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. I'm sorry, we're graduated goal ties of twenty six. 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. Right, No, I'm a salutatorian, salutatory. I was head of school award recipient. 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. 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? 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? I will be attending UC Davis this fall. I'm going to be majoring in sociology. Wow, okay, awesome, And where will you be going with. Mea, I'll be going to UC Berkeley and I'll be majoring in electrical and computer engineering. What so really lazy? This is just for showing. 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. 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. About it absolutely. 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. Yeah. 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. 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. 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. 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. I know because I have to disagree. Yeah, if you won't get to say married, it's completely different. Atmosphere. 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. 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. And how about you, Sophie, I mean, I know you don't become, you know, get all these accolades without working really hard too. 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. 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. Yes, that's the club. So clearly staying connected with your culture is part of the formula for for sure. 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. 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. Absolutely. 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? But I think joining in. 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? Sorry, Oh so we could get to it every year. Yet, yeah, absolutely, So. 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. 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? 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. You have a certification AI Powered Woman, Human Centered AI Leadership, so obviously you're not ing a fright No AI. No, I'm not. 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. I saw how there were like let's say, cafes. 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. 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. 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. Every time she sees the tab open on my lap of this turned that up. But I think it's actually like. 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. But I really think it's just a learning curve. 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. How to do something. Now they're taking them out. Yeah now. And LUSC has really strict new policies. 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. It locks it up, and I'm like, it's really interesting. 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. So I feel like when we teach people how. 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. 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. Oh yeah, way back. 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. We both are just fun people. 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. Yeah, very intent the trauma bonds. 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. 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. 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. Yeah, I think for me personally, like I'm someone who really likes to keep up with politics. I know, me and my dad like will talk about in debate in the car. 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. Stuff like that, I kind. 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. 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? 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. Yeah. 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. Mea're like what should we do? Yeah. 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. Been doing is. 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. Like, no, I can't. 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. 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? 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? 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. 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. 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? M in general in terms of social media. Yeah's just in general. 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. I read about her and she was warning about some of the dangers of the evasiveness. Absolutely, so I know, like reading people like her, seeing politicians I love who I won't mention, but I know people that. Okay, we're apologetically progressive. 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. And what makes you hopeful, Sophia. 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. I feel like sometimes stereotypes can be like grown through the two or three. Loudest voices that say it. 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. Yeah, I used to go on it, and I used to get intimidated. 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. You start learning from the room. 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. 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. That's I'll probably get your after she broke a Guinness World record being on LinkedIn more than the average person. 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? 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. Their life is dictated. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. That's our song. 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. And it's just the most amazing experience. 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