Major applause for our teammate Malik Sediqzad. Malik grew up in Jennings, MO a community with more barriers than resources. He earned his way to Harvard, became a computer scientist and data engineer, and made himself a promise: I'm going back to St. Louis when I can contribute something real. He kept it. Malik joined Human Agency by way of our partners at Clayco. Then he built Opportunity Ave: a career immersion program that brings students from his own high school into the room. Yesterday, 36 kids from Jennings Senior High spent the morning at Clayco hearing directly from engineers, data scientists, and technologists about how they built their careers and where the world is going. That's not a pipeline program on paper. That's a person who got access, understood what it meant, and refused to be the last one through the door. Proud doesn't cover it. 🤝
This is what a real pipeline looks like. Malik Sediqzad grew up in Jennings. He came through our CCDI Saturday Academies with a goal of becoming an architect and went on to earn admission to Harvard University, something that rarely happens from his high school. At Harvard, he studied architecture and interned at LJC. That experience exposed him to a shift happening across the industry. Software was doing more of the work than traditional drafting. He made a deliberate pivot to computer science and built a new path. When he left for college, it was intentional. His perception of St. Louis was shaped by the realities he grew up around. He made a decision that he would come back only when he could contribute in a meaningful way. Mentorship played a role early. Jesse Sanders, Director of IT at Clayco, was a mentor to Malik while he was still in high school. That relationship did not end there. Today, they are working together to build experiences that reach the next group of students coming up behind him. Malik followed through on his commitment to return to St. Louis. He came back to Clayco as a data engineering intern, then as a data science co-op, and ultimately as a full-time AI professional with Human Agency. Each step was a choice to invest his skills where they could matter most. Now he is extending that same access to others. Yesterday, 36 students from Jennings Senior High School spent the morning at Clayco’s St. Louis office as part of Opportunity Ave, a career immersion experience Malik built from the ground up. They heard directly from professionals across disciplines, including engineering, data, design, and IT. The conversations were direct. How people built their careers. How technology is changing their fields. What they would and would not build. Before the visit, nearly every student said they would walk away from work that harms their community. The values are already there. What they needed was to see those values lived out in real careers. That connection showed up quickly. One student said Malik stood out most because they are from the same place. Another was surprised by how young the professionals were. A third came in with a narrow view of engineering and left considering paths like forensic engineering. This is the work. Mentorship that starts early and stays consistent. Opportunities that make careers visible and tangible. People who come back and actively pull others through. Appreciation to Asim Manuel, BSME, MBA, Catalina Mundin, Tyler Meyr, Ashley McFadden, and Jesse Sanders for showing up with honesty and intent. And to the students of Jennings, keep going!