Alumni

June 2017, the first cohort of Johnson Scholars celebrated their four years at Santa Clara. At a brunch with the rest of the Johnson Community, each senior was given a satin stole to wear on graduation day when their tassel would move to the left. Compiled below is an update on where they find themselves today six months later.

Meg Ackerson

Since Fall 2017, Meg has been a masters student at Stanford University, studying Structural Engineering and Geomechanics in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. After three or four quarters, she will finish her degree in 2018 and hopes to work in the Bay Area at a structural engineering firm. Her ten year plan involves an equal chance of her moving back to the Midwest or to New Zealand where she studied abroad for six months. For now, she is excited to remain in California!

Julia Anderson

After graduation Julia returned home to Portland, Oregon to pursue a civil engineering internship with KPFF, a local engineering consulting firm. Since Fall 2017, she has been back at SCU to continue her master's in Engineering Management which she started during her senior year with the engineering school's 5 year MS/BS program. While finishing her master's, she has been interning at WMH Corporation in San Jose, a transportation engineering firm for which she has interned since my junior year. WMH has offered her a full-time position after finishing her Master's. Julia is planning to either stay in California to work for WMH or to return to Portland if she gets a job offer there after graduating from grad school. 

Alaina Boyle

Alaina has embarked on a year of service with Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest. Her placement is in South Seattle with the Youth Tutoring Program of Catholic Community Services of King County. Her position title is Center Support and Volunteer Recruitment Specialist where she is doing a mix of tutoring center administration, volunteer management, and hands-on teaching with students grades 1-12 predominantly from immigrant and refugee families who live in a low-income housing community. She also volunteers weekly with infants who are survivors of abuse. After she completes her year of service with JVC, Alaina plans to continue working with children in the non-profit field and apply for graduate school in Public Health or Social Work.

Khoinguyen Bui

Since graduation, Khoi has been working at Stanford University Mass Spectrometry as a Life-Science Research Assistant. Thanks to the Johnson Scholar Stipend, he was able to carry out an independent research project during the summer of his junior year and gained valuable experience in analytical chemistry, working with Dr. Suljak. During his time at Stanford he has noticed over and over how the liberal arts education provided by SCU and the leadership lessons provided by the Johnson Scholars program has changed his perspective and allowed him to think critically, in both work and life. Khoi hopes to continue working as an LSRA for SUMS for a couple years, after which he hopes to move on to graduate school for a PhD, post-doc, and eventual professorship.

Cynthia Le

Cynthia converted her summer 2016 internship into a full time job as a Creative Technologist at Google, where she has been working since graduation. At Google, Cynthia works on designing and prototyping physical interactive exhibits that allow users to understand, engage, and have fun with Google’s latest technologies.  This role will be great to challenge and develop Cynthia's technical and creative skills that have grown immensely at SCU as she continues to explore how the two worlds intersect. Cynthia also has continued growing her passion for dance by joining a Fremont-based competitive urban dance team called Full Potential.

Steven Parks

This past summer Steven participated in the Global Fellows Program and interned abroad with the Indonesian Institute for Energy Economics. He is currently finishing up his degree in Mechanical Engineering at SCU and tackling his senior design project, working with 5 other mechanical engineering majors to design a small, modular satellite called a 6U CubeSat. It will provide HAM radio emergency communications for disaster-relief efforts. After graduation, he plans to attend grad school and earn an M.S. or M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering.

Brynn Sargent

Brynn continued research in the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Dahlhoff and about two weeks of field work in the Eastern Sierra Mountains summer 2017. He also spent the summer studying and preparing for the MCAT exam and began applying to medical school seeking admission in the fall of 2018. He is currently continuing training with the SCU cross country team this summer as he concludes his eligibility for both cross country and track and field by competing through 2018. 

Josie Warren

After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in theater arts, Josie chased adventure by camping in Iceland and Norway. She entered the "real world" in October and is now pursuing her dream career in theme park design at Walt Disney Imagineering.