Zoilo Perez

Hometown: Los Angeles, California

School: John C. Fremont High School

Zoilo Perez is a rising senior at John C. Fremont High School, located in South Los Angeles. He was part of the 2023 USC Annenberg Youth Media Academy cohort, in which he gave the ceremony salutatorian speech. Zoilo currently holds a passion for journalism and civic engagement, which he hopes to pursue at Princeton University. Throughout his high school career, Zoilo has been involved in various community projects ranging from Learning 4 Equity to the USC x Meta Instagram Digital Scholar program. He is also part of Fremont’s Student Site Council & Journalism club, whereupon he advocates for community involvement within his community. Aside from academics, Zoilo holds a passion for running; he is part of Students Run Los Angeles, in which he has been able to run long-distance events, making him the first student-marathoner to finish the 2023 LA marathon. In the summer of 2024, Zoilo had the opportunity to visit Washington, DC to participate in CHCI NextGen. In this program, he learned new and deep insights on the political process as well as the history of Latino leaders. Through this, Zoilo learned to embrace his identity and roots more actively, as he is aware that the future generation of politics involves La Gente Latina.