Mario Lopez Wants To Inspire Kids And Ignite Their Passion For STEM [EXCLUSIVE]

Mario Lopez has joined an amazing and inspiring initiative called "My.Future" with Boys & Girls Club of America. The Latino ambassador wants to encourage and exposed the underrepresented youth to advancements in technology and expand their digital literacy with the skills and hands-on experience that is essential in today’s competitive workforce.

"I was a club member since I was 5 years old and I'm from Chula Vista, the border town next to Tijuana, so there was a lot of potential to kind of get in trouble and both of my parents worked," Lopez told Latin Times with great pride about the strong connection he has with the organization and how he became involved with the project that is investing in our future generation. "I love it, it was a safe place and it expose me to wrestling I remain a supporter and ambassador today."

The lack of minorities in STEM is a hot topic across academic institutions, according to an international educational assessment, some of the best schools in the United States are two years behind their Chinese counterparts in math. In fact, this skills gap in STEM starts as early as 4th grade and is most prominent among minority youth and girls. "This program gives club kids access to learn skills in the STEM field and prepared them to be able to compete in the workforce by giving them coding, web skills, robotics and it makes it fun," Lopez explained about the mission of the plan.

When we asked about the ultimate goal with this program, Lopez said "To expose the kids to science, technology, engineering, and math fields and hopefully to create a passion and pursue this as a career." He concluded by expressing his feelings toward children being vulnerable to technology at a very early age. "We live in a different world and we have no choice, might as well prepare them." He added, "You can never go wrong in investing in the future."