If you haven’t met Sonny, you’re missing out. Sonny is one of the people at ThoughtSTEM who builds the curriculum your children use. In addition, he is a great person and cool individual to hang out with. I sat down with Sonny recently and got to talk about what makes him unique both here at work, but also as a person overall.

What is your role at ThoughtSTEM?

Curriculum Developer and After School Program Instructor. Largely speaking, I help set up the curriculum for students to learn with. In addition, I am in charge of all of our hardware. If a laptop is at a school, I know about it.

What initially got you involved with STEM education?

I used to tutor my family in math and science, and I really enjoyed that. When I started working at ThoughtSTEM, it was a similar experience. At the end of the day, what keeps me here is the feeling of helping people.

At the end of the day, what keeps me here is the feeling of helping people.

What are your goals with your job you have now?

I love learning new skills. With this job, I have the ability to learn at a pace I can enjoy as well as be with people I love. I want a job where I am friends with the people I work with, and I think that is what I have here.

How has the STEM education industry changed since you got involved?

Options. We used to only have options in higher socioeconomic areas of San Diego, but now we are able to share our technologies with all areas of San Diego. I see these skills as valuable to the growth in a student’s life.

What are your hopes for STEM education in the future?

STEM education has historically been pretty expensive. I want to see STEM education available to communities at a lower price point so that everyone can get involved and learn. At ThoughtSTEM, we are expanding our locations to meet the needs of many areas in San Diego County and I want to see that expanded even more.

What do you enjoy about working at ThoughtSTEM most?

The kids. What I think is really exciting is seeing how kids from multiple sessions develop with us as I see them come to classes over and over. I remember seeing some students start our programs several years ago, and then I see them later at another class. Seeing them develop into young programmers makes me really happy.

Seeing them develop into young programmers makes me really happy.

When you’re not working at ThoughtSTEM, what do you do for fun?

I have a lot of family that lives in the area I like to spend time with. I consider myself a family person, so spending time with them has helped me. My wife and I love going out and eating food together at new places near our home. Anything involving my close friends and family really keeps me going.