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All right, welcome to the Scholars Equity Network podcast.
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Today, we have a special guest because we have a very special program that Scholars
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Equity Network started sometime around August of 2025.
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It is our Pay It Forward Accelerator.
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The Pay It Forward Accelerator program puts resources directly into the hands of leaders
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who know exactly what their communities need.
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Those folks, in this case, or at least for this round, are all Gates Millennium Scholar
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alumni.
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Here's how the program works.
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Passionate changemakers apply with specific projects they want to lead.
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We review applications, shortlists, the strongest proposals, and let the community vote by donating.
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Every dollar donated equals one vote.
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The top projects with the most votes get funded.
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Our next several podcasts will feature our six changemakers, and today's changemaker
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is Scholar Karen Perez from the 2015 cohort of Gates Millennium Scholar.
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Karen, welcome to the Scholars Equity Network podcast.
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Thanks for having me.
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We're very, very excited to have you, very excited to have you.
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So it's only been, I guess, of 2015, your 2015 cohort, it's been 11 years.
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So those are the type of changemaker stories I love.
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You went from receiving an amazing gift from the foundation for your scholarship, and now
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already just 11 years later, and I bet you've done plenty in the meantime, you are a pay
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it forward changemaker for the Scholars Equity Network.
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That is exciting, and I'm looking forward to talking to you about that.
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Thanks.
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Of course, of course.
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Welcome to the Scholars Equity Network podcast.
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This is where we discuss the organization's work to fulfill their mission of providing
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opportunities to scholars from underserved communities and the communities that they
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call home.
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This work will well position them to pay it forward personally, professionally, and financially.
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The Scholars Equity Network was founded by the alumni of the Gates Millennium Scholars
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Program.
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I am Aaron Stallworth, your host for today's pod, and a long-time educator, working in
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the K-12 space for 15 years before joining the Gates Millennium Scholars Program leadership
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team in 2016.
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I'm based in Washington, D.C., and the podcast guests are based around the country, possibly
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around the world.
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Thank you for listening.
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Let's get into it.
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I want you to give me one sentence, you can give a couple more if you want to, but try
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to stick to one sentence, Karen.
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Your pay-it-forward project is Caminos Cientificos.
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In one sentence, tell me a little bit about your project.
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Yeah, I'm happy to.
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So Caminos Cientificos is a lecture series in Spanish, specifically for Hispanic students,
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their families, their parents.
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The purpose of the lecture series is to bring bilingual scientists in STEM, so science,
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technology, engineering, mathematics, to give lectures to this community, again, in Spanish,
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so that students can see themselves in these careers in the future, and also so that their
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parents can be included in the process as to what it takes to become a scientist, or
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what does it take to become an engineering.
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And we're doing it in Spanish so that people, again, so that parents feel included, and
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they can take this learning and, you know, go home and be able to support their kids
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in the best way possible.
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I absolutely love that you're bridging that gap and providing that representation.
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How has Scholars' Equity Network's pay-it-forward accelerator played a role in bringing Caminos
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Cientificos to life?
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Yeah, so I've actually been wanting to do this for a while now.
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Like you mentioned, you know, I was a Gates Scholar in 2015.
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It's been 11 years, and those 11 years, I went to college, I went to grad school.
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I've kind of just gone straight through, and throughout the whole process, I would
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have never gotten through all of that if I hadn't had the support from scholarships
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or anything like that.
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And these were all things that I really, really did on my own, and I guess I wish that I had
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had someone to kind of guide me through this in the last 10 years.
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So I guess Caminos Cientificos kind of came out and about just from, like, intrinsic,
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like motivation.
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And while I had been wanting to do this since grad school, I hadn't really had the time
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or the financial support to run such a program.
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And so if it wasn't for Scholars' Equity Network, this program would really not be possible.
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I think just the platform that CENT has brought in as well has really helped in getting the
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word out and gaining that momentum for the program.
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Wow, that is impactful.
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You're based in Tucson, Arizona, is that right?
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Yes, I am based in Tucson, Arizona right now.
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What inspired you to create the project for Tucson's Hispanic students and families particularly?
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Yeah, so I'm originally from Houston, Texas.
