What are some educational, personal and professional highlights and/or accomplishments of yours since graduating from high school?

I can’t believe it’s been more than 10 years now since I graduated from Andover! Since then, I graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where I was able to gain unique work experience at various internships at national and global nonprofits and NGOs before I entered the working world.Since graduating from college, I’ve worked in content and product marketing at tech companies including 2U Inc. and HubSpot, and I currently work at Owl Labs, where we make intelligent 360° video conferencing cameras to support hybrid collaboration (which has become extremely important in the last year).

After living and working in Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colorado after college, I moved back to the Boston area five years ago, and my husband and I got married and moved into our first home together in 2020.
 

What is a favorite ������Ƶ/CDB memory?

I have so many wonderful memories from my time as a CDB Scholar, and now, a CDB alum.

During my senior year of high school, the annual CDB seminar was held in Cambridge, MA, and everyone participated in an incredibly challenging and fun scavenger hunt that I still remember when I’m trying to find my way around a new part of the city. At another seminar as an alum, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of ������Ƶ at the Barder House in Pasadena, and it was so powerful and humbling to hear from ������Ƶ founders, staff, and benefactors and see the impact ������Ƶ has had on so many kids and families over the years.

On a more personal level, I attended my first CDB wedding in 2019, and it was so fun to celebrate such an important milestone with friends I’ve had for almost 15 years.

What words of wisdom would you pass on to current ������Ƶ students?

The friendships I built with other CDB Scholars and students at Andover are some of my strongest and longest-lasting friendships today, despite being separated by distance and not seeing them in-person very often. By taking the time to invest in relationships with your peers and ������Ƶ teachers and staff while you’re a student, you can maintain these connections wherever you go next in the world. 

Shortly after graduating from college, I started a job at the Tax Foundation, a non-profit organization in Washington, DC, with a mission of educating lawmakers and the public about tax policy. Taxes sound boring to many people, but tax policy is actually really interesting: The tax code affects nearly everybody and everything, and tax policy is an important tool for building a strong economy and a fair society. I was lucky enough to be working in DC when the 2017 tax bill was being passed. It was a hectic but exciting time; we were publishing new reports every day to keep up with every development and having frequent meetings on Capitol Hill.

After the 2017 tax bill was passed, it seemed like things were quieting down on the tax policy front in Washington, so I decided to apply to law school. I was lucky enough to be admitted to NYU Law, where I’ve enjoyed studying for the last three years. Once I graduate, I plan to start work as a tax attorney at a DC law firm.

My biggest news since high school, though, is that I’m engaged to be married in May!

What is a favorite ������Ƶ/CDB memory?

I remember fondly my first Bradley Seminar, which took place in Dallas. It was my first time meeting the other Bradley Scholars, and it was a really fun time. It was also my first time in the state of Texas!

What words of wisdom would you pass on to current ������Ƶ students?

Don’t be too busy. Find time to relax, to hang out with friends, and to read for fun. Some people feel pressure to do a million extracurricular activities, but you’ll have a better time if you pick just a few activities that you really enjoy and find meaningful.

There was a time when children were taught to be “seen and not heard,” and yet today, many of the world’s most powerful leaders and harbingers for change are under the age of 20. Here are five inspiring young people who are trailblazing for a new generation of activists and innovators.

1. Greta Thunberg: Climate change activist

Age: 17

Greta Thunberg started out as a lone protestor advocating for climate change policy and was eventually named . Since photos of her holding a sign outside the Swedish Parliament went viral, she has become the leader in a mass youth movement for climate change activism. In September 2019, 4 million people joined her in the global climate strike, many of them being school-aged youth who walked out of classrooms and schools. She has become a symbol of youth activism and continues to meet with some of the world’s most influential leaders, speaking at climate rallies, forums and parliaments.

2. The Parkland School Students: Gun control activists

Ages: 19, 20

Since the devasting school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, many surviving students such as Emma Gonzalez, Jaclyn Corin, and David Hogg have become the of a large youth movement for stricter gun control laws. The students founded Never Again MSD, a coalition of the larger Never Again organization, and led the powerful march and demonstration “March for Our Lives” in Washington, D.C. They continue to lead and inspire youth activists who are advocating for gun control policies.

3. Thandiwe Abdullah: Co-founder of the Black Lives Matter LA Youth Vanguard

Age: 15

Abdullah is the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter LA Youth Vanguard and in 2018 was named one of TIME’s most influential teens. In the wake of movements like Never Again, she called for the youth gun control movement to become more intersectional, particularly when it comes to children of color. The LA Youth Vanguard organizes students and adult allies in the over-policing of Los Angeles’ public schools. The group also works closely with the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) labor union to campaign against the criminalization of black youth.

