Santa Cruz County Office of Education and Santa Cruz Works have partnered to provide Santa Cruz County educators and students the opportunity to participate in a series of exciting events that revolve around connecting your passions with the possibilities of the technology industry. These events are aimed at inspiring individuals to Think Big! when reaching for their dreams. We encourage students 6-12 grade and educators to join. Think big: expand your awareness of the possibilities that exist in Santa Cruz County.

If you are a business that would like to help cover costs for the books, please do consider donating. We need only $500. You will be listed and promoted as our primary sponsor. Use our Contact form to discuss.

May 6, 2021: The Code

• 3:00 - in this interactive event, participants will be guided through “The Code” by Shaun Tomson. Shaun is a world renowned surfer, environmentalist, best selling author, entrepreneur and developer of “The Code”.

• 4:30 - participants will hear from Celebrity Guests - Santa Cruz youth who have used their passions to guide them into successful careers.

Celebrity Guests

• Michael Sikand: Michael is Santa Cruz born-and-raised, and now a student at University of Michigan Ross School of Business and the Founder & CEO of Our Future. When COVID-19 hit, Michael embarked on a mission to make the business world more exciting and digestible to young people by launching Our Future, the business podcast for young people. Since May, Our Future has expanded into a next-gen media startup, delivering short, fresh exciting content to Gen Z through its Top 100 podcast, email newsletter, social media content, merchandise, and experiences. Some of Michael's podcast guests include the founders of companies like Quizlet, Morning Brew, StockX, Spikeball, KAYAK, and 125 more.

• Nohemi Kawasaki: Nohemi is currently a first year student at California State University Monterey Bay, School of Cinematic Arts & Technology. Because of the pandemic, she has yet to attend a class on campus. However, being a future big-wave surfer, she has spent hours in waves 5X bigger than herself (mind you she is only 5'0" tall) and has paddled out at Maverick’s. After breaking her humerus and not being able to surf for twelve weeks, she filled her time by working for WAG, a dog-walking company, and TaskRabbit, a freelance labor market. She recently worked as an extra in an upcoming thriller movie in order to understand how the film industry works. In the past she has worked for MERGE4, Surf School of Santa Cruz, and the Peninsula Humane Society as a photographer and social-media producer and for Sony as a model.

• Rosie Navarro: My name is Rosie Navarro, a graduate from Diamond Technology Institute. I am attending Cabrillo college and will be transferring to UCSC in the fall of 2021. I’ve been studying Sociology since I started my educational career because I have a goal to work within my community, by giving back and helping our youth seek more. Being a high school guidance counselor has been my main focus. Giving back to a community that needs role models. I want to help my Watsonville youth know that there is more outside of here, and working hard, will allow them to experience that. I graduated high school, lucky enough to have the guidance of Marci Keller, and now it’s my turn to spark a light in others.

• Marlize Velasco: My name is Marlize Velasco I'm a senior at Cypress High School. I will be attending the honors program at Cabrillo. I chose to stay here in Santa Cruz because I wanted to continue leadership and activist. I'm a founding member of Youth for Environmental Action(YEA). I'm also a part of the Santa Cruz County (COE) Racial Justice and Equity Student leadership group. Similarly I'm also part of youth advisory board for a non profit organization called Salud y Carino. This advisory board works to improve and create space for girls of all backgrounds to be represented in Salud y Carino. I work in these groups because I'm passionate about ; environmental action that needs to be taken by us the youth ,I'm passionate about students making changes to improve racial equality in education and their community I'm passionate about including more girls from a variety of backgrounds to take up space. I hope that throughout my leadership experiences I can one day represent a community. I plan on studying political science and reclaim my space as brown girl in the political arena.

• “Reezey” aka Michael Rezendes II: My back was against the wall, and I knew that I had to support my family. I got married, dropped out of high school, and had my first child when I was 16. And working for someone else at a skate shop just wasn't an option. Fast forward 6 years, and I started seeing people with carts full of books at thrift stores. My first thought was that they worked at the store, but it turns out that they were resellers. Every time I asked what they were doing, they kept their lips tight, which means that they were probably making a ton of money. Eventually, someone told me that they were selling on Amazon. When I started sharing this knowledge with the world, people started reaching out to me about other opportunities on Amazon like shoes, media, and merch. This passion for helping others achieve freedom has led to 2 excellent Gary Vee interviews and a YouTube family with over 159k subscribers. All pumped to learn how I achieved over $5-Million in lifetime sales on Amazon.

• Neil Erickson: Neil Erickson: Neil is a Santa Cruz local born and raised on the westside. Prior to Covid-19 he was taking classes at Santa Barbara City College with a plan to transfer to UCSB for Political Science; however, during the pandemic he began a completely new journey. He is now dedicating himself full time to music. Through a plethora of free time, the pandemic sparked soul searching and the eventual conclusion to pursue his greatest passion. In a matter of four months, he now has a job at a recording studio, has played over ten paid gigs, and has released his first song “The Way You Love Me” on all streaming platforms. You can find his music under the name “Neil Erickson” on all streaming platforms(or by clicking here), and can follow his instagram here for updates on live shows, new music, and much more music content.

All individuals will have the opportunity to contribute and share examples of their “I Will” statements on our COE interactive Think Big! Padlet! In addition, early registered participants will receive a FREE copy of Shaun Tomson’s book, The Code*.

*Participants must attend the event to receive a book. Supplies are limited.