Excerpts from Dr. Ortega's speech from the 2018 March for Science at San Diego's Waterfront Park were used in the March for Science San Diego video created by the organizers of the march. Together, we sent a strong message that San Diego supports science and the scientific community and importantly gave people many positive examples of ways all citizens can get involved. Dr. Ortega spoke on the need for true diversity in science and strong consistent funding to federal science foundations such as the NSF and NIH to maintain the United States position as a world leader in science innovation.