CAMBRIDGE CONNECTThe Newsletter

of the Cambridge Academy Alumni

Association

Mrs. Neyda Borges and Mr. Daniel Borges welcomed their newborn son, Ian Daniel Borges, on December 16th, 2015

KEEPING UP WITH THE OBAMASHilary graduated from Harvard this May,

earning a degree in Political Science. After graduating, she worked in the Rule of Law program of a Latin American policy think tank in DC, called The Dialogue. After that, she interned at the White House for the Senior Advisor to the President, Valerie Jarrett, in the Office of Public

Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. She just moved back to Boston to work as a business management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. If any of you have any questions about working in the government, or recruiting to work in consulting, you can reach Hilary at hilaryjhiggins@gmail.com

QUIET ON SETSince graduating, Karina has contin-

ued to pursue a variety of interests while completing her undergraduate de-gree at NYU. She has worked on various student films and stage productions (working as an actor, in production, and working behind the scenes on sets). This experience led her to a job as a Pro-duction Assistant for the “This Year in Vevo” music awards show. She has also continued her dedication to helping others. She vol-unteers for Gallup NYC, which pairs therapeutic horses with disabled people and is working on a larger project, an or-ganization of college students who will work to tutor and mentor students from underprivileged and underserved areas of New York.

Hilary Higgins

WELCOME BABY BORGES

Karina PadronIVY DREAMS KNOCKING ON 2016

Stephanie Brito, current senior in journalism, has been offered admission to

Yale after receiving a phone call and a likely letter from them. She has also been accepted into MIT. Currently, she waits to hear back from Harvard, Princeton and Stanford. Stephanie Brito

PAGE 2

This December, Cosette completed two internships in Hollywood California, where

she is pursuing her interest in film. She worked at David Ellison’s company, Skydance. They produce the Mission Impossible and Star Trek films. The other internship was at New Regency, which produced Birdman and 12 years a Slave. This year they produced The Revenant, so they may win the Oscar three years in a row, which would make it the first company to do that. Although Cosette graduates from Boston University at the end of this semester, she is pursuing her career dreams in Hollywood. She was recently hired at Sanctuary Content which is a production company that makes commercials for high-end clients. She is fortunate to begin working with them while they too are growing and moving into a new office. She is seeing everything being built from the ground up. So it’s exciting!

CHASINGHOLLYWOOD

Kelvin, who was named a Gates Milennium Scholar, enrolled at

Carnegie Melon University after graduating from MLEC in 2009. Always known for his wide variety of intellectual and academic interests, Kelvin’s academic career took many twists and turns before he completed his degree in 2015. He shifted majors as often as his interests did. “I think the order was biology, physics, linguistics, art, philosophy, and finally, logic and computation. But these shifts in direction don’t tell the whole story. Kelvin wasn’t moving aimlessly, rather he was studying, researching, learning and using all of these experiences to propel him from project to project. Some of his projects include the discovery and genetic sequencing of two bacteriophages, a Department of Defense project involving magnetic bacteria and bioluminescence, and testing casual

inference algorithms for the Carnegie Mellon philosophy department. After collaborating with some colleagues, he developed his own business named Biogenous -- a waste-to-energy system for buildings. He decided that he would take a year off from school, even though he had only a semester left, to concentrate on his entrepreneurship dreams. “To my surprise, we saw some success, being accepted into incubators that provided us with more funding, and, more importantly, mentorship.” After publishing a paper about Biogenous, he was invited to give a talk at the European Meetings of Cybernetics and Systems Research in Austria. He’s worked in a variety of disciplines, but has now accepted a position as a developer with ThoughtWorks, and will begin in April after a six-week training session in Pune, India.

EXPLORING THE WORLD

Krisna is currently the Vice Chair of the United Minorities Council. The UMC is

a political organization on campus that has been around for about 30 years. They are an umbrella organization that includes 28 minority student groups on campus including Carribean/African American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, LGBTQ, and Native American organizations. They work to facilitate interculturalism and social justice on campus. On the political side, their current initiatives include improving the conditions of faculty diversity, opportunities and assistance for first generation low-income students, and responding to incidents on campus that are harmful to minority students.

DRAWING STRENGTH FROM DIVERSIY

Every semester we sit down with Amy Guntman, the president of the university to discuss our initiatives and ways administration could be of assistance. Outside of the political stuff, we promote a sense of community amongst minorities through social events such as Celebration of Cultures which is a fashion show, performing arts group showcase, and food event, as well as Unity Week which is a week of promoting interculturalism through a series of events and a main speaker (i.e. Junot Diaz!!) I basically plan these events, work with administration on a weekly basis, and connect with students. It’s definitely been one of the most rewarding parts of Penn for me

Cosette Perez

Krisna Maddy with Junot Diaz

Kelvin Rojas

PAGE 3

After graduating, Darryl enrolled at Florida International University to

pursue a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science. The past four years of his collegiate career has revolved around community service. It all started when he applied to an organization called Global Community Engagement. As part of the team, Darryl would travel to the Dominican Republic during his spring breaks to mentor children in impoverished communities, as well as advocate for children’s rights. In his third and last time in GCE, Darryl served as the director for the organization. To add upon this experience, Darryl was also actively involved with FIU’s Center for Leadership & Service, serving as a Peer Leadership Consultant for the office; the job was to represent the office in freshman classes, as well as organize four-day leadership retreats per semester. Along with that, Darryl has served as the Philanthropy chair for his fraternity, coordinated fundraising events that has raised over $6,000 and has also served on the executive board for alternative Breaks and Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society. In terms of internships, Darryl has participated in a few notable internships. He interned a semester with the International Rescue Committee, where he assisted caseworkers transition recent refugees, asylees, and parolees into life in