4. Jack Cable: Computer programmer, “white hat” hacker, and business owner

Age: 19

Many of us think of hackers as masterminds who use their tech brilliance to promote widespread havoc, sometimes for personal gain and sometimes for the sake of a joke. Jack Cable is a “white hat hacker,” a tech mastermind who finds and reports bugs rather than taking advantage of them. Cable is a student at Stanford University and the winner of the HackIT Cup in Kyiv, Ukraine, where the one-and-only Steve Wozniak presented his award. He also founded Lightning Security, a firm that helps cryptocurrency companies protect themselves against traditional hackers.

5. Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Cellist

Age: 20

Kanneh-Mason, the first BBC Young Musician to achieve “top 40” status with a debut record, began playing the cello as a six-year-old and had won a scholarship to the Junior Academy of the Royal Academy of Music by age nine. He participated on Britain’s Got Talent in 2015, and he was featured in a BBC documentary entitled Young, Gifted and Classical: The Making of a Maestro the next year. He has since received myriad awards, including the Male Artist of the Year and Critics’ Choice Awards at the Classic Brit Awards, the 2019 PPL Classical Award, and the South Bank Sky Arts Breakthrough Award, an honor bestowed on the “most promising young artist across all genres.” In May of 2018, Kanneh-Mason achieved widespread notoriety when he played his cello at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The same year, he was appointed the global ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He donated a chunk of his 2018 earnings to his former school, enabling ten students to continue their cello lessons. Kanneh-Mason currently studies at the Royal Academy of Music, and his latest album, Elgar, was released in January of 2020.

Nearly two weeks have passed since the 2015 Bradley Seminar, and I remain energized by the abundance of community, conversation, and enthusiasm that infused our weekend in Washington, D.C. The Bradley Seminar – an annual three-day event – is a keystone of the program. Each year, the Seminar unites CDB scholars, alumni, parents, educators, and ������Ƶ staff in a space that promotes the deep and honest exploration of important questions. The CDB community is geographically scattered – Scholars hail from both the sunny coast of California and cloudy banks of Maine as well as everywhere in between – and the Bradley Seminar is always an anticipated reunion for this diverse community of passionate learners and peers.

Our largest seminar to date, more than 130 Caroline D. Bradley scholars, alumni, and parents gathered in Washington, D.C. from March 27-29 to discuss this year’s theme, “What Does It Mean to be a Leader?” During intergenerational conversations, we discussed questions pertaining to leadership about who we are, what we believe, and what we value. We shared stories and perspectives on leadership, and we explored the historical richness of our nation’s capital by bus, by metro, and by foot.

Helaine Klasky, Chief Communications Officer for Energy Management at GE, helped begin the conversation by delivering a keynote address on Friday night. Speaking from nearly 30 years of experience in politics, academia, and corporate professions, Ms. Klasky emphasized the value of team leadership and communication. She encouraged students to make plans for the future but to be willing to forego those plans when new and unexpected opportunities arise. Advice like this carries significance for CDB Scholars, who like so many gifted students, have a . Following Ms. Klasky’s presentation, CDB alumni and Scholars enjoyed ice breakers and ice cream, while CDB parents spent time with ������Ƶ Board Member, Yunasa Fellow, , and gifted educator Dr. Jim Delisle, discussing the joys, challenges, and everything-in-betweens of raising a gifted teen.

Bright and early Saturday morning, the group braved brisk temperatures and explored the museums, landmarks, and terrain of Washington, D.C.

Back at the conference center, ������Ƶ Co-Founder Jim Davis directed intentional conversations on the topic of “Sacred Leadership” – leadership grounded in deep meaning and connectedness which serve the greatest good. The evening was capped off by a stunning evening walking tour of several Washington, D.C. monuments.

Guest speakers Deb Delisle, Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education for the U.S. Department of Education, and Bob Nunnally, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, continued the discussion on leadership Sunday morning, focusing on teamwork and positive working relationships. After breakout sessions and workshops led by ������Ƶ staff and CDB parents and alumni, the group reconvened for one last conversation on the power of leadership, concluding the weekend with our annual CDB class photos.

Every year, we look forward to the speeches delivered by the graduating class of seniors. This year’s batch of seniors – the eighth graduating class of CDB Scholars – did not disappoint. As an unexpected bonus, they regaled the group with original lyrics about the CDB Scholarship and ������Ƶ, set to the tune of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from the musical Les Miserables:

When you chose us to be yours,

Back on that glorious fateful day,

Touching us at our very cores,

That’s the I-E-A!

As I continue to reflect on the question – What does it mean to be a leader? – the idea of hope appears again and again. A leader – whether an individual or a team working toward a common end – is someone who looks ahead, who propels forward through action, ingenuity, creativity, strategy, and hard work. We must lead as we learn; we must try new things, take risks, and accept the possibility of failure, as failure is often the most valuable catalyst for growth. In the words of poet Jack Gilbert: “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” As we take steps forward, we do so with the belief that there is room still to move ahead. This is hope. To be a leader, one must sustain faith in a future that is yet to exist but imagined to be possible.

