Finding Opportunity in the Cooke Scholar Community

Author: Laura Karwoski (Program Coordinator, Scholar and Alumni Experience)

Noah Nguyen, an Undergraduate Transfer Scholar majoring in Computer Science at the University of Washington – Bothell, was having a hard time finding an internship this past summer. So, she reached out to her Cooke community online and spoke with her Cooke Foundation Educational Adviser in search of opportunities. Fortuitously, an interesting Research Assistant internship was posted for Cooke Scholar Alum Ousmane Kabre’s non-profit organization, Leading Change – Africa, in the biweekly High Five newsletter.

Noah says that when she interviewed with Ousmane, Founder and CEO of Leading Change – Africa, they immediately connected over their shared background as international students and Cooke Scholars. Noah, who is Vietnamese, and Ousmane, who is from Burkina Faso in West Africa, discovered that they have faced many of the same challenges and obstacles in their education.

Noah was thrilled to be selected for the internship and Ousmane says that Noah is “very hardworking and always up for a challenge,” so she worked on a variety of projects over the summer, from updating the organization’s website to researching Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to writing software documents to learning a new programming language. As Noah spent part of the summer visiting Vietnam, Ousmane says it was really helpful that she was independent and able to find things out on her own at times. As for Noah’s future, she mentioned that “Leading Change - Africa helped me clarify my long-term goals, which is helping like-minded students as a way to give back from what I’ve been given from the Cooke Foundation. Using my technical skills and the interpersonal skills I’ve learned after working under Ousmane, I hope to continue to contribute to academia.”

“This was our first experience hiring Cooke Scholar interns and we were very satisfied. I am already looking forward to bringing on more Cooke Scholar interns next summer!” Ousmane said. Noah had such a great experience with Leading Change – Africa that she hopes to remain involved with the organization long-term, even if her career path takes her into the world of academia instead of software engineering.

To learn more about the work Leading Change – Africa is doing, check out the video below. Ousmane shares that the non-profit’s mission is to “transform young Africans into leaders, and leaders into agents of change.” Every year, the organization sponsors 30-40 students and teaches them English, STEM skills, and everything they need to prepare for college. The students commit to starting their own businesses in Africa after graduation, making a positive economic impact and bringing their talents back to their communities. Ousmane reports that there are big things ahead for the organization, which is starting a new entrepreneurship program in Africa, bringing on more students than ever, and expanding to more universities over the next year.