the United States. Darryl was later accepted to The Washington Center for Internships and Seminars in Washington D.C., and was assigned to MANA, A National Latina Organization, where as a Legislative Intern, would attend congressional hearings and markups on Capitol Hill, along with design press releases and newsletters to update members on recent legislation. Darryl was later able to extend his stay in Washington D.C when he was accepted into the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Internship Program, where he was placed into the Office of Senator Marco Rubio on Capitol Hill. In this experience, Darryl observed first-hand the operations of the Senate, including the interaction of the House of Representatives, Executive and Judicial branches. In his work as an intern, Darryl would correspond with over 60 constituents daily, give U.S. Capitol tours, answer phone calls, and sort mail, along with assisting with drafting correspondence letters. Now in his last semester at FIU, Darryl is looking ahead at where his career takes him post-undergrad. He plans on taking a year off from enrolling in graduate school to develop political campaign experience in either a congressional election or presidential election. In the long term, Darryl intends on going to graduate school for public policy and become involved in policy making.

LIVING THE HOUSE OF CARDS LIFE

Darryl Perez

After graduating from Columbia University, Samantha decided to

dedicate herself to non-profit work on a quest to give back and help under-represented and unprivileged communities. Her first full-time job working as a project coordinator with an organization called Reach Out and Read in Brooklyn, NY. There, she was able to help bring books into various doctors’ offices to promote early literacy among diverse populations. Now she is currently working as a case worker for the AIDS Service Center (ASC) in NYC helping clients to achieve life stability by helping them access health insurance, housing, therapy and other services that may ease their lives. Working at ASC has really shaped her career goals and she would like to pursue an MSW or MS in counseling.

TEAMING UP WITH A NON-PROFIT

Samantha Jean-Baptiste

After graduating from MLEC, SaraH enrolled at American University at

Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, she left after her first year because, her financial aid was not enough to cover the cost of tuition, books and housing. With her credit stretched to the limit, she was unable to qualify for any more loans. But she was determined not to allow her economic status to hold her back from pursuing her dreams. After transferring to FIU, she completed 3 study abroad programs: an exchange in Spain, a study session in the Czech Republic, and an Atlantic Exploration on Semester at Sea. She paid for these using FAFSA and scholarships and working a full time job while also attending school full time.

FOLLOWING GOBAL DREAMS

SaraH Castellanos

PAGE 4

Since I graduated MLEC I’ve had the opportunity to do great things and meet

amazing people who have helped me grow professionally and personally. But I would not be where I am today if it had not been for the things I learned as an engineering student in Cambridge. I was taught the basic concepts which led me to appreciate the study and commit to becoming a mechanical engineer. I thank Mr. Kynerd for being a huge influence in my career path and for presenting to me the idea of attending Carnegie Mellon University. Which at the time, I didn’t believe I could ever be accepted to due to the rigorous curriculum and high standards the university placed its students. But with the support from our Cambridge family, I applied and was ultimately accepted. I received the Gates Millennium Scholarship at the end of my senior year thanks to Mr. Kynerd and Mr. Moffi who were my recommender and nominator for the scholarship application process. I will probably never know what they wrote about me, but I appreciate every word and their time since that scholarship led me to receive a great education, debt free. I took an internship as a mechanical engineer in Cartago, Costa Rica. I worked for the quality department

at a hydroelectric power plant for 2 months. The experience helped me apply what I was learning in college to my work. It opened my eyes in terms of what a company expects from you as an engineer. Life is more about alright this is what you know, now what can you do with it. Which is why it is so important to be part of groups outside of class. I worked for the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) for 2 years as the chassis system director and project leader. I was the first woman to be chassis system director in the team’s history and helped the team win the first design competition for a hybrid formula vehicle in 2014. I received a job offer from L’Oreal USA on December 2014. I was inducted into the Management Development Program in February 9th, 2015 in Redmond, Washington. The program gives me the opportunity to work for any of the L’Oreal USA plants across the world through 3 rotations (equivalent to 3 years). I started my first rotation in Washington and was offered another this year at the same location. I am currently a Supplier Quality Engineer for Clarisonic,a L’Oreal owned company. It is the first and only device plant the company owns. As a mechanical engineer I am learning and solving problems every day.

CONQUERING ENIGNEERING

Gloriana Redondo

TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Mrs. Erica Evans-Desimone was awarded the coveted Teacher of the

Year award. Through her effort and tireless drive, she has molded the Cambridge Academy to what it is today.

REINVENTING THE WHEELAs her first year at Emory University

comes to a close, Ruth Reyes has been kept pretty busy. She joined the campus newspaper, The Wheel, as a photograpgher and was quickly promoted to photo editor, where she edits the work of her photographers and assigns assignments. Despite her position, she realized that The Wheel was confused on what defined a newspaper and was mixing magazine-like content with newspaper content. She is currently working on changing the direction of The Wheel - she’s starting with her photographers and then working her way up.

Ruth Reyes

Suzanne has been helping her family run their karaoke/ restaurant business,

Macau Speciality Musical Restaurant (MSMR), over the winter break. Suzanne’s aunt, a famous singer from China, moved to the US recently and established MSMR with Suzanne’s mother about 1 year ago in Miami Lakes near Miami Gardens Drive. She is now working with her aunt to promote new concepts to attract Millennials

LIFE OF THE PARTYand Western audiences. She has had a lot of fun working with the advertising group, and helping book reservations and managing the website/emails. If you visit MSMR during the break, she can be found singing Asian pop music while dancing on the stage.

Suzanne Wong

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT MLEC

- Miami Lakes Educational Center is an A school once again

- Our new school principal is Ms. Loudres Diaz. She is Brown University alumni.

- Christian Steiner was accepted into NYU.

- MLEC may adopt an eight period day.