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Before I went to college, I spent 18 years in Houston, you know, going to, like, predominantly
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Hispanic high school, predominantly Hispanic community, low socioeconomic community and
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high school.
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And if you think about it, both Houston and Tucson are very close to the Mexican border.
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So there are, like, a lot of immigrant families.
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My parents were one of those immigrant families.
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And so the community here in Tucson is very similar to the community in Houston.
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So I guess to answer your question, I would have probably tried to launch this program
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wherever I was.
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It just happened to be Tucson, Arizona.
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But I'm happy to be making a small dent in the community wherever that is.
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Yes, well, I'm also a Texas native.
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Shout out to Marshall, Texas.
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Small town, not quite the size of Houston, but it's always good to talk to a fellow Texan.
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Astrophysics.
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How did you get on that path?
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Were you interested in that before college?
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Or tell me about how does your own journey into astrophysics and how does that connect
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with what you're doing as a changemaker?
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Yeah, so most people that are astrophysicists or astronomers kind of grow up in, like, rural
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areas.
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I did not.
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Like I said, I grew up in Houston, Texas, so very, like, city-like, polluted.
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And so I was not one of those kids that grew up and looked at the stars and thought, like,
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wow, like, I want to know what's out there, right?
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I actually used to not like science when I was in elementary school.
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However, around the time of, like, 15 years old or so, I started watching some science
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shows on the Science Channel and the History Channel with my dad.
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And that really inspired me and motivated me to know, like, what's out there, you know,
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and, like, if there's life out there and what other astrophysical objects are out there
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that we don't know about.
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And I guess I just really wanted to know what was out there.
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And there wasn't many resources in my community or in my high school either.
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And so something I did actually was look for outside opportunities, out-of-state summer
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programs during high school that would kind of get me in that path.
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And consequently, I think that would essentially help me get into college to pursue an astrophysics
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degree.
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Okay.
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Any particular show come to mind or that you remember that kind of, like, sparked that
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interest?
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One of them was, like, Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman.
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Oh, yeah, yeah.
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Morgan Freeman is a great narrator in anything that he does.
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Right.
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Right.
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He could read the phone book, right?
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But, yeah.
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You still listen to him, yeah?
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Yep, yep.
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And I would be remiss if I didn't share that I, though I'm referring to Karen as Karen,
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she is indeed Dr. Karen Perez.
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She received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and her PhD from Columbia
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University.
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Indeed, an esteemed alumni of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program.
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And now a pay-it-forward changemaker.
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So walk us through an event or day in the life of someone who's involved with your program
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with Camino Scientificos.
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Yeah.
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Who speaks, the format, length, what kind of activities do you do?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So, again, the idea is to host it here at University of Arizona.
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We have an auditorium secured on Wednesdays from 5.30 to 7 p.m.
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So I will be giving the next lecture, envision the first 30 minutes of that being bringing
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some snacks in, some drinks, kind of having people network and talk to each other beforehand
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before going into the lecture room and having the lecture.
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So what the lecture looks like is kind of giving maybe more or less like a sequential,
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a sequence of events as to how you got to become the scientist that you are today.
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So I will give like a series of the steps I took throughout grade school, throughout
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high school.
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Did you take the most advanced classes in physics and math because you wanted to go
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into a STEM degree?
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The fact that I went to some out-of-state summer programs during high school and then
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how that helps you get to college and then later on grad school.
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And the idea, again, is to have all of this in Spanish and kind of bring families along
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and have the math questions along.
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And I guess oftentimes, you know, parents might not be very included in these efforts.
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Students might have these big dreams of, I want to become a scientist.
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And a parent can maybe not say anything besides, well, like just work hard, you know, and there's
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not really any guidance there.
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So I guess I'm really trying to bridge that gap.
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And to conclude the lecture series after all that, then I will give like a small overview
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of just what it is that I do as an astronomer.
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The goal is kind of just walked in from start to finish, you know, like what did I do in
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the last 15 years to get to this point, starting in high school.
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The recipients of the program or who can participate in the program are very lucky to have you
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as a scientist and the expertise that you have.
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Do you have anyone that you partner with that also leads the lectures?
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And how do you find other participants to do what you do?
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Yeah, so I guess I have some community partners that will be supplying, like I said, the
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drinks and the pastries.
