by Matias de DovitiisI registered to run for the Toronto District School Board in York West, because this is my home. It is where I live and work and it is where I want to make a difference.Over a decade of community building has taught me the value of hard work and the importance of giving back. Running for Trustee is an important personal commitment to my community and it is a challenge that I hope to turn into opportunities for many of our students.As a first generation Canadian, raised by a working single parent, I share many of the experiences of many in our city. A good quality education is the only thing that allowed me to find a path to personal accomplishment. I think we owe it to the next generation to give them the same opportunities and that is why I am now a trustee candidate.In York West we need to do better for our students. They are not getting the same quality education that other students are getting and I want to change that. We have greater needs, but fewer resources to abate those needs. These structural inequities need to be challenged. The waste in the system needs to be reinvested in the classroom.To my mind, education and the access to quality education is the thing that has helped to build this country. In Toronto, we have over 150 years of history providing public education. We have a public education system that is older than almost every other place on Earth. This makes Toronto one of the leaders in the world. This helped to make this country a place of greater equality and a better place to live. Now the system is being eroded by mismanagement at the same time that its resources are reduced.We need change to give young people better chances in life.We need to go give our students a sound education that teaches them the skills and work ethic that will lead to personal success, but we also need them to participate and take pride in the community.This is why I have spent much of my free time organizing after school programs, bursaries, scholarships, tree plantings, mentoring programs and supporting a myriad of projects and activities that foment access to education and civic engagement by our youth. We need to open more doors for them.I have carried out this type of work for years. Now I want to do it at the school board to make more of a difference. It is important work. I hope to be up to the task.www.matiasdedovitiis.ca