Through DC Reads, I had the opportunity to interact with socioeconomically diverse communities by tutoring students in Ward 7. This experience made me particularly interested in poverty and segregation issues that affect childhood development, because living in underserved areas of DC takes an unfair toll on some of the motivated students with whom I worked. For example, Ward 7, where I tutored, is a food desert; hence, many of the students do not receive the nutrition that they need to perform well in school. Additionally, transportation into and out of Ward 7 is less than satisfactory, so poorer families struggle to leave the desert. Thus many students are unfortunately put at a disadvantage compared to their peers who are either in close