Every gifted person has a unique story. The following story is part of a series of posts depicting the many faces of gifted by highlighting gifted children and adults we have found through ������Ƶ programs. ������Ƶ’s – mentioned in this story – links gifted high school students from across the country with mentors who advance each participant’s skills through the application of knowledge and exposure to real world experiences.

Jonathan Horowitz
2001 Apprentice, CNN

Although some people may know that Jonathan Horowitz was the youngest person ever to call a horse race in the U.S. (he was 14 years old at the time), many people don’t know he was also an ������Ƶ Apprentice at CNN.

Jonathan explained how he found out about ������Ƶ: “I had a fantastic high school and college counselor based in Newport Beach named Ellen Weinstein. She knew how passionate I was about journalism from my horse race and sports announcing, and she found out about the Institute for Educational Advancement Apprenticeship Program and recommended it to me.”

“Looking back I cannot believe how great an experience I had through the Institute for Educational Advancement to be at CNN Center in Atlanta in 2001. Before my junior year of high school, I had the chance to learn something I was passionate about at one of the biggest and most successful news organizations in the world.”

“I still remember the first television package I ever made as part of the program. It was about the proliferation of cell phones as a social rather than business tool—which seems obvious now, but it was less apparent in 2001 (just watch the famous scene involving Michael Douglas from the movie Wall Street). The experience at CNN was the first time I ever had to film, write and edit my own television journalism story. It brought what I was passionate about to life. And we learned from some of the leading journalists in the industry. When I see someone like Gary Tuchman on television now, I think that some of my first lessons as a journalist came from him.”

“I also enjoyed sharing this experience with people my age from different high schools and backgrounds. Atlanta was a really fun city, as well. We went to a Braves game, Lennox Mall and other interesting areas in the city. Ludacris’ album “Welcome to Atlanta” had just come out, and I thought Atlanta was such a cool city.”

Jonathan’s ������Ƶ Apprenticeship seemed to give him a leg up in the college application process – and in the real world, too. “When I applied to college in the School of Journalism at USC, admissions interviewers specifically referenced the CNN experience as a great internship that showed my passion for journalism and that I would be a good fit at USC. And now that I announce horse races and other sports professionally, along with hosting the “A Day at the Races” television show in the summers on the Altitude Sports network based in Denver, I look back at how my first lessons about broadcast journalism came from CNN via the Apprenticeship program. That’s about as good an experience to begin my career as I could have asked for.”

Jonathan still has a passion for journalism. He has been involved in the publication of three books, with another one in process. “I work in the Publishing Office at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where I am a contributing author for a forthcoming book entitled about 400 years of football history in the United States and its influence on American life and culture. At the Library of Congress, I also contributed to a book entitled and edited . I am also the author of , published by Pomegranate Communications.”

is a set of “knowledge cards” that challenge the reader to name the sport event or person that is the most well known for various accomplishments. I asked Jonathan how he came up with this unique idea. “I was interested in why certain sports figures and moments stand out compared to others and become associated with a definitive label. Sports fans debate endlessly about the best this or the greatest that, but there is never any argument about who was The Great One, what was The Dream Team, or who was The Man. There are thousands of drives in football history, but only John Elway’s is The Drive. Michael Jordan made thousands of shots in his career, but only his jumper over Craig Ehlo of the Cleveland Cavaliers is called The Shot. So I went back to original accounts of these people and moments, such as newspaper articles or television coverage, and tried to learn how each definitive label became associated with that particular one to the exclusion of all others. It was often a spontaneous emotion from a journalist, announcer or headline writer that stuck for posterity’s sake.”

What’s it like to work at The Library of Congress? “The way I view the Library of Congress is that if someone has a question about any topic in the world, the Library of Congress will likely have the answer. In terms of the breadth and history of materials, it is fascinating to get lost in time looking at old books, photos, presidential papers and other manuscripts. Many of these items have never been seen or published before either. Being able to pick up, for example, a letter Teddy Roosevelt wrote from the White House brings the history to life,” Jonathan explained.

Since Jonathan has called races in England, too, I asked him what the differences are between the two countries’ horse tracks. “Racetracks in England can run clockwise or over different-shaped courses, while American racetracks are all counter-clockwise over uniformly-shaped flat ovals (with rare exception). The racetracks in England are also much larger, and an announcer has to use a television monitor to announce because the horses can be too far away to see even with binoculars. Since the racetracks in England are generally older (i.e. before the innovation of a public address system), the announcer’s booths can also be in odd locations and angles, and even amongst the fans.”