In our third stage of selection, our Regional Interview Committee, comprised of staff and previous recipients, virtually interviewed our Regional Finalists across the country. Thank you to all who served on the committee and helped select the 36th class of Coca-Cola Scholars!
Tony Castillo (2000), Jamie Williams (CCSF), Taylor Fogg (2013), and Tasha Byers (2005, not pictured) interviewed students in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.Antoine Jefferson (2004), Jane Hopkins (CCSF), Jaselyn Williams (1999), and Arthur Schmidt (1990) hosted interviews for Regional Finalists at Armed Forces bases and in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.Frank Garza (1997), LaQuanda Prince (CCSF), Gabriel Unruh (2014), and Amanda Harvey (1997) interviewed finalists in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.Ericia Ward (CCSF), Monica Liu (2008), Derek Hirai (2001), and Esteban Abeyta (2015) interviewed students in California.Jasmine Bazemore (2003), Carolyn Norton (CCSF), Greg Melia (1989), and Frank Shultz (1999) interviewed finalists in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.Charlie Odom (2002), Lauren O’Brien (CCSF), Wesli Jones (2012), and Rane Johnson-Stempson (1994) interviewed Regional Finalists in Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.Regional Finalists in D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia were interviewed by Lisa Tsai (1994), Jane Hopkins (CCSF), TeKay King (1989), and Andrew Barnhill (2006).Riva Rahl (1991), LaQuanda Prince (CCSF), Brad Galiette (2004), and Elliot Koss (2003) interviewed students in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.Nekeisha Randall (2004), Jamie Williams (CCSF), Bryan Nails (2004), and Becky Pope (2008) hosted interviews with students in Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, and Tennessee.Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington students were interviewed by Felicia Michael (2003), Perry Alagappan (2015), Ericia Ward (CCSF), and Erin Orchard (2011)
Virtual Networking
More than 30 Coke Scholar alumni gathered on Zoom for the networking event “Not Just Lawyering: Exploring the spectrum of careers with a law degree” on February 20.
Participants discussed law degrees, law school applications, taking the LSAT’s and more with these panelists: Will Schultz (1994) – Partner at Merchant & Gould, an intellectual property law firm Rosanna Catalano (1990) – Partner at Anfield Consulting managing government relations clients Ben Obomanu (2002) – Attorney at Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson P.S. focusing on real estate finance; and former NFL player. Dilia Cabellero (1989) – Assoc. General Counsel at Edward Jones US Judge Walter Menjivar (2005) – Superior Court Judge for Litchfield Judicial District in Connecticut
Coke Scholar Meet Ups
Carolina Weber (2009, right) and her husband flew to Kirkland, WA, to visit Tina Hoang-To (2001, middle) and her husband for the weekend. Carolina and Tina met while serving as facilitators at the 2023 Coke Scholars Leadership Development Institute together during Scholars Weekend.2011 Scholars Erin Orchard (left) and Sanchay Gupta (right) met up in Houston last month with Sanchay’s wife while Erin was traveling for work. Sanchay is currently in his residency there.Tekay King (1989) and Rep.Justin Pearson (2013) met up after the Christmas Eve service at the Church of the River Universalist Unitarian in Memphis. It was the first time they’ve seen each other since the 2018 Coca-Cola Scholars Leadership Summit.Marc Eichenbaum (2000) ran into Rommel Oates (1997) at a restaurant in Houston. Marc sat down at a table for Valentine’s Day lunch with his wife and Rommel happened to be at the table next to them!2022 Scholars Aparna Ramakrishnan and Vicky Vo met up at the Up To Us Policy Leadership Bootcamp.Sue Suh (1992), Carrie Regan (1989), and Pamit Surana (1989) met up for dinner while Carrie was in NYC.
Heather Bowerman (2002) and her company, Dot Labs, was featured on NASDAQ’s iconic billboard in Times Square; Eric Veal, Jr. (2022) was accepted to the Institute for Responsible Citizenship’s Class of 2025; and Kristina Skrela Gisonde (1999) was inducted into her company’s Hall of Fame
Rosita Najmi (2000) gave a Ted Talk on multilingual leadership, Gitanjali Rao (2023) was honored by The King Center, Olivia Sally (2020) won the Marshall Scholarship, and Cage Sawyers (2017) was appointed to the Texas Higher Education Board.
