Scholars Around the World
Two JKCF Scholars organize a 15-day study tour to Bolivia to explore the country’s political economy, peoples and rural development
Scholar Performance
Tessa was featured with her chamber group on the national radio program 'From the Top'.
Alex San Pedro
“Being a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar raised the level of my standards for living – my expectations have expanded to encompass greater levels of quality, principles, ideals, and achievement.”
- Program: 2008 Graduate Scholarship Recipient
- Resides: Millbrae, CA
- Hometown: San Francisco, CA
- Age: 33
- Community College: Lane Community College
- Four-year College or University: Pratt Institute
- Graduate School: n/a
- Academic/Career Pursuits: Arts / Music / Performance
- Other Interests: Architecture, Design, Film / Photography, Landscape Architecture, Liberal Arts, Outdoor / Mountaineering / Camping, Performing Arts / Theatre, Philosophy, Social Science / Anthropology, Tutoring / Mentoring, Visual Arts, Volunteer Work, Writing / Journalism, Music
Biography
PROFILE: Winning a Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship helped Alex San Pedro put the difficult days of his youth firmly behind him. With the Foundation’s support, he transferred from Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon to the Pratt Institute in New York, where he found his voice as an artist. “After receiving this prestigious scholarship I began to look at the world differently – with hope, possibility and opportunity.”
In his sculpture, Alex delves into the exchange that happens between form and color, “a pivotal preoccupation of my work and reflective of my Mexican heritage.” Working from a post-modern abstract aesthetic with ceramics and bronze, his sculpture “pushes on the limits of remembrance and meaning, stimulating expression, curiosity, and unexpected change.” He completed his bachelor’s degree at Pratt Institute in 2007 and has since worked at the Marlborough Gallery in New York.
INSPIRATION: An art therapist who believed in Alex inspired him to translate the challenges he faced early in life into meaningful self-expression through art.
ASPIRATION: After completing his master of fine arts in sculpture, Alex plans to teach art. “I am passionately committed to visual exploration as a medium for promoting cross-cultural exchange of ideas and emotions, and to the educational process and appreciation of art.”
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Alex worked with homeless youth at the Al Forney Center and as an English as a Second Language tutor and teacher’s assistant with AmeriCorps.
ACCOLADES: Alex was a Pratt Institute nominee for the International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. He received the Pratt Circle Certificate of Academic Achievement and was on the National Dean’s List.
INTERESTING FACT: Alex’s skills include lost-wax bronze casting, mold-making, gating, metal fabrication, brazing, soldering, and thermal cutting.
Other Scholars Like Alex
Ronald Crouch
Graduate Scholar
DePaul University
Arko Mukherjee
College Scholar
University of Washington, Seattle
Summer Dunsmore
Undergraduate Transfer Scholar
University of California, Berkeley
Violeta Crow
Undergraduate Transfer Scholar
Cornell University