From Elechi Kadete, Aug. 17: My name is Elechi Kadete, and I am running for School Committee. This is my second time running.

I have lived in Cambridge almost all my life. I came to Cambridge from Tanzania, East Africa, when I was 4 years old. My entire elementary and high school education was attained in Cambridge. I attended the then Joseph Maynard School, Mariah L. Baldwin School and Cambridge Rindge and Latin high school. For college I attended Green Mountain College in Vermont and later transferred to Brandeis University, from which I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in politics in 2012.

I am running for School Committee because I believe I can make a difference; I am in touch with Cambridge youth. I feel blessed that in Cambridge, I was able to attend school with others from various walks of life. My schoolmates were the children of university professors, doctors, and high-tech specialists, as well as people who were on public assistance. My schoolmates were of different races and religions, but we sat in one class and we were friends and remain so. I have seen the many struggles and many successes of my schoolmates. I have seen kids who were smart and qualified to go to college unable to go because they could not get the necessary funding. Some have ended up on public assistance. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, yet in Cambridge, with all its resources, it happens too often.

I would like to see equal opportunity for all Cambridge students, as the city spends a large amount of money on each student. Cambridge should be the stop-scoring public school system in the state, but it is not. Cambridge is home to world-renowned universities such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; we should also have world-renowned public schools.

I ask for your No. 1 vote so I can get on the School Committee and help make a difference for the children of Cambridge.