness.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, so I know, like reading people like her, seeing
politicians I love who I won't mention, but I know
people that.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're apologetically progressive.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I know me personally, like I love AOC,
I love mom Donnie. I know she's a new congresswoman
and she's also a Reatrian, like she's publisher as well.
So I think seeing like leaders like that, it really
makes me excited for the future for like our new generation,
like seeing like new leaders coming in like really like
being more progressive, and like it makes me hopeful that, Okay,
my kids are going to have like the teenage years
with in America that maybe I didn't get and it's
going to be amazing seeing technical logical innovations that won't
be used just for like destruction, but used for like
new I don't know, helping everyone, and I think just
seeing stuff like that makes me really hopeful the future
and like makes me want to be a part of that,
like I want to help make that happen.
Speaker 1: And what makes you hopeful, Sophia.
Speaker 2: I would say I would honestly say my friends and
my family would be hopeful, like like honestly listen to
listening to ROMI, so I'm like, yeah, she's my friend,
Like we're doing this exactly. But I think that's I think,
like you were saying, there's a stereotype of gen Z
and it's I don't really think it's that. I think
that people. I think for some it can be true,
but also the majority of the people that I surround
myself with them like, oh, we want the higher education,
we want to help the world. And so it's really
I think that that's what gives me hope because I
know that we're gonna do it. And also when you
when you're around people, you also want that for yourself
that you want to be like those people. And so
when I'm around my friends are like, I want to
do that too. I want to I want to help
other people and I want to make that change as well,
and so I think I think I see it in
my sisters too. I'm like, oh, yeah, we'll be okay,
Like it'll be good. So I think it's the people
you surround yourself as well. And also when I when
you when I do go on social media, it's like
I look at like the good things that are happening
in the world, because some people post like, oh, people
talk about all the bad things, but there are some
good things that are happening to them. Like it's also
good to focus on the positive while also like helping
the negative and trying to make it better and improve it.
And so I think that when people think of the negative,
it's like, oh, it's just negative, but they don't do
anything to change it. But then I see like people
of our age, and they're like, no, we have to
because then so everything is good, so we can continue
to succeed and excel in what we want to. And
so I think what gives me hope is that mentality.
And also I think our generation is gonna do good.
I think I think we're doing pretty good. So unpopular opinions,
but I think I think that's will give me hope
because I go into school, and I'm like, I see
my well, not anymore because we're graduating. But when when
we were at Saint Mary's when we would go, when
I would go into cuss I'm like, oh my gosh,
like we're so smart, like we can do this. And
also I see it in educators, our teachers, like they
want you to succeed. So that's why I'm like the
older the older generations millennials or Gen X, even though
they're maybe they're hating on us a little bit, but
also our educators like, no, we want we don't want
that stereotype to be true for you. So you can
go into class talk it up with them. They'll they'll
shut down that stereotype. We can talk about absolutely.
Speaker 4: I feel like sometimes stereotypes can be like grown through
the two or three.
Speaker 3: Loudest voices that say it.
Speaker 4: While there's millions and hundreds of people who do have
confidence in our generation because they're the people who are
helping us out. So I think it's really like it's
a testament to SMA as well when you go and
you see our fellow bells doing amazing things. And I
know for me, like especially when I was younger, it
was hard to like say, I used to be it.
I still am a LinkedIn addict, Like that's hilarious.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I used to go on it, and I used
to get intimidated.
Speaker 4: Like I would see everyone's like the things they do,
and I'm like, oh my god, like I'm nothing like this,
Like they're so like advanced and so like they're like
fifteen caring cancer and I'm just here in my room
doom scrolling and it makes me like so like insecure.
And I think now you get older and you get
empowered by like let's say the ESSM community, by your friends,
and you know that you can do anything. So you
start going on these sites feeling empowered like hey, like
I'm like them too, like I'm good as well. And
you start in your room and then you start adding
to the room.
Speaker 3: You start learning from the room.
Speaker 4: Instead of going somewhere feeling like like intimidated, you start
going in and learning from other people and growing yourself
and them like simultaneously. So I think this generation is
really giving me home because we do help each other
a lot, and we do all do great things.
