February 2023 Connections

Regional Interviews

In our third stage of selection, our Regional Interview Committee, comprised of staff and previous recipients, virtually interview our Regional Finalists across the country. Thank you to all who served on the committee and helped select the 35th class of Coca-Cola Scholars!

Regional Finalists in D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia were interviewed by **Jamie Williams** (CCSF), **Laura Froyen** (2002), **Carlos Smith** (2010), and **Lamees El-sadek** (2007).

**Greg Melia** (1989), **LaQuanda Prince** (CCSF), **Arjun Agarwala** (2011), and **Athena Lao** (2008) interviewed students in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and South Carolina.

**Jane Hopkins** (CCSF), **Nilofer Rajpurkar** (2013), **Albert Lawrence** (2003), and **Yosh Miller** (2005) interviewed students in California.

**Samuel Alemayehu** (2004), **Carolyn Norton** (CCSF), **Gabriel Unruh** (2014), and **Geraldine Haile** (2004) interviewed Regional Finalists in Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

**Vernon King** (2009), **Lauren O’Brien** (CCSF), and **Justin Hattan** (1996) interviewed finalists in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

**Hodari Brown** (2003), **Ericia Ward** (CCSF), and Lauron Fischer (2007) interviewed finalists in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.

Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington students were interviewed by **Jamal Edwards** (1994), **Jane Hopkins** (CCSF), and **Evangeline Pattison** (2002).

**Heidi Koester Olivera** (2001), **LaQuanda Prince** (CCSF), **Pat Blute** (2008), and **Matthew Cheney** (2001) hosted interviews for Regional Finalists at Armed Forces bases and in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

**Dilia Caballero** (1989), **Eric Andrew** (2000), **Ken Harbaugh** (1992), and **Carolyn Norton** (CCSF) interviewed students in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. “When you get the Coke Scholars scholarship, you spend the rest of your life earning it,” Ken said when discussing the importance of giving back to the Coke Scholars community.

**Elliot Koss** (2003), **Jamie Williams** (CCSF), **Lesley Wainwright** (1994), and **Crystal Moore** (2003) hosted interviews with students in Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, and Tennessee.

Coke Scholar Pro Classes

Coke Scholar subject matter “pros” hosted virtual classes for their fellow Scholars.

Financial experts and advisors **Martin Navarro** (2005), **Justin Elliott** (2011), and Brittni Hernandez (2013) led a Personal Finance class that covered budgeting, investment tips, and more.

**Nathan Sharp** (2004), an entrepreneur who launched Facebook Dating and Instagram Stories, and **Naomi Shah** (2015), Founder and CEO of Meet Cute, hosted Trends in Love and Dating.

Spirit Day

Scholars showed their love for the #CokeScholars community and by sporting their favorite Coke Scholars or Coca-Cola gear with the Alumni Advisory Board for a spirit day on February 13! Courtney Lynn (1996), Cesar Aviles (2000), Nilofer Rajpurkar (2013), Lucas San Miguel (2020), Brennen Feder (2017), and Anita Kishore (1995) shared pictures on social media.

The next spirit day is on March 24, 2023!