November 2020
Cooke Scholar Alumni Buzz
Hello Cooke Scholars and Alumni!
We hope that you and your loved ones are doing well and are in good health as we head into the holiday season. As a continued effort to keep our community connected, here’s an update on what’s going on at the Foundation and the great things some of your fellow Cooke Scholars are doing. Alums, we’d love to feature you and your work, so please reach out and let us know what you’re up to - send us your updates at alumni@jkcf.org.
Foundation Buzz
New Blog: How Best to #ThriveTogether During a "Dark Winter"
As we approach what President-Elect Biden has termed a “dark winter,” the Alumni Engagement Council have put together some ideas to survive and thrive at the end of 2020. They include reconnecting with Cooke Scholar Alumni, becoming familiar with relevant Covid-19 resources, and finding creative and safe ways to participate in the holiday season. Read more on the CookeAlumni.org blog.
Uncle Jack’s Birthday Celebrations
As we mentioned in the last edition, October 25th was the birthday of Mr. Jack Kent Cooke. Traditionally, scholars and alums would gather at restaurants to connect with new and old faces, reminisce on past Scholar Weekends, and exchange ideas related to their passions and aspirations. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we could not celebrate like in years past; however, our wonderful Chapter Leaders were able to host virtual events to keep the celebratory spirit alive during this special time. Below are a few pictures from the gatherings. Click here if you would like to get connected with your Regional Chapter.
Jobs on Cooke Connect
Did you know there is a job board on Cooke Connect and that new jobs were recently added that would love to receive applications from Cooke Scholars and Alums? For example, CornerStone Partners is looking for an Investment Operations Associate! Scholars and Alums can also post job openings at their organization so the entire Cooke Scholar and Alumni community can view and apply. You can check it out here and update your profile while you’re there!
Career Pathways Exchange Virtual Chats
On November 10th, Cooke Scholar Alum Luis Veloz moderated a panel discussion with members of the Digital Strategy team at Salesforce. The conversation centered on the team's interesting work, the different types of resources Salesforce offers for skills training, and helpful career advice that they've gained from their own journeys. One of panelists is Christine Quinn, the daughter-in-law of the founding executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Dr. Matthew Quinn. The group also spent a lot of time talking about navigating the tech industry as a non-computer science major!
Also, Cooke Scholar Alum Alessandro Bailetti moderated a conversation with fellow alums Dee Baskin and Angel Sanchez on November 19th, as they shared their personal and professional journeys, and discussed how they are using their law school backgrounds to further their social justice work. Dee is currently Executive Director of Loan Repayment Assistance Program of Minnesota (LRAP MN), where they collaborate with partners to recruit and retain talented public interest attorneys serving low-income Minnesotans. Angel has been working tirelessly with his colleagues at the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition to restore voting rights for those with felony convictions.
On December 16th, the Alumni Engagement Council will host a special virtual event with Cooke Scholar Alumni panelists to “Reflect on 2020 to Prepare for 2021” as they share their "2020 story" and their hopes and aspirations for the new year. Our hope is this conversation will inspire resilience and hope as we look back on what has been a challenging year for so many, recognize what silver linings there have been, and how these experiences and reflections can help us best prepare to move forward individually and as a community for 2021. A formal invitation will be sent in the coming days, but you can register here for that event right now. We look forward to seeing you there!
Alumni Buzz
Ousmane Kabré
2013 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Ousmane is the Founder and CEO of Leading Change - Africa - an organization transforming young Africans into leaders and agents of change. Recently, the organization opened a leadership center in Burkina Faso to transform 1,024 young Africans into leaders by 2030. In the past, they have sent scholarship recipients to the United States to study to eventually return and contribute to the economic development of their communities. They have also partnered with various government ministries and for-profit organizations to support their work.
Danna Lorch
2002 Graduate Scholar, Harvard University & University of Notre Dame
Danna’s recent article in the New York Times titled “When Nobody Wants to Be in Your Pod: How play dates during a health crisis became a point of hurt and rejection for immunocompromised parents” talks about the pandemic’s impact on parenthood and childhood. She shares her experience how uncertainty and carefulness during the pandemic influences parental decision making when it comes to building and pausing friendships among parent and children groups. Danna’s work and publications center around arts and culture from the Middle East and far beyond its borders. Previously, she has worked in the humanitarian development field directing international NGOs in refugee camps, townships, overcrowded schools and public hospitals in the Middle East and Africa. You can read more about Danna’s work on her website.
Katie Taylor
2010 Young Scholar; 2015 College Scholar, Duke University; 2019 Graduate Scholar, University of Alabama
Jesse Isenberg
2010 Young Scholar; 2015 College Scholar, Penn State University
The best of friends are made at Scholars Weekends and Welcome Weekends – that’s what launched Katie and Jesse’s decade-long friendship since Welcome Weekend in 2011. In Katie’s words, they “supported each other through so many of life’s ups and downs” and this past summer Katie helped Jesse celebrate his wedding and marriage to his partner, Shyloh. Currently, Katie is a PhD candidate in Mathematics at the University of Alabama and Jesse is a systems engineer at Boeing.
Umang Gurung
2016 College Scholar, Virginia Commonwealth University
Umang recently graduated from VCU’s School of Nursing and is proud to say that he has officially passed the NCLEX-RN board to become a licensed registered nurse! Umang worked as a CP/CNA for the Cardiothoracic Progressive Care Unit for two years and assisted medical professionals during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic. Umang is currently looking to elevate to a Clinical Nurse I position and begin work in the VCU Health medical-surgical program. He also hopes to continue his education with the goal of someday becoming a Pediatric/Family Nurse Practitioner. And is if that wasn’t ambitious enough, Umang also hopes to publish his first musical project in the near future!
Santiago Tobar Potes
2016 College Scholar, Columbia University
Please join us in congratulating Santiago on receiving a 2021 Rhodes Scholarship! Santiago graduated from Columbia University this past May with a B.A. in East Asian Studies and Medieval and Renaissance Studies. During his time at Columbia, Santiago has been a teaching or research assistant for leading professors in physics, philosophy, social psychology and neuroscience, and won numerous college prizes for leadership as well as academic performance. Born in Cali, Colombia, he has active DACA status, and is widely published on legal issues relating to DACA and was one of the DACA recipients showcased in a brief filed with the Supreme Court to preserve DACA. Santiago is an accomplished violinist, and is fluent or near fluent in nine languages including Chinese. At Oxford, Santiago plans to do the M.Phil. in Traditional East Asia.
Throwback Photo of the Month
Undergraduate Transfer Scholars at Scholars Weekend 2011