Lucas spent two years as an educational mentor at a public school in Sátão, in rural Portugal, through Teach For Portugal. There, he found himself asking a question that still guides his work: what happens when a young person stops believing not just in school, but in the possibilities for their own life? That question shifted his practice, from “how do I teach this?” to “what space do I need to create for this young person to participate, propose, and recognise themselves as capable?” It led to community projects on village memory, wellbeing, and the transformation of school spaces, not designed by him, but built by the students themselves, who moved from participants to authors of their own initiatives. Today, Lucas works to build bridges between policy decisions and real lives, and is committed to expanding participation in how young people and communities shape the futures that concern them.