The Problem
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, over 80 percent of Californian ELLs (English language learners) speak Spanish as their primary language.
About 1 in 3 students in California’s K-12 schools speak a language other than English at home and were not fluent in English when they first started school.
In total, this amounts to 1,918,385 students, according to data from the 2024-25 school year.
Furthermore, according to the Department of Education, 10.7% of English learners met standards in English and 8.9% in math.
This number is incredibly insufficient in comparison to the proportion of ESL students enrolled in public schools.
Our Mission
Second Sentence aims to help underprivileged Hispanic ELL students develop confidence in necessary paragraph writing and literacy skills in Los Angeles. ELL students are often neglected and not given the full resources and opportunities they need to succeed, and as a result, perform worse on English proficiency tests and suffer from a lack of confidence. Rather than reteaching them English ineffectively, we will focus on experiential learning methods which will give students the confidence to express themselves in English.
Our Team
Second Sentence was founded by two high school students who believe that age is never a barrier to creating meaningful change. As students ourselves, we understand firsthand the challenges and pressures of academic expectations and the confidence it takes to put your words on a page.
Our experience as students is what makes Second Sentence unique. Our program is built by young people who genuinely care, for young people who deserve better support. We started this program because we saw a gap and decided not to wait for someone else to fill it. And we hope that spirit of leadership and confidence is something our students carry with them long after the last session ends.
Selvi Radia
Selvi Radia is a freshman at Marlborough School and co-founder of Second Sentence, a literacy initiative supporting elementary school Spanish-speaking English learners in developing confidence through paragraph writing and self-expression. Having lived in Los Angeles her entire life and spoken Spanish for ten years, Selvi is guided by the belief that bilingualism is a strength and that every idea deserves a voice. Through Second Sentence, Selvi will work to help students turn thoughts into words - palabras con propósito.
Audrey Lohara
Audrey Lohara is a sophomore at Marlborough High School and co-founder of Second Sentence, a project providing writing support to Spanish-speaking elementary students learning English in the LAUSD system. Audrey has been taking Spanish in school for 12 years, and wants to integrate her language skills to uplift younger students. The goal of our project is to instill confidence in young English learning students in the Los Angeles community to express their thoughts, emotions, and stories through writing.
Dragon Kim Fellowship - 2026
Second Sentence is backed by the Dragon Kim Foundation - a Los Angeles organization that finds young people with big ideas and helps them make those ideas real. Through their Fellowship Program, we were selected to develop Second Sentence from scratch, paired with an incredible mentor, and given the tools and training to actually pull it off. Having the Dragon Kim Foundation in our corner means this program was built with real guidance, real support, and real heart. We're not just two high schoolers with a dream - we’re Fellows and we are ready to make a difference!
Pictured (left to right): Selvi Radia, Fred Jung (mayor of Fullerton), Audrey Lohara, Daniel Kim (founder of Dragon Kim Foundation)