Piedmont High student runs group helping underprivileged youth

Trash, blankets and warm clothing are the unlikely stepping stones that unleashed the ultimate purpose of Piedmont High School senior Isaac Saxonov and a group of his friends.

Organizing garbage pickups that involved community participation in Berkeley and Oakland, purchasing blankets and warm clothing at discounted bulk rates and distributing them to unhoused people at Bay Area community and homeless shelters, soup kitchens and other locations, Saxonov and Jasper Humphreys founded the nonprofit operation dubbed BayRise in 2021.

While building a sense of community and with their initiatives helping people in the Bay Area to rise up (hence the name), the core team gradually took shape and stands in 2023 at seven students from different area high schools. During the pandemic lockdowns many of them had been stuck at home and used the time to create artwork or coach family members about computers.

Saxonov said in an interview that BayRise's humanitarian activities and his deep love of computer science and coding in particular were all just waiting to be expressed in his founding goal: to provide the opportunities he enjoyed to under-resourced children, teens and adults throughout the Bay Area. Saxonov said he and his team weren't revved up to "rescue" anyone but rather were aiming for what every parent, teacher and most adults hope kids will do: share.

"I always had the passion for computer science, and it was serendipitous that I found it," Saxonov said. "I realized that people just need opportunities to learn stuff outside of the normal school curriculum.

"If a kid got introduced to art in middle school, maybe that's what they’d decide to do for a career, rather than go to business school and become an accountant. We put together the group to do good for the Bay Area. The trash pickups and warming campaign allowed us to get to know the communities better before we started the classes."

Classes offered to students and young adults at schools, libraries and nonprofit organizations such as Boys and Girls Club of America include computer science (for ages 9 through 20), arts and crafts (ages 6 through 12) and, coming soon, physics. The courses are free with supplies included and extra materials left behind so that the learning will continue.

Saxonov was born and lived in Palo Alto before moving to Oakland and other cities, including Piedmont in 2021. His mother is a dermatologist; his father works for a biotech company; and learning, he said, is a priority in the family's home.

"My parents always wanted me to do the optional homework and extracurricular stuff. That stuck with me, and now I do my own pushing. I find that once I go deeper into anything, even a subject I think I’m not interested in initially, I find a spark."

Two teachers at Oakland's Yu Ming Charter School helped light the fire for learning that burns bright in Saxonov. Math teacher Ashton Chen saw his interest in math and gave him more difficult problems beyond the required coursework. Science Teacher Jennifer Newell noticed him "messing around on a school computer" and introduce him to coding.

"It was Pyret (an introductory programming language), and I stayed up all night using it. It was cool to make something out of nothing," he said.

Saxonov said his life's greatest role models are his two grandfathers. One immigrated to the United States from Taiwan, the other from Uzbekistan. Hearing their stories and witnessing their behavior, he's come to revere qualities such as resilience, determination and empathy for people less fortunate or lacking resources. The teaching in BayRise classes is not one-directional.

"At Yu Ming Charter, I realized kids like to see what they learn put into action," he said. "I learned you can't spend a lot of time at the whiteboard; you have to give them the information and let them run with it.

"One guessing game I gave them, they couldn't follow the program If I taught every single coding step at once. I had to give them a concept like loops in small parts and allow time for them to understand each part before going on to the next."

Saxonov said early involvement and agency in the process — for example, asking kids what type of websites they wanted to build — has led to "crazy ideas" that surprised him by working. He learned this the hard way, after first telling students what to build and watching some kids sit back, disengage visually, go nonverbal and physically signal disinterest in general. Other discoveries included who makes an ideal teacher.

"The most important thing is that they’re passionate about the subject they teach and about what BayRise is doing. Then, if we have disagreements, we’re all coming from the same place. They need to be good with kids. You have to be patient, engaging, entertaining and give them time to apply what they’ve learned."

Funding has come primarily from donations, twice-monthly bake sales and two GoFundMe campaigns that raised nearly $1,500. The team is working to establish the summer classes, researching possible grants, recruiting new and younger teachers and partnering with Pleasant Hill-based Hope Solutions and Berkeley Public Library while developing other partnerships for the fall.

Saxonov said adding younger teachers will ensure the program continues after he graduates and moves on to his next endeavor, which is likely to be college, although he's not certain if he’ll center on computer science or another subject. No matter what direction he turns in and the type of knowledge he acquires, it's safe to bet his activities will include one common denominator: sharing.

Lou Fancher is a freelance writer. Contact her at [email protected].

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