Cooke Alumni Currents - August 2026
Over 25 years, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has served nearly 3,900 high-achieving Scholars, with Alumni now pursuing careers across a wide range of fields. Check out some recent accomplishments and updates from members of the Cooke Alumni community!
Stefani Davila
– 2022 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar; 2024 Graduate Scholar, Harvard University
Stefani recently started a new role as the 11th Grade Scholars Advisor at SEO – Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, in addition to the work she does as the leader of the nonprofit she founded, Meraki Youth. Stefani shared, “This is a dream job for me. SEO holds a special place in my heart because back in high school, I didn’t have access to programs like this or to mentors. Becoming a mentor and building genuine connections with these students was a full-circle moment for me.” In this new role, Stefani will be able to further expand her impact in increasing educational access and supporting students.
Juliet Kim
– 2009 Young Scholar; 2014 College Scholar; 2019 Graduate Scholar, New York University
After completing a pediatric residence at Mass General Brigham, Juliet recently began a pediatric fellowship at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, NY. The hospital has been ranked as one of the best children’s hospitals in the nation for the 18th year in a row. Juliet grew up just a few blocks from the hospital and spent time volunteering there as a high school student. Returning now as a physician-in-training is especially meaningful to Juliet, as it allows her to care for the community that helped shape her.
Rex Ledesma
– 2010 Young Scholar; 2015 College Scholar, University of Maryland
In March, Rex joined Poolside, a U.S.-based AI company delivering frontier open-weight foundation models purpose-built for software engineering, as a member of the engineering team. Rex says, “Our research and the Laguna family of models are publicly released in the open, and I’m excited for the new systems and applications built on top of our work. Intelligence is increasingly becoming an on-demand utility, and we want to ensure that our users have full sovereignty over this new resource.” Rex’s website can be viewed here.
Angie Lopez
– 2014 Young Scholar; 2019 College Scholar; 2023 Graduate Scholar, Yale University
Angie is currently pursuing a PhD in Art History, Criticism, and Conservation and is about to begin a year-long fellowship with the Marron Research Consortium, a partnership between The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and five regional graduate art history programs. The Marron Research Consortium hosts one MRC Fellow from each participating school annually to work with an experienced curator on scholarly curatorial projects at the Museum. This opportunity will give Angie the chance to learn more about working in a professional museum setting and the field of curation.
To read more about what Cooke Alumni have been up to this month, check out the August edition of the Alumni Buzz!