Out of all the biblical stories Ezra Bekele (12) reads to children at his church, David and Goliath resonates with him the most.

“[The story] shows that you can do pretty much anything,” Ezra said. “David’s a really small kid and Goliath is this huge guy, and Goliath is favored to win. They’re fighting, and then David ended up winning. According to the story, he believed in God; that’s what allowed him to win. Goliath didn’t, so that’s why he lost.”

Ezra has gone to his Ethiopian church ever since he can remember, and he started teaching there in middle school. Interacting with students has inspired him to root for the underdog—whether that’s embracing the younger members of his Ethiopian community or volunteering at schools with fewer STEM resources.

“The church is a place for our culture,” he said. He gazes contemplatively to the side, long pauses punctuated with bursts of speech. “For Ethiopians especially, there’s not that many places where you can go and find other Ethiopians, so the church is good for that. This past week, I had a class where I was teaching the kids about one of the Bible stories that we were learning about. I was talking about Jesus, and I was explaining to the kids how he relates to our lives.”

Just as he guides younger members of his church, Ezra also serves as a role model for middle schoolers with an interest in STEM. As a volunteer at a local Palo Alto middle school, he helps with labs and activities in the classroom.

“One time, we were doing the Coke and Mentos experiment, and they were asking, ‘Why does Sprite go higher than Fanta?’” he said. “I explained to them the reason, and they were like, ‘Oh, that’s so cool!’ It was just funny to see the kids interacting and wanting to learn more about the science.”

To Ezra, volunteering is a way to show gratitude for the teachers and resources that fostered his initial interest in the sciences.

“Especially since Harker kids are so educated in STEM, I want [the kids I teach] to be on the same playing field when they go to college and when they go into the workforce,” he said.

Ezra’s involvement in STEM lies mainly in computer science, an interest which he applies to problems in biology and environmental science. In an amalgam of the three subjects, he hopes that analyzing the gradual genetic changes in a species can predict broader environmental trends.

“I think being able to get the DNA sequence is a really key feature,” he said. “We can get the genome of animals and see how they could play a role in the environment and how the mutation of one gene in their sequence could affect their desire to eat more fruits or something. If we can see how animals’ genomes change, then maybe we can predict, over the long term, how the environment will change.”

In the face of a volatile environment, Ezra believes that alternative energy solutions and modified government policies can mitigate the damage that humans have done.

“I think honestly, [the current state of the environment is] not good,” he said. “I don’t want to say it’s hopeless, but it’s looking that way if we don’t do something about it soon. I think there’s a lot of growth for humans developing technology to try and solve the problems in the environment right now. It’s going to be interesting to see what we can come up with.”