Check out this short video featuring Pedro Martinez when he was featured in March as the Spectrum News Athlete of The Week award winner. (Excerpt from video/article below)

The word ‘family’ comes up often with Martinez and those who know him well. "Knowing his familia, that he’s always there for them," said Silvia Gomez de Soriano, East Bilingual Resource Specialist. "I think his family is number one in life and he always takes care of his family and then comes school and then sports then everything else." Martinez works hard in the classroom. English is his second language with makes his academic achievements even more impressive. "Throughout high school he’s always pushed himself to take the next honors class, the AP class", said Sarah Elmore, School Counselor. "He’s just been a really well rounded student." Martinez is part of LA RAZA, a student organization which fundraises to provide scholarships for Latino students. "When you wanted to have an example of something that was quality, you looked at Pedro’s work," said Barbara Davis, Spanish teacher. Martinez also helps care for his three younger siblings, including his sister who’s living with special needs. "When you have those kinds of demands on you and responsibilities, they’re far beyond what most of the kids are facing in terms of their daily academic struggle," said Davis. "He’s got a great creative mind and this huge heart," said Elmore. He wants to be the first in his family to attend college. "Volunteering, athletics, work, family: He’s got it going on," said Elmore.

BSU (Black Student Union) is a student run affinity organization founded in 2010 by East High students, consisting of leading black and brown students, promoting change in their community as well as our school. The organization strives to serve and represent the many minority students that attend East through a series of cultural, social and academic focused programming. The purpose of BSU is to promote activities of common interest as they strive to share with the greater Madison community elements of the black experience. East's BSU consists of 40+ black and brown minority students of all grades, 9-12. East's BSU has a number of platforms and connections to enhance student voice, including having multiple members in student congress, two advisors on the communications team, students on the principal and district advisory boards, to make sure that when decisions are made, they can be done with the perspective of our students.

East's BSU was recently featured in The Capital Times for a video they put together. "The East High BSU created this video to highlight the atrocities that we, as black adolescents, live in fear of on a regular basis. Our interactions with the police are oftentimes terrifying and the video we've created goes in depth as to why we are so fearful of such a system. The police system is a product of the justice system, neither of which have served or had the best interests of Black Americans throughout history. We present this video to you in order to create dialogue in our classrooms and communities, and bring attention to the realities of being Black in America. We ask that this video gives those who are viewing it, time to reflect on their own experiences in contrast with these ones. The footage you are about to see is very raw and uncut. Although it may not be suitable for everyone to watch, we chose to present the video in this fashion because it IS the reality and we need to acknowledge that. We urge you all to have uncomfortable yet constructive conversations around this content after watching it. We are hoping to create spaces, safe spaces outside of BSU and maybe even in our classrooms, to have open and honest discussions so that our voices may be heard and our perspectives may be seen. We do this with the very best of intentions and with the full support of our advisors."