June 2022
Hello Cooke Scholars and Alums!
The school year is almost done for everyone, and summer is on its way! We’re looking forward to having some of our summer programs in person again and connecting with those of you who will be able to attend.
Here’s an update on what’s going on at the Foundation and some of the great things your fellow Cooke Scholars have done recently. Also, make sure you don’t miss out on this month’s Throwback Video (not Photo) of the Month at the end of the Alumni Buzz! Alums, please reach out and send us your updates so we can feature you and your work! Just send us an email at alumni@jkcf.org.
Foundation Buzz
2022 Undergraduate Transfer Scholars
In May, the Foundation named 100 high-achieving community college students as recipients of the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. This year’s recipients will receive scholarships with up to $55,000 a year to complete their bachelor’s degrees. Help us welcome the Foundation’s largest class of Undergraduate Transfer Scholars to date, highlighting the talent and achievement of hundreds of community college students across the country. Here is a full list of the 2022 Undergraduate Transfer Scholars, including the community colleges and states they represent.
Compass Feature: David Hoyt
2010 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, Stanford University; 2016 Graduate Scholar, Stanford University
While in high school, David faced health issues that ultimately forced him to drop out of high school at the age of 15. He eventually recovered and returned to school as a community college student, where he thrived and ultimately became a Cooke Transfer Scholar who was accepted to and attended Stanford University. After graduating from Stanford as a Transfer Scholar, David worked for General Stanley McChrystal’s consulting firm, The McChrystal Group, for several years. He then returned to Stanford as a Cooke Graduate Scholar to earn a JD/MBA. After wrapping up that program in 2020, he passed the California Bar Exam and took some time to figure out what would be his next step. He decided, once again, to return to Stanford, albeit not as a student this time. Now he is helping build the brand-new Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation as its Assistant Director.
Community Buzz
New Blog - Finding Connection and Passion in Education
Many believe that teaching is a calling. Neither Janet Diaz nor David Jones, both Cooke Scholar Alumni, planned on pursuing careers in education. Yet both eventually found themselves back at their alma maters, teaching alongside educators who had previously taught them. The connections they made at their former schools helped forge a path for each of them to return to their academic communities of origin and make a difference in the lives of future generations. To read more about their journeys, click here.
Janet Diaz with her Teacher of the Year recognition
David Jones (middle) with two of his mentors: Ross Rueger and Steven Houk
New Blog - Earning A Seat at the Piano: Susan Yang
Susan Yang, piano professor at Vanderbilt University, reflects on her experience as an Asian-American woman in classical music this past May during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In 2020, Susan Yang co-founded A Seat at the Piano (ASAP) with a team of other classically trained pianists. With a lot of time on their hands during the pandemic, the co-founders’ goal was to build a database of piano compositions by lesser-known composers and musicians who have been overshadowed or disregarded because of racism, sexism, and other social barriers. In two years, the project has become bigger than any of the co-founders expected. To read more about Susan's story, click here.
Regional Chapter Events in Boston, New York, the Bay Area, and the United Kingdom
While the fun continues in the Bay Area, Alums started to gather on the east coast and the United Kingdom this past month to rekindle relationships and meet new faces! Alums were able to catch up about new career ventures, upcoming summer travels across the world, and started brainstorming future activities for the local alumni communities. Special shout outs to our Chapter Leaders Ana Parra Vera, Jonathan Finnerty, Rex Ledesma, and Tiffany Carpenter for bringing our community together!
Upcoming Regional Chapter Events in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC
The fun continues this summer with a few upcoming events across the Regional Chapters. On Sunday, June 11th, Cooke Scholar Alums in Philadelphia will gather for lunch in Chinatown for dim sum and Boba. We are still planning events for Chicago in late June and Washington DC in July - more details to come on those! Please email alumni@jkcf.org if you are interested in attending any of these activities.