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So there's two community partners specifically that I'd like to highlight.
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La Estrella Bakery here in Tucson will be providing some pan dulce pastries.
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And Tu Merico, which is a Mexican restaurant here, will be providing the aguas frescas.
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So I'm very excited for that to kind of bring some warmth to the community as well.
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And there is actually a volunteer that I believe is based in San Antonio, Texas.
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Judith Rendon, she has a similar program in San Antonio.
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And I guess that's a partnership that I thought to mention.
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She will be spreading the word out there in our good old state of Texas.
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So that's exciting.
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And I guess besides that, I'm really leading the project mostly on my own.
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I do have a few volunteers that will be helping out at the lecture series.
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And I guess something important to mention is that while this is based in Tucson, Arizona,
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we will be live streaming this to anyone, any Spanish speaker who is interested and
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wants to be involved with this project through our different social media.
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Just in thinking about this, this is really, and I know I was a part of the early stages
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of selecting change makers and deciding on who should be a finalist and all that sort
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of thing.
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But I'm getting even more excited about the fact that you were selected because, I mean,
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we talk about just the language barrier, but just cultural barrier, the social economic
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barrier, all these different factors that make science seem more foreign than it needs
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to be.
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I mean, I think about this, and it could easily be applied to law or medicine or engineering.
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I mean, this is definitely something that is scalable and expandable.
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And I love that you're already planning to stream it outside of just the local community,
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but it's a great place to start.
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Always great to start local and kind of master the recipe locally and then share it broadly.
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I love that.
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So what local gaps in STEM access or exposure does the project seem to directly address?
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I guess to go a bit more into detail, I think when you grow up in low socioeconomic
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communities like that, you go home and your parents are kind of just going about their
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day-to-day lives, but they're not really in school with you.
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And they don't really know what are the next steps in pursuing a specific career that you
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might be interested in.
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I think it's really important for students to see people that look like them in these
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fields, right?
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So like having some visibility and having a sense of belonging of like, oh, I see this
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person being a mechanical engineer and working on the Artemis 2 rocket.
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You know, I can do that too.
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So I'm really just trying to bridge that specific gap of visibility and again, making
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science accessible and making parents feel like, hey, like it's not impossible for my
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child to do this.
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There is a path for them to get there.
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And I shouldn't be surprised when they tell me they have these big dreams and how can
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I best support them?
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Yeah, definitely.
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I mean, we know, you and I both know and many of your fellow alumni know that just
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representation is so important.
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Just being as a Black man, I know, of course, seeing Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods play
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golf and basketball makes me want to feel I can play golf and basketball.
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And you mentioned the Artemis 2 mission.
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I mean, seeing Victor, I forget his last name, Victor on that spaceship driving around,
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driving around, but anyway, whatever you call it, around the moon.
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I'm like, just imagine the minds that are sparked, the ideas that are sparked and the
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career paths that are sparked by people saying that representation is so important.
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And I don't think you have to be a person of color or considered a minority to realize
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that, but we definitely specifically do.
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Can you think of an aha moment just in your personal life and then along your path where
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you're seeing this person, whether it be on TV with Morgan Freeman or in your classroom
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or any moments for yourself personally?
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I guess I've done a lot of outreach before, like astronomy outreach in college and throughout
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grad school.
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You set up telescopes outside and you point at the moon and you have this super long line
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of maybe hundreds of people sometimes trying to look at the moon.
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And I guess it's moments like that where you see a little kid or a young girl, a young
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boy, and they're like, wow, that's so cool.
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Or even some of my friends that were my age at the time, like in our 20s, looking at Saturn
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for the first time and they're just so amazed, you know, seeing the rings which are visible
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naked eye through the telescope.
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So I guess it's moments like that, that I'm hoping will come about from this lecture series.
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I think oftentimes maybe there's things that, you know, people don't even think about.
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People probably don't even think about, like, what do the details on the moon look like?
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Like, what does Saturn look like?
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So I guess it kind of just gives you like an overall perspective as well, kind of takes
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you out of your day-to-day life.
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And that's just for astronomy, but I'm sure the same can be said about like biology, you
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know, like microscopically looking at cells or chemistry or any other scientists that
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will hopefully speak at this lecture series.
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How does representation change a student's sense of possibility?