Speaker 1: SMA, by the way, is Saint Mary's Academy. Oh yeah,
where I just graduated from and you know, I love that.
I've never heard of a young person addicted to LinkedIn before.
Speaker 2: That's I'll probably get your after she broke a Guinness
World record being on LinkedIn more than the average person.
Speaker 1: Which is such an engineering mindset that I'm not gonna
doom scroll on Instagram. I'll doom scroll on LinkedIn and
TikTok they call that job anyway. So Fion Melo and
Ramya Techle are here. Will continue the conversation when we
come forward on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty. All right, we're
having a great conversation this morning. I hope you're enjoying it,
getting a lot of good feedback. You guys are in
our YouTube chat. Sophia oh May Though is here, Ramia
Techle is here. They are both recent graduates of Saint Mary's.
Sophia's on our way. Do you see Davis to study sociology,
Ramia is on our way? Do you see Berkeley to
study engineering? Yeah, it's good stuff. How do you see
we know? Yeah, we're gonna ask deep questions, but not
hard questions. Questions you know the answer to, how do
you see what? What do you see as the most
important issues for your generation or for our world from
your gen's point of view, what are the most important
issues to you?
Speaker 4: I think a big issue I see is like helplessness.
I think a lot of people go in and they
feel like their life is dictated.
Speaker 3: Their life is dictated.
Speaker 4: By like the millennials or like older generations who are
just controlling everything in a way that like accommodates their
older way of living, which I can underst because I bet,
let's say us like you, you go into like like, oh,
I want to study politics, So I want to do
this based on like the societal understanding they had in
maybe nineteen sixty or something, and now you're in like
the twenty twenties and you're trying to make issues or
like make laws that accommodate to that, or like trying
to create technologies like anything that benefits that type of
like living without the understanding of us and the current
issues that we go through. So I think a lot
of people can feel like helpless, like no one's here
listening to me, no one's understanding me. So I guess
like trying to empower people into knowing, like, hey, but
if you work hard, if you like do what you
gotta do with the help of some of the people
of the older generations, the help of each other, that
we can be in these spaces creating technology that benefits
present society, and like not even technology, but like making laws,
making medicines, making everything that can work in a way
that benefits the entire world, and bringing us together in
a way that helps everyone.
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, I think it's a good point because that
idea of helplessness or disempowerment touches every other issue area, right,
whether you're an environmentalist or whether you're a your fighter.
If you're feeling overwhelmed, then you know, whether it's racial
justice or women's rights, or you know, whatever your area
health rights is, if you're feeling helpless, you're gonna shut down.
Speaker 2: Yes, I definitely have to agree. I think mental health
is so important, especially because when you're getting into your teens,
you just think, especially with social media, just like I
can never be like that, but you can, you can
be like that. And so I also think that what
I've seen is and I can. I will include myself. Hea.
Sometimes I think we're just afraid to ask for help
because we're like, we don't want them to see us
as weak or that we were not capable of doing something.
So if you notice, like in if you walk into
a classroom, there's not much raising hands, there's not much
just engaging because when people answer, there's this idea that
we have to be right, if we have to have
the right answer. As I've grown up and my dad
has told me that you're not in school because you're
in school because you don't know. If you already knew everything,
that you wouldn't be going to school, right, So I
think that that has a big Yeah, it has a
big thing to do with that, that you're already there
because you want to learn, because you have to learn,
and there's so much for you to learn. And also
that ties into mental health because you're like, oh, if
I'm already, if I already feel that I'm not good enough,
how am I gonna help or add to this classroom?
How am I gonna make it better? And I think
that's a really big issue as well, because also I
see the people don't really think as mental health as
important or like older edgeneratially like, oh no, they're just
they're just faking it or they're just on their screens
a lot, like it's not really important. But I think
it is a real issue because it's it has a
lot to do with social media as well, that we're
just we just compare ourselves and like, no, we just
can't do that, and then you can do that, and
then once you do, like oh yeah, I did do that,
and it's like it it's just about you knowing your
limits and also saying that, oh yeah I can I
can pass my limits and I can do even more
than that. Like that's a big issue that we should
also focus on.
