In our final episode this season, we continue the shift from speaking with scholars across the country to speaking with young leaders who have decided not to wait for change to happen.

Dr. Joe Bishop discusses the importance of diversifying college campuses with Kashish Bastola, a public education, racial and equity advocate and undergraduate student at Harvard University.

Kashish sees school as a place for students to dream about their future. However, many students don’t have the privilege to dream about attending college or an Ivy League school like Harvard. His lived experiences in rural Texas ignited his passion for education justice and he has been actively advocating for change since his early high school years. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling on race-based admissions policies has fueled new conversations around college access and charged activists like Kashish with a new mission to ensure universities don’t further cement existing inequities.

Special Guest: Kashish Bastola is a sophomore at Harvard University and is originally from Texas. This year, Time Magazine published his opinion essay, Harvard's Diversity Problem Goes Deeper than Race. He is an advocate for public education and climate justice in the Gulf South. His work has included marching 400 miles from New Orleans to Houston to call on the federal government to act on the climate crisis, as well as testifying before the Texas Senate Committee on Education in support of student voice in school board governance. He also worked to create the first ethnic studies courses in his school district in Frisco, Texas. Coming from generations of Nepali freedom fighters, Kashish is passionate about democracy and community. On campus, he is involved in CIVICS, the Radcliffe Institute, the Asian American Dance Troupe, the Affirmative Action Working Group, the Harvard Undergraduate Law Review, and many more campus organizations. Check out his Instagram and Twitter @kashishbastola and his LinkedIn. 

Our Children Can't Wait is a podcast by the Center for the Transformation of Schools in the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. Dr. Joe Bishop is the host. Elizabeth Windom is the Producer. Julia Windom is the Associate Producer. Geneva Sum is the Creative Director, and Senior Producer is Jay Woodward. Our Children Can't Wait is a companion to the book of the same name, Our Children Can't Wait. Available now from Teachers College Press and Amazon. Our Children Can't Wait is produced by Windhaven Productions and Bluejay Atlantic.

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