This is one of the 12 finalists for the Herald Business Journal’s annual Emerging Leaders Award for 2025. The winner will be named at an event on April 8.

Rick Flores, 31

For Rick Flores, it’s about helping students — whether it’s providing academic support for students at the Everett campus of Washington State University or helping members of the Stanwood High School marching band.

Flores directs the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement program at the WSU Everett campus. It’s a program aimed at supporting students from underrepresented populations in STEM career pathways with tutoring, specialized courses, mentorship and supportive networks.

Flores wishes he had a program like that when he was in school. It took him eight years, including four at a community college, to get his degree from Washington State University in Pullman in 2019.

He said he floundered without a clear idea of his path.

Flores said his own struggles are what gave him empathy and helped him develop leadership skills.

“I want to help any student who wants to go to graduate school,” he said.

He grew up in a working-class suburb in the San Diego area, 2 miles from the Mexican border.

College recruiters ignored his high school. Only military and technical school recruiters came by.

He helped find direction as a saxophonist in his high school marching band.

“Marching band is what motivated me to go to college because I see marching bands, and I say, ‘I want to do it and I like sports too.’ So it doesn’t hurt, I get to watch good football,” he said.

As a trumpet player in the Washington State College Band in Pullman, Flores met a fellow band member who became his wife.

He said participating in a marching band taught him a lot of life lessons.

“It taught me teamwork, it taught me time management, it taught me to be a student leader, it taught me conflict resolution, ” he said.

It is those same skills he learned in marching band that will help band members in Stanwood.

But his goals are broader than that.

“I envision Snohomish County as a beacon for individuals from low-income, first-generation backgrounds like mine, providing pathways to successfully enter the workforce, trade programs or college, ” he said.

Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com.