Volunteering at Local Schools

Hi Friends,

In partnership with MESA (Math, Engineering, Science and Achievement), some of us from the RJ Pimentel Memorial Foundation have volunteered their time to helping a teacher in the local area.

Recently this year, our friend, Ryan Mitra, volunteered on a weekly basis at Denman Middle School in San Francisco, helping out Ms. Abernethy’s MESA Math Club in preparing for their MESA Escape Room competition.

During the math club period, students practiced sample virtual escape rooms where they found clues, answered math questions, and tried to solve the puzzle to escape the virtual escape room. Ryan offered help and clues as needed throughout these periods and would give occasional talks to the classroom about his experience in college and working in industry.

In late March, the students at Denman had their district MESA Escape Room competition, where they worked in teams of 2-3 to solve a math-based virtual escape room in a limited amount of time. Two of Denman’s teams moved onto regionals for this competition.

Volunteering with MESA and directly at schools has been a great way to donate our time in honor of RJ, who had invested much of his time into education and aspired to help those with limited access to STEM resources.

If you are interested in doing something similar, whether its volunteering in a classroom to help a teacher or volunteering at a MESA single-day event, please reach out to [email protected] or reply to this email expressing your interest and we will connect you with the right folks to make it happen.

With gratitude,

Friends of RJ