Dustin Walker

Profile

"Not every child with modest means will be so fortunate to have the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation change their lives. As one of the lucky few Jack Kent Cooke scholars, I believe I have a responsibility to use the opportunities I have enjoyed to give back."

  • Program: 2007 College Scholarship Recipient
  • Resides: Washington, DC
  • Hometown: Mission Hills, CA, USA
  • Age: 21

Biography

Dustin Walker says his passion for learning makes him seek out extra education at every opportunity. That is why he decided to attend college before he even attended high school, enrolling in history and philosophy courses at Boise State University shortly after his 14th birthday. He is an award-winning student, athlete, musician and a promising young professional.

Family has always come first for Dustin. Despite academic and professional success, he says that nothing makes him prouder than to be the older brother of his five siblings, and that his most important long-term goal is to be a good father and husband.   

Dustin widened his horizons through the Young Scholars program. He studied diplomacy, intelligence, and national security in Washington, DC with the National Student Leadership Conference. He also studied German at the Goethe Institut in Bonn, Germany, an experience that changed his world outlook. “I came to Germany as a German language student who understood only the American way of life. I left a global citizen more appreciative of America than I ever had been."

Dustin was a 2007 recipient of the College Scholarship. He enrolled in Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, majoring in International Politics. Dustin became an active participant in campus life in music, debate, and politics. 

Dustin was bitten by the political bug as a young child beginning as a childhood fascination with figures like Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. But after September 11 and the economic difficulties that touched his family among millions of other Americans, Dustin developed a serious and passionate belief in public service. "Those experiences," Dustin says, "made me realize the difference between good and bad public policy can mean the difference between lives saved and lives lost, jobs saved and jobs lost." Dustin's first job in government was in 2006 when he served as a Page in the U.S. House of Representatives. The following year he interned on Capitol Hill. 

Recognizing the long-term importance of China, Dustin left the political world in 2009 to work for a Hong Kong financial firm doing investment analysis. "Working at Lloyd George Managment was a watershed moment for me. It was one more experience in a long line showing that good public policy matters. We as Americans have a lot to do if we expect to compete with China."

Dustin returned from China and reentered the political world. In 2010, he worked for Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at the American Enterprise Institute. He recently began working at the Cypress Group, a Washington financial consulting firm, doing public policy analysis for investors and corporate managers. 

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