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Like, what happens?
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What makes that light bulb go off if it indeed goes off?
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Well, I guess I would say, like, it obviously helps to see people that look like you in
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STEM, but that's not the only thing.
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You also have to have people kind of guiding you through, like, what steps do you have
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to take, right?
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And obviously those people don't have to look like you either.
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I mean, there's plenty of people out there that are willing to help.
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So I guess this program, again, just to emphasize that it's in Spanish, it's not just for the
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students, but it's also mostly for the parents to kind of give the parents those tools that
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they need to give to their children.
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To give an example, when I was in high school, I knew that I wanted to go to school out of
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state.
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And, you know, at the time, my parents were like, well, like, that's great, but I don't
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know how we're going to pay for it.
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You know, like, I don't know if that's financially possible.
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And at the time, I was already starting to look for scholarships and ways to pay for
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college.
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But I guess that's something that a lot of parents might not know.
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And so going back to this idea of your child might come to you with this very out there
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idea that you might think, oh, well, like, that's not really possible, sorry.
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To just kind of give them the resources to know that it is possible and this is how they
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can help them.
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And yeah, that's so cool.
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I'm a parent.
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I have a 12-year-old and 15-year-old.
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So parenting is hard, but to have those barriers in front of you when you're trying to be the
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best parent you can be.
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Even just like financial aid.
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I know this is a STEM lecture series, but I'm sure there will be some questions for
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that as well, right?
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Like, how do I fund my child to pursue this path?
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Absolutely.
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Hoping to be able to provide just some general guidance in those areas as well.
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In addition to the Scholars Equity Network, have there been any other funders or partners
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that have supported your work?
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I guess financially, no.
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But I have reached out to a few folks, part of the local school district here, the Tucson
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Unified School District.
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And a few of them have gotten back to me and have spread out the flyers, spread out our
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lecture series in their newsletters.
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So I'm very excited about that.
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You know, I just got to Tucson in October of 2025.
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So just building that community and network to get the word out as much as possible has
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been really helpful.
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Right.
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You've definitely planted the seed.
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And I know in due time, you'll be a magnificent tree growing from this work you're doing.
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What are some operational challenges?
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Short of it being a new program, what are some operational challenges, and how do you
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measure success?
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00:19:01,780
Yeah, so I briefly mentioned this earlier, but I guess a pretty big challenge has been
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kind of just leading this on my own, like building it from the ground up.
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Again, it's always been an idea that I've wanted to do, but obviously it takes a lot
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of time to carry out a project like this, especially when you have a job working with
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these community partners.
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You know, I really wanted to have food and drink there for the community that shows up.
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So kind of just getting all these little things that aren't too difficult, but they
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do all take time when you combine them.
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I think those have been the operational challenges.
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Yeah, and I know as the program grows and you find more and more success with it, you
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know, more parents and teachers are going to come to you and say, how do I duplicate
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this at my school or my home or my city?
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Yeah, exactly.
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What do you think those steps are for when you do start getting those questions?
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What are the first three steps that those parents and teachers need to be, should do?
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00:19:58,099
Yeah, that's a great question because that's something that I'm hoping happens, just as
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you described it, right?
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00:20:02,660
Like, again, this is specifically targeting like Hispanic, Spanish speaking communities,
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but it doesn't have to be like, you could obviously target like Native Americans or
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like African Americans, like any kind of community out there really.
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And all you really need is a leader.
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So I guess that's probably the first thing, like you probably need to find a leader and
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someone who's dedicated and maybe intrinsically motivated to do this and help similar communities
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out.
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The second might be to have some kind of established network, again, to help you get the word out
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and make sure people will show up to this event.
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00:20:47,060
And the third thing I might say is maybe having like a clear sense of direction and mission
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as to what exactly you're trying to get across.
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Those would be the three things.
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I guess it is probably possible to run a project like this without a budget.
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00:21:04,020
But obviously, it's always better to have a little bit of a budget to make it more inclusive
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and homey.
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Absolutely.
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00:21:12,020
Well, I think it's obvious that I'm a fan of your project and I love what you're doing.
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But when you first heard about the Pay It Forward Accelerator and you knew you had to
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submit an application and you knew we had to vote on it and everything, what was inside
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00:21:34,260
of you that says, I have to give this a shot versus maybe next time or I'm not quite there
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yet?
