Elijah's Story

When 11-year-old Elijah grows up, he already knows he wants to be an engineer. A robotic engineer, specifically.

“I want to build things like a robot that fixes planes and cars,” he said.

Why an engineer? 

“I want to build robots that help around the house,” he continues. “So, if you need help, or your car breaks down, it’ll get fixed. Helping people makes me feel proud of myself.”

Elijah, with his soft smile and bright eyes, knows a lot about helping people. He lives with his grandfather, Robert, and five other siblings in San Antonio, Texas. As the oldest of the bunch, Elijah often helps his grandfather with the other kids and with chores.

“If there’s trash in the living room, I clean it up. Or if there are messy shoes everywhere, I put them where they’re supposed to be. If (my grandfather) needs to lay down or cook, I’ll take everyone outside to play,” he said.

And when Elijah’s not helping out, he’s busy at school. On top of keeping up with schoolwork, Elijah is in robotics club, where he’s learning to build and code robots to do simple tasks. With Elijah’s skills and passion, it shouldn’t be a surprise that his team recently did well at a competition.

“We got second place,” he said. “It made me really excited and I felt like I accomplished something.”

When school is out, Elijah stays busy, too. During the summer, he loves swimming, playing basketball and bouncing around on the trampoline with his siblings. 
Sometimes during the summer, his family picks up free meals nearby their home.

“When I’m hungry, I get tired or I’ll get distracted,” Elijah said. “But when I’m not, I’m on-task and I can focus.”

Elijah eats free breakfast and lunch at school as well. Having consistent meals in the classroom enables him to focus not only on his schoolwork, but on his passion – robotics.

“If I’m full, I’m ready for whatever happens,” he said.