Armando Villanueva, 16, a senior with Springs’ Renaissance Real World Academy at the Magnolia Student Center, participated in a Fund All Kids Virtual Youth Summit with three other charter school students. Their topic was California SB-98, signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, which restricts 2020-21 growth by capping funding for charter schools such as Springs. Armando explained, “We talked about the impact SB-98 will have on students all across California. We spoke about our dreams after school, and how we as seniors wanted to ensure that our underclassmen had the same opportunity we had to fulfill those dreams.”
The legislation has restricted Springs’ ability to grow, Armando explained, “and those students who are being defunded are our future politicians, scientists and engineers. It’s important that we strive to give them the best we can and let them choose the school to which they want to go.”
Armando came to Springs in 8th grade. After he graduates at the end of this school year he plans on attending Stanford University and becoming a neurosurgeon.
He is grateful for his time at Springs, and commented, “I can say without a doubt that it has been one of the greatest environments in which to study.” He likes the feel of the learning community, and added, “My teachers have always been there for me when I needed them, and I never once felt like I wasn’t valuable at Springs. The one-on-one with my teacher really gave me the chance to grow and learn valuable lessons that I don’t think I could’ve learned in a traditional public school setting.”