Speaker 1: The two young scholars that we're talking to are both
graduates of Saint Mary's Academy, and if you didn't know
that happens to be in Englewood, I think they may
be Oh, Saint Mary's academ Me in Brentwood, Saint Mary's
Academy in bel Air. No, It's Mary's in Englewood, right
next to so far you guys are dodging traffic. Oh yeah,
but what is it about? You know, you said at
the beginning of this conversation that you feel the love
coming from your teachers, from your faculty. Can you pinpoint
I mean, of course love is paramount. Can you pinpoint
anything else as far as support systems or methodologies or
I don't know, things you were introduced to during the
course of your education that helped you maintain sort of
the level of enthusiasm and achievement and also personal fulfillment
that you seem to be showing right now.
Speaker 4: I think for me, like I think the teachers at
estime really showed like specifically a belief in this, like
we can do anything, and the fact that they felt
like I could do anything made me feel like I
can do anything, like I know, especially when I was younger,
I struggled with the idea that like if I wasn't
perfect all the time, if I didn't have awards that
were signaling exactly what I was doing, like someone highlighting
my achievements, like someone showing me that like here, you
did so great, let me give you this, let me
give you that. And so it kind of just showed
me like if I didn't get that, like oh my god,
I wasn't good enough, Like I wasn't doing enough to
get that, like I'm not good enough. And so I
used to go to like my teacher, I give her
shot out, Miss Landry. She was like, what it was,
your dugs teacher? And I remember once I'm crying to
her because like I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
I feel like I try and do a lot, but
no one's recognizing it. And I feel like I'm scared.
I'm gonna go to like places like Berkeley where there's
so many students and I'm just gonna be a fish
underwater and no one's gonna like realize I'm doing anything.
I'm not going to go anywhere in life because I'm
not doing good enough. And she kind of just showed me, like,
if you're doing stuff with a purpose, if you know
why you're entering a room without like thinking about the accolades,
If you're doing everything for accolades, you're not doing it
the right way. Like if you're doing everything with if
you're doing it like for a purpose, if you go
in proud of who you are and giving everything you got,
then you're doing good and your rest.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's a great back to your point, Sophia
about social media, that that plays into that perfectionist thing
where we think we have to be we can never
be as perfect as those people. But those people aren't
as perfect as they look in that in that post either,
And I'm getting I got a text from my colleague,
attorney Dion Raymond. She says blue tie here, and she
points out that the original Saint Mary's Academy location was
Crenshaw Lawsome so there I didn't even know. Right here
in the building where we have your fellow alumni, an alumni. Okay,
we just have a minute here. I know, time flies
when you're on the radio. Go ahead, Okay, it.
Speaker 2: Was really really fast for those. But I was just
gonna brag a little bit about our college. Our college
Knowledge class. We have this class where it's you just
work on your applications and it's a class just for that.
But also once you finish your applications, we have we
have headshots taken of us. We work on how to inner,
we work on our resumes. We also meditate, we draw,
we color, so I think. And then also it's not
outside of the classroom. The college counscert will go up,
Tom like, oh, I just found this opportunity. I found
the scholarship, and we would have a wall of all
the scholarships that she had found. And I think that's
that's something to brag about. Because also when you're and
then you go outside and then everyone's playing bingo, there
we're singing, And I think that that's so amazing about
SMEs that there's there's fun stuff and then there's like
there's academic things. Yeah, and so I think I think
that's what I really love about simat is something that
has to offer because you can lock in and be
dedicated and then you go outside and everybody's singing love.
Speaker 1: That's our song.
Speaker 4: That's so Yeah, it's just cool to see how like
the teachers will go out of their way do anything
they can to empower you and then still make you
feel like a kid, like, yeah, you have the fun,
and they still make you feel like you're a leader,
You're the best thing you could be.
Speaker 3: And it's just the most amazing experience.
Speaker 1: Well, certainly if you guys are a reflection of what
they're doing over there, Uh, they are doing it right
you guys. It's been a pleasure having you in. Sophia,
Sophia Omelo and Ramia tech Leg. Yeah, congratulations to you
on your college journey. Look forward to watching your stars.
The best of Tavis Smiley is up next. Like my papa,
the late Greater Mary Baraka used to say, a person
is either free or they are not free. There can
be no apprenticeship for freedom until the next time. I beloved,
k b L A delegation one Love