Growing up in a working-class neighborhood, it was apparent that the old African proverb "It takes a village to raise a child" wasn't just used as words of encouragement. In my community of Goulds, Florida helping one another was engrained in us. For some, it was necessary. At times if one household didn't have access to food, others would assist. If one family had a few more cars than others, many of the students would ride in that together.

Now I live my life the same way. Every action is done with the underlying purpose of improving whatever community it is that I am a part of.

Whether it be through community gardening, volunteering, mentoring & educating, or just giving my presence where it is needed.

"Moja ni nguvu"

"Unity is strength and division is weakness"

Miami Southridge Senior High

August 2009 - June 2013

High School Diploma

University of Miami (UM)

August 2013 - May 2015

Psychology, No Degree

Florida International University (FIU)

August 2020 - December 2021

Biological Sciences, B.S.

Chemistry Minor

Miami Dade College (MDC)

August 2018 - July 2020

Biological Sciences, A.A.

STUDENT ASSISTANT

Although this job didn't align with my aspirations, it served as a life learning opportunity!

This video highlights one of the many projects I was involved in. We renovated the entire Women's Soccer Locker by installing wood floors, new lockers, a custom U shield, and green & orange stripes all around the room (which I designed my self!)

The Resource Room

Instructor

The Resource Room (TRR) is a nonprofit organization in Miami Gardens, FL that I started volunteering at, mainly because my wife worked there and I was able to attain community service hours while teaching youth about gardening and healthy eating.

What started out as just a volunteering opportunity has blossomed into an incubator for me to spread my wings and create an extended family with not only coworkers but with the children and their families as well. The impact left upon me from this experiment far exceeds anything evidence of it that I could share in this portfolio. The same goes for the ongoing impact I am having currently in this role.

Currently, I serve as Instructor and Site Leader for our 6th - 12th summer group at Carol City Senior High School. What makes this venture even more amazing is that the program we're running is one I helped create!

Statistics show that students lose somewhere between 17-34%  of learning gains accomplished during the prior school year. A number that is even greater within underserved and impoverished neighborhoods. In an effort to curb those effects, we created AcademyX, with the goal of creating an immersive, hands-on experience focusing on exposing our youth to LIMITLESS opportunities. This program takes a turn away from traditional learning and the “one size fits all” teaching concept associated with it. We, here at TRR understand that our wonderful children are different from each other in many ways. Each of them with their own ability, style of learning, and type of intelligence or their own pace of absorbing information. Through project-based learning, we believe we can help youth retain what they’ve learned in the previous school year and acquire new knowledge and skills as well.

At the core of The Resource Room's 6th-12th grade program is ENTREPRENEURSHIP! AcademyX enhances this component by exposing youth to entrepreneurs who span a vast number of industries and by breaking down the fundamentals of a successful entrepreneur & business on a weekly basis

Youth collaborated and sharpened their problem-solving skills by competing to build the tallest tower out of construction with very limiting guidelines!

Teaching our K-5 youth about the benefits of eating vegetables and where they actually come from.

Youth sold their fresh fruit smoothies, organic beauty products, and fruit/veggie producing plants.

Youth also were able to give the community an array of veggies, and homemade plaintain chips.

Youth hosting a "Plant Adoption" at their community health fair. They also educated visitors about the benefits of each plant.

Undergraduate Research

at

Miami-Dade College (MDC) & Saint Thomas University (STU)

Evaluating the effect of Malabar spinach extracts on

cancer cells "in vitro"

The goal of this experiment was to test the effects of Malabar Spinach leaf & berry extracts on invasive BT549 breast cancer cells.

Malabar Spinach has been referenced in a multitude of ways within the Charaka Samhita, a text of Ayurvedic Indian medicine as a treatment for several human ailments.

Undergraduate Research

at

Miami-Dade College (MDC) & Saint Thomas University (STU)

analysis of gene expression differences in human cardiomyocytes infected with sars-cov-2

COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 and is characterized by primarily respiratory symptoms as well as cardiovascular & GI symptoms as well.

This study focused on the potential differences in gene expression between healthy and infected cardiomyocytes. The raw expression was taken from a separate study, (Sharma et. al. Jul 21, 2020, Cell Rep Med)

RStudio was used in order to analyze the raw gene expression data for any significant differences based on adjusted p-values.

This chart showcases the Top 15 Significant Genes based on the p-value. Down-regulation refers to lower expression in controls in comparison to infected cells, and vice-versa for up-regulation.

Undergraduate Research

at

Miami-Dade College (MDC) & Saint Thomas University (STU)

analysis of gene expression differences in human cardiomyocytes infected with sars-cov-2

Several cellular components were affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection, including:

• Cardiac myofibril (Muscle contraction)
  
• T cell receptor complex

      (Antigen recognition)

Molecular functions affected included:

• Olfactory receptor activity (Smell sensitivity)
  
• Immunoglobin receptor binding
• Cytokine activity (Inflammation)
  

Biological Processes affected included:

• Heart Contraction Regulation
  
• Cellular Respiration
• Inflammatory Response
• Chemical stimulus  detection, etc.
  

Thank you for viewing my portfolio! For any questions/concerns, I can be contacted via the methods to the right.