SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Earlier this summer a group of more than two dozen students from "The Ocean Discovery Institute" in San Diego's City Heights neighborhood took a trip to Baja, Mexico to study wildlife in a hands-on environment.
The trip was provided to the young people completely free of charge.
Institute programs are specifically for kids who attend one of the 14 schools in the City Heights area and who might otherwise be excluded from the science field.
"So that means young people who are low income, racially and ethnically diverse and we provide 100 percent tuition free hands on science courses here in this community," said Carla Camacho, manager of business development at the Institute.
Camacho says more than 95 percent of their alumni go on to pursue a college degree.
"We know that if students go to college and enter these careers in science they break generational poverty and change the future of science."
And trips like the one to Baja, give kids a glimpse into what life as a scientist could be like.
Soto already knows he wants to go into molecular biology.
"This program has provided all the information I needed all the resources as well, he explained.
