Alejandro Nina Duran

KIPP Massachusetts Public Schools

Alejandro Nina Duran was told by his Mami that he can be anything he wants to be. After immigrating from the Dominican Republic in 2012, he began his journey with KIPP Massachusetts, where he is a graduating senior at KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate and continues to make his mother proud. He shoulders his Dominican pride, embracing his natural hair texture as he teaches his two younger sisters to embrace their curls. He has shown his affinity for service through his leadership as president of the National Honor Society, where he helped to bring back his school’s teacher-assistant program and established a K-8 tutoring program at his local KIPP elementary school. His optimistic personality helped forge multiyear connections, and he displayed academic excellence that he plans to take beyond his community. As he pursues economics and finance at Duke University, he hopes to teach marginalized households the financial literacy he never had.