A South Bay student is taking her passion for advocacy and inclusion into her next chapter.
Judgement Free Generation initiative. PHOTO COURTESY PLANET FITNESS
Haley Castanaza, a Hawthorne resident and longtime Boys & Girls Club member, is one of this year’s recipients of the Planet Fitness Judgement Free Generation Scholarship, earning $5,000 to help fund her education at UC Berkeley. Her journey reflects years of student advocacy, community service and a commitment to making healthcare more equitable.
First established in 2016 to champion kindness and anti-bullying, the Judgement Free Generation initiative has evolved to meet the growing physical, emotional and social needs of today’s youth.
Growing Up With the Boys & Girls Club
What did the Boys & Girls Club give you that you don’t think you would have gotten anywhere else?
The Boys & Girls Club really gave me a second home since I grew up with a single mom who was always working long hours to support us. When I was in elementary and middle school, she couldn’t always be there to pick me up after school. The club provided reliable transportation and, more importantly, a place
where my mom knew I was safe. As I got older, I began to realize that it gave me so much more than somewhere to go after school.
I had people helping me with homework and programs that pushed me outside of my comfort zone, like theater. Eventually, I went from being the little kid who needed that support to becoming a tutor, teen staff member and someone younger kids could depend on through our Leadership in Training program. I don’t think I would have had that same combination of academic support, community, friendship and mentorship anywhere else.
Can you remember a moment when you first realized, “I can actually go to college”?
I think it started with watching my older brother. He had the opportunity to attend college with support from the Boys & Girls Club. Seeing someone in my own family actually do it made college feel a lot less distant to me. It went from being something I knew people did to something I could actually picture myself doing because I realized it was possible, despite my family’s financial issues.
When I started working with my own college counselor through the club, that feeling became even stronger. She always encouraged me and made me feel like I was a very accomplished and capable student. I think that support was especially important because the college process can feel really overwhelming when you don’t necessarily grow up knowing all of the steps.
One opportunity that made college feel even more possible was the Planet Fitness Judgement Free Generation Scholarship. I found the opportunity through Kaleidoscope as a Boys & Girls Club member and was incredibly grateful to receive a $5,000 scholarship this year.
What did your mom teach you about pursuing your goals?
My mom probably taught me more about pursuing my goals through her actions than anything she could have said to me. She made a lot of sacrifices as a single parent, especially when it came to my education. She wanted me to have opportunities that weren’t always easily available in our neighborhood, and she worked incredibly hard so I could attend a strong high school in Santa Monica.
Seeing those sacrifices made me take my education seriously because I knew it wasn’t something I could take for granted. If she was willing to work that hard to create opportunities for me, I wanted to work just as hard once I received them to prove to her it was worth it.
Finding Her Voice as a Student Advocate
You attended 31 school board meetings as a student advocate. What kept you showing up?
At first, attending the meetings was part of my responsibility as a student board representative, but eventually I became genuinely invested in knowing what was happening in our district. I’ve been in student government since middle school and always had a passion for decision making and discussion for rules and bylaws. This role was right up my alley, and I was the person from my school [responsible for] consistently attend these meetings, listen to hours of discussion and then bring that information back to students.
One of my favorite parts was reporting back to my ASB class. I would go really in depth because I wanted them to understand not just what the board decided, but why it mattered to us as students.
Was there a particular issue you brought to the school board that you felt made a real difference for students?
There were definitely a few, but one that stands out was our school’s heating, air conditioning and ventilation issues. I was constantly following up with district leadership about classrooms that were becoming uncomfortable during extreme temperatures. I would bring students’ concerns forward, ask for updates and then bring those explanations back to students.
One thing that experience taught me was that advocacy isn’t always one big speech that immediately fixes something. A lot of it is following up, asking again, understanding why something is delayed and making sure the issue doesn’t disappear just because it wasn’t solved the first time you brought it up.
