Today our guest, John Weiss, comes from Bayview Hunter’s Point in San Francisco, California. In Bayview, he has founded an organization called BOOM which empowers teens in crisis and gives them economic opportunity by transforming them into engineers, tradespeople, and entrepreneurs. John grew up in Buffalo, New York, and he moved to the West Coast 15 years ago and that’s where he started his project. His father studied electronics with the United States Navy during World War II and so he grew up with access to tools and books about electronics and building things. His dad always had him involved in building and repairing things and that helped him learn lifelong engineering skills. He also mentioned that traditional academics and school weren’t a good fit for him, but his dad’s mentorship ended up helping him pursue other career paths. This early life experience is something that has stuck with him and he wanted to create this same experience for other kids and teenagers. This belief ended up greatly inspiring his creation of the BOOM.
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About the Author: Aarin Bothra