(Fall 2018) – Sergio Martinez was born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission District, the neighborhood his family still calls home. His parents, Ana and Sergio Sr., emigrated from Peru and Mexico respectively, eventually settling down in San Francisco. Here, they worked to provide their son and daughters with the best education opportunities they could achieve.
After receiving the suggestion from another SMART family, in 2009 they signed Sergio up for SMART. At SMART, Sergio’s innate academic strengths thrived, as he found the guidance of his mentor George, a biologist he still speaks fondly of: “That mentorship was the best thing for me at SMART. It offered me exposure to different people and career choices.” He also looked to Kristin, a Princeton alumna and now business attorney in San Francisco, who was his SMART mentor during junior and senior years.
Sergio says he made lifelong friends in SMART’s after-school program as he also navigated the college application process with SMART’s team of support. Sergio’s diligence and strong work ethic earned him a full scholarship to Princeton University, becoming the first person in his family to attend college.
Now a rising sophomore, Sergio recently completed a summer internship with Mason Morfit – a SMART supporter and President of ValueAct Capital. Mason and his wife, Anna, are committed community members in the mission to alleviate poverty in the Bay Area, and as long-time supporters of SMART, saw this as another avenue to expand their partnership with SMART Scholars.
Sergio’s internship focused on research in effective philanthropy within California’s education landscape. He managed an independent analysis of data, studies, and reporting to learn more about organizations tackling education inequity in California, creating data visualizations for his findings.
After spending the summer working together and learning from one another, Mason had some advice for Sergio: “You get from the universe what you put out. Goodness builds on itself. It’s a combination of hard work, good intentions, and connecting with people. With that, you’re limitless.” He added, “I see all of that in Sergio.”
Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and Sergio
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Is your company looking to provide career opportunities for SMART Scholars? Contact Kelly Tong at kellyt@thesmartprogram.org for more information.