Clarke Central High School Senior Kevin Capcha stands in the Media Center courtyard on Oct. 21. CCHS Class of 2024 Alumnus Patrick Allen has seen Capcha’s passion for social justice issues and hopes his friend will pursue those aspirations in the future. “I’m not sure where his career goals lie, but (Kevin has) definitely shown that he wants to solve social problems, so that’s all that I’m gonna ask of him,” Allen said. Photo by Ma’Kiyah Thrasher
CCHS senior Kevin Capcha was drawn to math at an early age because it allowed him to connect to his mother.
To some, math may serve as just a subject in school, a class to attend. But for Clarke Central High School senior Kevin Capcha, math is a means of communication.
Kevin’s mother, Soledad Llasca, immigrated to the United States from Peru in 2001. As he was growing up, his mother wasn’t fluent in English, which meant reading was difficult.
Math was a different story.
“(Math is) unambiguous. Social sciences, social studies, they have a lot of reading, which I don’t mind, (but) if I ever had problems, then obviously there’s that language barrier,” Kevin said. “At that time, (I was) in elementary school, and (my mom) knew very little (English), so she couldn’t really help me. But here and in Peru, the numbers are the same.”
Clarke Central High School senior Kevin Capcha sits on a ride with his mother, Soledad Llasca, as a child. CCHS Class of 2015 Alumnus Brendy Capcha, Kevin’s older sister, credited Kevin’s work ethic to their parents. “(Math has) always been a strength in our family for math because there’s not a language barrier with it. My parents tell all of us if you have a strength within school try to always keep working on that strength, (Kevin) realized (his) was math,” Brandy said. Photo courtesy of Kevin Capcha
Kevin’s older sister, CCHS Class of 2015 Alumnus Brendy Capcha, remembers Kevin playing math games on the family’s tablet – every time he completed all the levels, his mom would have to find Kevin a new app to try. Math was a way to bridge the gap between mother and son.
“My mom actually really enjoys math. I’ve never seen her use a calculator, it’s all on top of her head,” Brendy said. “I feel like my brother would see that and be able to connect with her pretty easily. She was able to understand (what they were learning) easily.”
As Kevin grew up, his love for numbers branched out from just his family.
In high school, he took several classes – including math-centric courses like Advanced Placement Calculus and AP Chemistry – with CCHS Class of 2024 valedictorian Patrick Allen, and the pair became friends.
“He’s definitely a very mathematically minded person. It was strange for me because I’m not and (there’s) a big difference in the way that you think about the world and the way that (we) view things,” Allen said. “Kevin is very rational in the way he thinks about things, so if we’re talking about a problem or if we’re arguing about something, he tends to have a rational answer and really hold on to it.”
Now, as a CCHS senior looking ahead to graduation, Kevin is using his expertise in math to give back – in more ways than one.
“My son, Noah, is almost tutored by Kevin sometimes,” Brendy said. “Now that my son is in kindergarten, (Kevin) is helping him catch on pretty quickly through math-related things.”
Outside of his home, though, Kevin has broader goals for the application of his mathematical skills: social justice.
“I find a really cool intersection between using my mathematical abilities and a career in STEM to also intersect with public policy and how society interacts, being able to (create) data-driven solutions for social justice,” Kevin said. “When my mother came (to the U.S.), she was fed the notion that the United States was (an) equitable society, over time, we’ve kind of gone away from that. The dream my mother had, I want other (people) to keep having that dream.”
Clarke Central Senior Kevin Capcha reads a math textbook in the CCHS Media Center on Oct. 21. In school, Capcha used math as an escape from the struggles that came with language classes. “I found solace in mathematics. I struggled a lot with logistic issues between Spanish and English, so it’s almost like math was there as a scapegoat behind my struggles in English classrooms,” Captcha said. Photo by Ma’Kiyah Thrasher
Inspired by that, Kevin applied and was accepted to a highly-selective Massachusetts Institute of Technology summer program in 2024 called Minority Introduction to Technology Engineering and Science. Within that course, Kevin discovered a way to use the connection of math and social justice, in a tangible way.
“We focused on education disparities in Atlanta (and) what we noticed a lot was racial segregation. If you look at Atlanta (and) overlay other layers of mapping, features like internet access, household income and then preparedness for college we see that there’s growing disparities (of) racial segregation within schools,” Kevin said. “That’s really where I realized that STEM is now more just coding or data analysis. These are things that can be representative to politicians or professors that can lead to changes within society.”
“I feel like, (as) a society, we’re going away from what my mother works so hard for. (If) I could do something about it (and I didn’t), then it’s not making my mother’s work worth anything. That’s why I feel such a connection.”
— Kevin Capcha,
CCHS senior
But, Kevin doesn’t simply care in the abstract. For him, math, and the possibilities it entails, come back to his tablet, his kitchen table and his mother, using math not to calculate, but to communicate.
As he seeks to repay his mother’s support, Kevin has gone the full 360 degrees – or, a full circle.
“I feel like, (as) a society, we’re going away from what my mother works so hard for. (If) I could do something about it (and I didn’t), then it’s not making my mother’s work worth anything. That’s why I feel such a connection.” Captcha said.