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00:21:38,420
Tell me your motivation, I guess, or inspiration.
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Well, this is actually something that I had been wanting to do in grad school for the
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longest.
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And then I graduated, right?
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And I moved states.
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So obviously, that opportunity had passed me by.
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So when I saw this, I was like, wow, this is my chance.
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I didn't get to do it in the last two years, but this is my chance now.
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There's an opportunity for funding.
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00:22:00,099
And I didn't really know what that looked like at the time.
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I didn't know you had to vote.
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I didn't know you had to make a little video describing your project, which was actually
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kind of intimidating to film.
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00:22:11,540
So I kind of just put myself out there and I thought, yeah, this is a great opportunity.
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I just have to go for it.
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00:22:16,900
And again, just being in Tucson, Arizona, having just moved here, I thought it would
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be a great opportunity to just start something here and help the community out while I'm
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here.
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One quick rapid fire question.
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00:22:32,260
If you could think of one book or resource that inspired you, or even a piece of advice
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00:22:35,699
that you would give to a student or a family member, what would that be?
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00:22:43,140
So I did some summer programs in high school, like I mentioned, in astronomy.
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00:22:48,739
So I think my piece of advice for students would be to pursue things that make you get
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out of your comfort zone.
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00:22:54,739
Maybe there are opportunities out there that are beyond your local community or even out
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00:22:55,380
of your state.
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00:22:59,459
But I would say to not be afraid to pursue those opportunities because the only way
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00:23:04,579
that you can grow by being exposed to the rest of the world, even if there are smarter
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00:23:12,579
people out there, you can always learn from everyone and continue pushing yourself forward.
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00:23:31,219
Your journey from Gates Millennium Scholar, Class of 2015, to Changemaker really embodies
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00:23:35,060
what this community is all about, with the Scholars Equity Network community, with your
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00:23:40,339
alumni community, and what the community that we all come from, what we're all about is
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paying it forward, and you're doing just that.
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I wanted to say to our listeners, if this story resonated with you, I encourage you
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00:23:52,339
to support Scholars Equity Network, whether that's donating, volunteering, or simply
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00:23:53,859
sharing our work.
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00:23:58,579
You're helping create more opportunities for students and families like the ones that
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00:23:59,859
Karen is reaching.
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00:24:04,020
Karen, thank you for sharing your story and for being a part of Scholars Equity Network,
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00:24:05,459
Pay It Forward Accelerator.
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00:24:06,579
Thank you for having me.
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00:24:14,420
And I guess just to mention, we do have a few social media acts where people can follow
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00:24:19,939
us on Instagram at Camino Cientificos, Facebook, same name, Camino Cientificos, and we do have
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00:24:24,339
a YouTube channel named the same, Camino Cientificos, as well as the Gmail account,
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00:24:26,500
Camino Cientificos at gmail.com.
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00:24:28,500
All right, Camino Cientificos.
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00:24:39,219
I am going to spell it, C-A-M-I-N-O-S, C-I-E-N-T-I-F-I-C-O-S.
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00:24:43,780
If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to share it with a fellow scholar, mentor,
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00:24:47,219
or future leader who believes in creating opportunities for others.
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Until next time, remember, when scholars rise, communities rise with them.
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00:24:53,300
Thanks, everyone.
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00:24:53,859
Thank you so much.
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00:24:54,500
Thank you, Karen.
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I appreciate you so much for joining us.
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00:25:00,339
And we look forward to hearing more about your program as it grows and prospers in the
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00:25:00,900
future.
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00:25:13,699
Thanks.
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Okay.
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00:31:17,459
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00:31:17,540
Thanks, everyone.
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00:31:17,540
398
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00:31:17,619
Bye-bye.
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00:34:48,219
Bye-bye.
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00:34:48,219
401
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00:34:48,219
402
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00:35:18,219
Bye-bye.
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00:35:19,219
Bye-bye.
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00:35:19,219
405
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00:35:48,219
Bye-bye.
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00:35:49,219
Bye-bye.
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00:35:49,219
408
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00:36:18,219
Bye-bye.
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00:36:19,219
Bye-bye.
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00:36:19,219
