“Cooke Lifer”: A Cooke Scholar’s Journey from 7th Grade Through Grad School

Author: Sharmen Hettipola (2008 Young Scholar; 2013 College Scholar, Bucknell University; 2018 Graduate Scholar, University of Oxford)

Thirty years ago my parents received the opportunity to immigrate to the United States from Sri Lanka. While it meant leaving their families, they did not hesitate in their decision to move; the States, after all, was a land of opportunity and they knew it would mean a better life for their future children. Soon after my brother and I were born, however, they were bombarded with lectures about the gaps between school costs and financial aid so they worked tirelessly to ensure that my brother and I could go to college. My mom worked two jobs while also going to school to get her associate’s degree. My dad worked two to three jobs, depending on the year, often coming home well after I had gone to bed at night. But neither of them had the financial resources to access the higher education opportunities needed to get well-paying positions; so despite their efforts, they knew that my brother and I could still end up drowning in loans.

Twelve years later, my middle school principal came along with an application to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. I’m a Jack Kent Cooke “lifer” as many Young Scholar alums like to call ourselves; I was a Young Scholar, a College Scholar, and a Graduate Scholar. Uncle Jack and the Cooke Foundation team funded ten years of my academic pursuits. A DECADE of education. It’s difficult not to get emotional just writing about it.

But as my fellow Cookies know, the funding is just part of it. The Foundation’s motto became my motto, with extra emphasis on the “think big”. With the Foundation’s backing, I explored extra-curricular activities as a Young Scholar that would have been impossible before, found my passion in environmental management at the high school that the Cooke Foundation funded. After graduating from Bucknell University as a College Scholar majoring in economics and environmental studies, I travelled around Europe whilst studying as a Graduate Scholar at Oxford University. And now, with zero student debt, I get to explore career paths that I choose rather than ones that money chooses for me. Today, I work at the Development Innovations Group managing 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.

The beauty of the Foundation is that my story is far from unique. This story is littered with Cooke Foundation clichés but it’s these shared experiences that bind us together. I’m thankful to the Foundation for introducing me to this incredible scholar community and I know my parents are thankful for the ability to put their hard earned money towards a retirement that they deserve.