Selection & interest
Chosen for potential, character, and agency — not polish
Selection is designed to identify potential, character, and agency rather than simply rewarding polish or prior access.
Here is how the first cohort of about 10 students will be chosen, what reviewers will look for, and what families can expect, shared now so students, parents, and educators can start thinking about it before nominations open.
How selection works
From nomination to a cohort of about 10
Every candidate goes through the same sequence. Each step is meant to show something a transcript can’t: how a student thinks, follows through, and treats other people.
- Step 1
Nomination / application
Students may apply directly or be nominated by educators, mentors, community leaders, or community organizations.
- Step 2
Short written response
Applicants explain what they care about, something they have built or improved, a challenge they have faced, and why they want responsibility.
- Step 3
Small project or challenge
Candidates receive a bounded task that reveals initiative, follow-through, creativity, communication, and willingness to learn.
- Step 4
Character review
John Sio, Raul Bedolla, and selected reviewers evaluate reliability, humility, integrity, treatment of others, response to feedback, and evidence of service.
- Step 5
Final selection
About 10 students are chosen for the highest long-term potential and strongest fit for the program.
Character counts more than polish
Exceptional technical ability does not compensate for poor character. Strong character, effort, curiosity, and leadership potential can justify selecting a student who still needs technical development.
The character review
What reviewers look for
Reviewers look for evidence of these qualities in what a student has actually done, across the written response, the small project, and the character review. None of them requires a polished résumé or prior access.
Integrity
What reviewers look for: Truthfulness, owns mistakes, consistent actions.
Agency
What reviewers look for: Starts, follows through, looks for solutions.
Learning velocity
What reviewers look for: Absorbs feedback and applies it.
Work ethic
What reviewers look for: Reliable effort over time.
Humanity / service
What reviewers look for: Respects others, sees people affected by decisions.
Leadership potential
What reviewers look for: Can earn trust and help others perform.
A preview
The questions the application will ask
These are the written prompts planned for the application, shared early so students can start thinking about real examples from their own lives. There are no right answers to rehearse. A specific, honest example — what you personally did, and what changed — says more than polished wording.
Please don’t send answers yet. The application isn’t open, and the interest form on this page isn’t the place for them.
Question 1: Tell us about something you built, improved, organized, or took responsibility for. What did you personally do?
Question 2: Describe a time you failed or received difficult feedback. What changed afterward?
Question 3: What is a problem in your school or community that you think people are underestimating?
Question 4: What skill would you become unusually good at if you had the right mentorship and resources?
Question 5: Who have you helped recently without being required to do so?
Question 6: Why do you want to join a program that will give you real responsibility rather than simply classes?
For families
Before any student participates
Because the initial population includes minors, operational safeguards must be established before the first student participates.
Required before the first session
The program commits to having each of these in place before the first student takes part.
- Signed parent/guardian consent and program participation agreement.
- Emergency contact information and medical/emergency instructions appropriate for program administration.
- Clear transportation and pickup/drop-off policy for in-person events.
- Adult supervision standards and defined rules for one-on-one interactions with minors.
- Background-check policy for adults with recurring direct access to minors, as appropriate to partner requirements and applicable law.
- Photo/video/media release choices that are separate and understandable.
- Code of conduct for students, mentors, staff, and guests.
- Data privacy rules, including limits on collecting student personal information.
- Incident reporting and escalation process.
- Written rules for client/community projects, including prohibited data and restricted environments.
- Attendance and sign-in/sign-out procedures for physical sites.
- Partner-specific compliance review before work takes place on a school or district campus.
Express interest
Tell us you’re interested
Parents and guardians, students, educators, and anyone who could mentor, speak, teach a workshop, or sponsor a community project can reach the team here while the program is being prepared.
Who the first cohort will draw from
- High school students in the Ontario-Montclair community
- High school students in the Jurupa Valley community
The first stage of the pathway, Foundation, is designed for students of about ages 16–18. Eligibility details will be confirmed before nominations open.
What happens next
The team replies by email.
A member of the program team will follow up at the email address you provide.
This doesn’t reserve a place.
Sending interest isn’t a nomination or an application, and it doesn’t hold a spot in the cohort. Every candidate goes through the same selection steps once they open.
Student details come later, with a parent or guardian.
Students 13 and older can reach out here themselves with their own contact details. Anything more about a student under 18 (an application, records, or photos) is collected only with a parent or guardian, through the program’s consent process.