Ryan Alaniz Essay

When the name Ryan Alaniz is announced, many titles come to mind: a sociology professor, a father, a writer, a volunteer, and a representative of multiple organizations. These are just some of the few ways to describe the man that is a vivid advocate for social change. Throughout his life, Alaniz has accomplished this goal to bring change through his many deeds volunteering abroad, and teaching.
Prior to his career in sociology, Alaniz studied history as of undergraduate at Cal Poly. Throughout his college life he wanted to “understand the world as it was and how things came to be.” He later realized that history only pertained to the last 20 years and before then, but he was unable to answer his own question for the present. Since he is passionate about affecting change that can be done now, this brought him to switch to sociology where he could learn, and understand the reasons for concepts in life. Currently, Alaniz has a PHD and works as a sociology professor to teach and empower his students to create change …show more content…
Currently, he is writing a policy brief on the drought for the white house with other scholars. He has also been recognized for awards in his teaching and in working with the United Nations. Alaniz has volunteered abroad numerous times, whether it be his annual trips to Nicaragua with the Engineers without Borders or his summer trip to Honduras where he helped at an orphanage — he has done it all. Along with volunteering, he has also created a non-profit organization called the futbol project to create a soccer team for children in third world countries. From this, money is collected to support the children and pay for soccer equipment. This idea is only put into motion once the kids have completed a service project themselves. By doing this, it allows them to gain a sense of purpose in bringing change, so that they, in return, and receive