May Career Pathways Virtual Chat: Social Justice Work
On May 24th, Cooke Scholar Alum Luis Veloz moderated a conversation with fellow Alums Christopher LeFlore, Gabriella Nicholas, Kevin Davenport, and Ricardo Ortega to discuss how they are involved in Social Justice Work and engaged in activism and advocating for positive change in their communities. We discussed their learned experiences, tips on how to lead a career centered in social justice advocacy, and the importance of making time for self-care and restoration. You can check out the video from the event below.
Wrapping Up Career Pathways Exchange Virtual Chats for 2021-22
The May virtual chat concludes our conversation series for this academic year. We hope that you enjoyed and learned as much as we did - we could not have hosted these engaging conversations without the leadership and support from our Alumni Engagement Council and Alum panelists! You can watch recordings of this past year’s discussions here - we look forward to seeing you again in the fall to explore more topics and career pathways!
Alumni Buzz
2016 Undergraduate Transfer, UCLA; 2021 Graduate Scholar, The Johns Hopkins University
Katya will be joining five other astronauts to travel to space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard’s 21st mission in the fifth human flight for the New Shepard program, with the goal of inspiring future generations to pursue careers in STEM for the benefit of Earth! She began her professional career as an electrical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she contributed to the success of the Mars Perseverance Rover. Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins University. While the original May 20th launch date has been postponed, she looks forward to fulfilling her lifelong dream of going to space with Blue Origin’s NS-21 mission in the coming weeks!
2015 College Scholar, Georgetown University; 2019 Graduate Scholar, Georgetown University
Jesus, who recently graduated from law school at Georgetown, started a newsletter on being undocumented - it's a project he is starting through a fellowship from author Roxane Gay. Alienhood combines personal essays, historical archives, and reported criticism to help the general public understand how the current state of undocumented immigrants in America is not an aberration, but the product of centuries of unchallenged state power. The newsletter provides commentary on law and politics as well as interviews with writers, journalists, or other undocumented immigrants on how they have crafted their own vision of success in a world obsessed with their paper selves and bent on removing those deemed unfit to share in the social contract. Jesus has said this work is a meditation on Toni Morrison’s words: “I stood at the border, stood at the edge, and claimed it as central.”
2004 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, University of Maryland – Baltimore County; 2007 Graduate Scholar, University of Maryland
The AIC Litein Hospital in Kenya recently opened the Nuru ya Tumaini (Lights of Hope) Outpatient Centre for mental health care. Matthew works at the hospital teaching Family Medicine and was asked by the hospital to start a psychiatric clinic four years ago to help meet needs in the community. Little did he know that they would open a new facility just for mental health treatment! You can watch Matthew’s speech at the opening ceremony here.
2001 Young Scholar; 2006, College Scholar, Columbia University
Lusia recently started a new job as Manager of Technical Services at Interfolio, an education technology company that offers a holistic Faculty Information System to support the full lifecycle of faculty work. This move is after 11 years completing her PhD and working at Harvard, four of them spent teaching in the Harvard College Writing Program (HCWP). Lusia is also the founder of IvyWrite which “helps students think and write powerfully” through a personalized plan of study and one-on-one engagements. To learn more about Lusia’s work, click here.
2012 Undergraduate Transfer, Georgetown University; 2017 Graduate Scholar, Columbia University
Harmonie recently started a new job as Program Manager at the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The network started as ten thematic working groups focusing on a range of environmental, social, and economic topics, which contributed to the debate and ultimately the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Today, it’s a global network program with 1,600 members in 47 networks across 137 countries focused on sustainable development, organized in national and regional clusters. Harmonie is a development practitioner and has worked in public policy with UN agencies, human rights organizations and governments entities across the world.
2003 Young Scholar; 2008 College Scholar, Georgia Institute of Technology
As part of building his video production company, Nightcraft Media, Etaba is working on short films with actors in the Los Angeles area. The Ritual is his first project, a visual suspense/horror short that he wrote shot, directed, and edited. You can watch the short film below.
Throwback Video (not Photo) of the Month
“Things Jack Kent Cooke Scholars Say” from Cooke Scholar Alums Maria Sckaff, Sarah Schwab, Josue Luna, and Nhi Tran.