The multicultural landscape of King County makes it a melting pot of cultures. For Ignacio (Iggy) Lopez, a senior at Seattle Prep and West Bellevue resident, it means being connected to his mother’s Peruvian roots and giving back to his community. In 2019, Iggy traveled the Peruvian Andes and had the chance to visit one of the houses supported by the Sacred Valley Project. There, he met a group of girls whose stories deeply moved him. “I realized I was taking my education for granted because a lot of those girls would have to walk miles every day to go to school or not be able to even go. It is typical for these communities to only send the boys to big cities to pursue education,” Iggy remarked.

Through his mom’s involvement with the Sacred Valley Project, Iggy had the opportunity to get involved himself. While figuring out a plan for future steps, he started off small by donating to the organization. However, as he contributed more, he realized as the girls from the project started graduating, many of them did not have the resources to enter the workplace or secure outside opportunities. Subsequently, Iggy founded The Bridge Project, a fundraising and mentorship initiative with the mission of helping the graduates enter a professional setting.

The fundraising is helping secure furniture and learning supplies for a new boarding house for girls who have graduated from secondary school. In September the project raised $5.5k, and through the mentorship program, professionals are volunteering to mentor the graduates, helping them to make resumes and LinkedIn profiles in hopes of securing them future job opportunities. “The mentorship program is going well, but it relies on community engagement and outreach. Publicity is necessary for a project like this, and it is word-of-mouth that spreads the fundraiser and the entire initiative around. So, the $5.5k in funding was a big milestone for me,” Iggy reflected.

Iggy's current fundraising goal is $10k, and he hopes to achieve this by the end of the year. Additionally, he is hoping the website he built will garner more traffic and that his project can be spread to more communities through the Internet. He would like this project to leave a legacy and continue for several more years and for the mentorship to reach every girl in the graduate house.

Although the idea is still fresh, The Bridge Project has major potential from Iggy’s perspective, and he hopes his efforts can bring a sizeable change to the current situation in the Andes Mountains and Peru in general. “The Andes are an impoverished area, and it has been difficult to improve living circumstances due to the lack of resources. The transportation is rough and makes it hard to get around, a reason why the Sacred Valley Project was created in the first place,” he adds.

Projects like Iggy’s not only directly support Peruvian communities, but also spread awareness in cities like Seattle and Bellevue. It educates his local community about other societal issues like the lack of education for girls, and also promotes interconnectedness with culture, an important characteristic for those living in culturally diverse areas like King County. Furthermore, The Bridge Project is not the only passion project created by a high schooler in the area. There has been an influx in other initiatives founded by teenagers showing an upward trend in not only the involvement in the Bellevue community, but also a greater awareness of the world around us.

Iggy recommends for those wanting to start a project of similar scale to first reflect on ways to give back to your local community. For Iggy, it was being bilingual in English and Spanish, being connected to his heritage, and realizing his privilege when it came to education. As he concludes, “Always be grateful and look for ways to give back. You can always make an impact if you are truly connected to the cause.”

For more information on The Bridge Project and mentorship program visit: bridgeprojectcusco.org