That became especially important after the fires in Malibu and the Pacific Palisades, when students were worried about air quality. I brought up using more HVAC funding and improving ventilation in all schools in the district because we had students with asthma and other health concerns, which I learned directly from them through monthly forms I sent out. They were genuinely worried about being at school. Solving issues like this inspired me to take on two things I care about, which were student advocacy and public health. Decisions that sound very administrative can have a real effect on whether someone feels safe in their classroom.
You started your school’s first childhood cancer club and helped raise awareness that ultimately connected with a $250,000 donation to UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. What inspired you to take that on?
When I learned more about children and families experiencing childhood cancer, I wanted to figure out what I could actually do.
That’s what pushed me to bring Glimmers to my school and create our first childhood cancer club. I wanted students to understand the cause, but I also wanted to give them an actual way to participate through awareness, outreach and fundraising. Eventually, I became more involved in the organization’s youth leadership as well, which allowed me to help expand that work beyond just my own campus.
What meant the most to me wasn’t necessarily a dollar amount. It was seeing how something that starts with simply caring about another person’s experience can turn into real action. That taught me that empathy is important, but empathy combined with initiative is what can actually create change.
Pursuing a Future in Healthcare
Your grandmother’s experience with healthcare helped shape your interest in healthcare equity. What did you learn from her?
Watching my grandmother navigate healthcare made healthcare inequity feel way more personal. Experiencing someone you really love, especially family, walking through sickness makes you feel both scared and overwhelmed. Combining it with things like also trying to understand medical terminology, appointments, medications, insurance and what you’re supposed to do next makes it feel even more overwhelming. That made me realize how difficult our healthcare system can be to navigate for others with less support than my grandmother, especially for families who deal with financial barriers and limits to resources.
Communication is also a big part of why I am so active in advocacy. Patients need good communication in healthcare spaces and shouldn’t leave an appointment feeling more confused than when they arrived. That experience is one of the reasons I’m so interested in becoming a healthcare provider and why I care about serving underserved and Spanish-speaking communities. I want my future patients to feel like they can ask me questions and that I’m actually listening to them, not rushing through an appointment to get to the next.
What kind of healthcare provider do you hope to become?
I’m pursuing the pre-PA path at UC Berkeley, and I’m interested in becoming a physician assistant, potentially specializing in neurology or pediatrics. More than anything, I want to become a provider who genuinely cares about their patients as humans. Through volunteering in hospital settings and through my own family’s experiences with healthcare, I’ve seen how much the small interactions matter in healthcare spaces.
I eventually hope to return to the Los Angeles area and work with communities similar to the one I grew up in. I would love to continue volunteering and working in clinics that serve underserved populations and use my Spanish as another way to make patients feel understood.
College Application Advice for Students
What do you wish someone had told you before you started the college application process?
I wish someone had told me three things: double-check everything before you press submit, remember in every sentence you write to tie back to why this matters to them and to me and to truly be yourself. Most importantly, I wish I had understood earlier that you don’t need to make yourself sound like what you think a college wants. When you’re applying, it’s so easy to compare yourself to everyone else and wonder whether you’ve done enough or question if your story sounds impressive enough. The strongest parts of my application were the things that were genuinely me and my passions and the reasons behind why I pursued them.
Stay involved and be active within your community. Through growing up at the Boys & Girls Club, becoming involved in the student government, my family, healthcare and the communities I care about, I was able to align my interests with activities that mattered.
You’ve made kindness and inclusion a big part of your work. What does kindness actually look like to you when you’re dealing with bullying, exclusion or someone who feels like they don’t belong?
I think kindness is usually a lot smaller and intentional than others think. Sometimes, it’s smiling at someone you don’t know or complimenting them so they can have a slightly better day. It’s noticing the person across the room or right next to you who is sitting alone and asking them to sit with you and actually getting to know them. It’s realizing someone hasn’t spoken in a group or is being ignored and letting them know you hear them, even if everyone else doesn’t.
I feel so honored to have received the Planet Fitness Judgement Free Generation Scholarship because the values are kindness, inclusion and creating spaces for people so they don’t feel judged. This encompass how I want to grow — by practicing small and big acts of kindness.
Learn more about Planet Fitness’ Judgement Free Generation initiative.
