December 2021
Cooke Scholar Alumni Buzz
Hello Cooke Scholars and Alumni!
As we’re in the midst of the winter holiday season, we hope that you and your loved ones are enjoying the festivities as we head into the new year. Below is an update on what’s going on at the Foundation and the great things some of your fellow Cooke Scholars are doing. Alums, if you’d like to be included in an upcoming edition of the Buzz, we’d love to hear from you at alumni@jkcf.org.
Foundation Buzz
Compass – a New Cooke Foundation Content Platform
We are excited to introduce you to Compass, the new content platform that is home to the inspirational stories of our Scholars and Alums. Whether you're a Young Scholar trying to make a college decision, a College or Transfer Scholar thinking about grad school, or any Scholar or Alum thinking about their career goals and personal growth, there's a pathway here for you to explore, and a story for you to enjoy. For example, you can hear from Scholars and Alums by revisiting sessions from Scholars Weekend 2021! We'll be continually adding more Scholars and stories that inspire, inform, and connect to this expanding platform, so stay tuned for more updates soon!
2022 Cooke Graduate Scholarship
The Foundation is currently accepting applications for the 2022 Cooke Graduate Scholarship. This scholarship program is available only to Cooke undergraduate scholarship recipients and recent Cooke Alums who plan to pursue a graduate degree. The application deadline is January 10, 2022. Contact your Educational Adviser or gradscholars@jkcf.org with any questions.
Community Buzz
December Career Pathways Virtual Chat: Social Impact - Exploring Careers in Policy and Advocacy
On Tuesday, December 14th, Cooke Scholar Alum Alessandro Bailetti hosted a conversation with fellow Alums Bo Ra Kim, David Guirgis, and Max Matite on creating Social Impact and Exploring Careers in Policy and Advocacy. Cooke Scholars and Alums are passionate about making positive impacts on our political systems and governmental institutions. A career in policy and advocacy can put one right in the center of these conversations and decision-making capacities to influence policy that shape and govern our everyday lives. We discussed Alums’ experiences working in these spaces creating and managing policy and advocating for policy change. Also, we explored how to prepare for a career in this field while in undergrad, through internship experiences, and graduate school education. You can check out the video from the event below.
January Career Pathways Virtual Chat: Preparing for a Career in Tech
Join us on Tuesday, January 18th as the Alumni Engagement Council hosts a conversation on Preparing for a Career in Tech as Alum panelists will share their professional and personal perspectives on working in the tech field. We will discuss how they prepared while in undergrad to be competitive applicants for these jobs post-graduation, lessons learned on the jobs or what they wish they knew before working in tech, roles in tech outside of software engineering, graduate school, and the future of tech in our society. A formal invitation will be sent soon, but you can register for the event right now here.
Alumni Buzz
2015 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, Stetson University; 2017 Graduate Scholar, Howard University
Join us in congratulating Patricia in passing the Florida Bar Exam! She graduated from Howard University School of Law in May 2020, and after a year of preparation, she passed the Florida Bar Exam on the first attempt this past July. Patricia’s alma mater at Palm Beach State College recently covered her journey in this article from starting her academic journey at community college to where she is now as an as associate attorney practicing immigration law at Acosta & Fraga Law, PLLC.
2010 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, University of Tampa; 2013 Graduate Scholar, University of Manchester
Last month was Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month in the United Kingdom. As a UK-based blogger on his website “The Dad Blog”, Mikhail wrote in his latest post about “how my mental health was impacted by becoming a father, and why we need to support fathers and men in general to be more open about their emotions and mental health struggles.” In addition to being a husband and a father to identical twin Swiss-Jamaican girls, Mikhail works as a Senior Delivery Adviser at the Department for Education in the United Kingdom.
2001 Young Scholar; 2006 College Scholar, Cedar Crest College; 2011 Graduate Scholar, Grand Canyon University
Carrie recently started her new role as Physician Recruiter at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, a hospital and health care network based in New Hampshire. Prior, she recruited physicians for Geisinger, a large health system in Pennsylvania. She is also a full-time doctoral student in Healthcare Management where her doctoral research will focus on the use of global health programs as a recruitment and retention tool. When she is not studying or recruiting physicians, Carrie can be found serving on the Alumni Engagement Council and mentoring medical students and residents on their career paths as well as participating in surgical missions.
2004 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, University of Indianapolis; 2006 Graduate Scholar, University of Minnesota
Dee was recently featured in the Saint Paul Legal Ledger’s Minnesota Lawyer discussing her career in public interest law. Dee is the Executive Director of the Loan Repayment Assistance Program of Minnesota (LRAP) helping reduce the education debt of legal aid attorneys and to “help lawyers help the disadvantaged.” The financial assistance from LRAP can help experienced attorneys, who can handle complex cases and higher volume, continue their legal aid work to benefit more clients. To read the interview and more about Dee’s work, click here.
2008 Young Scholar; 2013 College Scholar, Bucknell University; 2018 Graduate Scholar, University of Oxford
Sharmen recently moved to Chicago this past summer to start a new role as Senior Consultant in Climate Change and Sustainability Services at EY. Previously, Sharmen was a Program Manager at the Development Innovations Group, where she managed a waste recycling program designed to reduce land-based sources of marine plastic pollution in four countries that are among the world's top polluters. You can revisit the blog Sharmen wrote about being a Cooke Lifer and her background as a child of immigrant parents from Sri Lanka and how the Foundation has been a part of her life since the 7th grade.
2013 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Join us in congratulating Ousmane for being named named Madison Area Technical College’s 2021 Distinguished Alumni of the Year! During his time at Madison College, he served as the Student Senate President, a Wisconsin Technical College State Ambassador, and received the Karen Roberts Student Life Leadership Award. Ousmane is also recognized for founding and serving as the CEO of Leading Change - an organization transforming young Africans into leaders and leaders into agents of change. Ousmane’s plan for the organization includes bringing 24 Leading Change Scholars to Wisconsin from Africa - some of those students will begin their education at Madison College. In addition, Leading Change has opened an educational center in Africa to help support even more aspiring students.
2017 College Scholar, Stanford University
Join us in congratulating Pau in recently graduating with her Master’s of Science in Computer Science from Stanford and starting a new job as a software engineer at Meta. She was also just named a Threshold Venture Fellow, a handcrafted program for Stanford School of Engineering master’s students interested in entrepreneurial ventures that will provide them a front-row seat to the world of venture creation. To connect with Pau and learn more about her work, click here.
Throwback Photo of the Month
College Scholars at Scholars Weekend 2015