Three St. Thomas alumni were among 24 people chosen out of 751 applicants to receive the 2018 Bush Fellowship, which offers up to $100,000 to further develop leadership skills and learning experiences.
The alumni involved include Nicholas Kor ‘11, (Bachelor Arts of Music), Tamim Saidi ‘00 (mini-MBA in healthcare) and Joanna Ramirez Barrett ‘17 (mini-MBA in executive education). Jeff Dykstra, who took a few classes at St. Thomas, also received the Bush Fellowship.
The Bush Foundation looks to invest in people in the Upper Midwest who work to increase collaboration between communities of differing backgrounds. The grant allows them to start or complete an academic degree or pursue personal learning projects.
“(The fellowship) tries to invest in the leaders of different communities and try to help them improve on their leadership skills, so that they can provide their leadership skills for their communities, their groups and for all the communities, in general,” Saidi said.
Saidi, a refugee from Afghanistan, wants to build bridges between different cultures and religions, specifically between Muslim Minnesotans and the larger community.
“When I looked at some of the people who applied, some of their resumes, I felt really honored that I was among the people who were selected,” Saidi said.
Saidi will use the grant to pursue master’s degrees in Islamic studies and leadership from both the Claremont School of Theology and the Islamic University of Minnesota.
“I’ll do a master’s to deepen my knowledge, increase my faith and increase my connections,” Saidi said.
Saidi also plans to pursue a master’s degree because he feels his own personal study and activism within his topics of interest do not offer him the same level of credentials as a master’s degree would.
“I’d have these credentials to show that, when I’m part of all these different activities, I’m somebody who is well-versed, somebody who is knowledgeable, and somebody whose purpose is to be involved in these activities,” Saidi said.
As an Asian-American, Nicholas Kor received the fellowship with a goal in mind to build a more connected and civically engaged Asian-American community across the country and within Minnesota.
“I felt like my voice wasn’t recognized in the larger narrative across the country,” Kor said. “I saw that there was a pressing need to sort of uplift (the Asian-American) voice.”
Kor said he saw a lack of Asian-American representation within the media, politics and his job with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which inspired him to apply for the Bush Fellowship.
“I saw (the fellowship) as an opportunity to develop my own leadership and to create my own plan to further my leadership,” Kor said.
Kor plans to spend the grant on traveling to different conferences across the country where he can learn ways to connect and engage Asian-Americans within their communities and further developing his leadership skills.
Joanna Ramirez Barrett is currently the vice president of business solutions at Metropolitan Economic Development Association, a company that provides business consulting to minority-owned businesses.
With the fellowship, Ramirez wants to create an entrepreneurial and equitable community for women of color.
“I am convinced entrepreneurship is key to ending the racial wealth gap,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez wants to use the fellowship to attend a leadership program for women at the University of Oxford Saïd School of Business, Stanford University’s Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship and then conduct research on different approaches to entrepreneurship.
“The (leadership) program is designed to clarify skills and gain a sharp understanding of the context in which I work,” Ramirez said.
The 751 applicants had remarkable resumes, according to Saidi, but only 24 were chosen to receive the fellowship.
“Just being a part of this cohort is just an incredible honor by itself,” Saidi said.
Althea Larson can be reached at lars2360@stthomas.edu.