High school senior empowers his community by helping those in need

Victor Bergman is a high school senior at BASIS Independent Upper School in Brooklyn. Although many other students live in Brooklyn, he lives in Manhattan.

He likes the shopping culture and that there are always things going on. “I like how many tourists there are and how cool the skyscrapers look occasionally. You are constantly surrounded by new and different people,” he said.

It may surprise people that he is interested in understanding how systems around him function, whether they are “natural systems, such as population dynamics, ecosystems, climate patterns; or human-made systems like economies, societies, or certain kinds of technology,” he added.

Bergman sees his parents as his biggest in-person influences in life. “Both of them are strong and compassionate individuals with very interesting life experiences,” he stated.

He has a multiethnic heritage. His mother was born in Uganda to a Teso tribe father and a Baganda tribe mother. In Uganda, various tribes and clans correspond with their respective ethnicities and families. She was raised in Sweden.

“My maternal grandmother was the seventh of 11 kids, and my maternal grandfather was one of the first black professors in Sweden,” Bergman added.

His father had a Swedish mother and a Colombian father. His paternal grandfather’s parents were Sephardi (country of Spain in Hebrew, referring to Jews who originally lived in Spain or Portugal – the Iberian Peninsula in 1492). According to Bergman, when they came to Colombia from Spain, his great-grandmother abandoned her old culture and raised their son (Bergman’s grandfather) in Catholicism.

Giordano Bruno and Nikola Tesla are two other people who had a big impression on him. “Bruno was a curious individual who proposed that other suns could have their own planets with life on them. Tesla developed AC electricity and had visionary ideas about free energy and global wireless power distribution. Both of them pushed outside the mainstream narrative to discover more truths about our reality, which resonates with me.”

Bergman had witnessed many acts of kindness throughout his life, including when a friend shared their lunch with him, when he forgot his, and when another friend invited him and his family to their massive mansion in South Africa.

He is helping Church Street School of Music and Art with food deliveries and giving to those in need.

“I started playing piano when I was seven and have been involved with Church Street School ever since, despite the fact they have moved around the borough. I’ve been doing it for two years now; the reaction has been pretty positive. Most likely, I will be involved with helping programs wherever I go.”

Sports of any kind make him enthusiastic, from American football to European football, and this includes martial arts like Muay Thai or Karate. “I like the focus, teamwork, and effort that is required in these activities. Spending time in forests/nature has always improved my mood,” he continued.

Bergman plans to attend an excellent liberal arts college and pursue his fascination with Physics.

“I will then work towards an MBA in business. I am also intrigued by quantum computing and nanotechnology. I’m interested in finding a synthesis of these subjects that can solve many issues that we face throughout the world,” he explained.