OSU’s Mitchell scholar reflects on scholarship’s boost to her career

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Media Contact: Jordan Bishop | Editor, Department of Brand Management | 405-744-7193 | jordan.bishop@okstate.edu

As director of innovation for the third-most populous county in the United States, Kara Cook continues to draw on the degrees she earned at Oklahoma State University.

A double major in political science and English, the Stillwater native received the George J. Mitchell Scholarship as an undergraduate. She parlayed the experience into a master’s degree at University College Dublin and eventually a law degree at the University of California-Berkeley.

Although Cook can’t point to a linear path of national scholarship winner to her career journey, she said her undergraduate foundation and experience as a Mitchell scholar have been crucial in every position.

Before Cook became the director of innovation for Harris County — home of Houston, America’s fourth-largest city — she was deciding what path to take as a 2002 high school graduate enrolling in her hometown university.

“I initially wanted to do political science, which is more relevant to what I do now, but I ended up double majoring in political science and English because there was just so much that I felt I could learn from English faculty,” Cook said. “The English faculty at OSU are just top-notch, and a lot of my skill set I thought was really reflected well in English.”

Dr. Bob Darcy, Cook’s political science professor, inspired Cook during her time at OSU. As an undergraduate, Cook co-authored a book with Darcy titled “The Oklahoma Women’s Almanac,” giving Cook both experience and a confidence boost that would usually be reserved for graduate students at most universities.

“He would let undergraduates co-author papers and books with him, which is unusual,” Cook said. “He always believed in pushing Oklahoma State University forward.”

Another professor, Dr. Ed Walkiewicz, aided Cook in her English degree and piqued her interest in Irish literature, particularly the works of James Joyce. Cook, who has Irish grandparents, became fascinated with the Emerald Isle.

“Irish literature is very funny, very dark, dark humor. I think Oklahomans share a lot of that dark humor. When things are bleak, all you can do is laugh, right?” Cook said. “... I think that Irish literature was highly influential in the early 20th century when American literature was coming into its own.”

Darcy and Walkiewicz informed Cook of the Mitchell Scholarship, which was a relatively new national scholarship created with an endowment from the Irish government. 

The scholarship was founded in 1998 and named in honor of the U.S. senator who was vital in the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, bringing peace to the area after a tumultuous period in the island’s history.

Cook said applying for the scholarship wasn’t easy. Because of the international nature of the scholarship, she needed to write multiple essays, have four letters of recommendation and an endorsement, and submit all personal documentation.

It was daunting, but she had help from OSU.

“It's really hard without somebody there to help you with those things and gather all the documents and scan them in,” Cook said. “It might be a little easier now because things are more digitized, but still, it's just a lot to do when you're also probably working and going to school and doing sports or whatever that you need to be doing to get a scholarship like that, you have to be a naturally busy person, so it's a lot to do.”

Although applying is time-consuming, Cook said it is highly worth it and advises current students not to get discouraged if they receive a rejection, as there are a plethora of scholarships available.

“I think there's a lot of students at Oklahoma State University who would have backgrounds that would be interesting to a scholarship committee that would feed into why it is they might want to go out and study something, or why it is that they deserve the scholarship, or how hard they fought to get to where they are,” Cook said. “There's a lot of people at OSU who have that story naturally. It's not too much of a reach for them to tell that story. I don't want to discourage people into thinking they have to be the greatest, most specialized person and also the most well-rounded person.”

As OSU’s lone Mitchell Scholar, Cook advises students to make themselves stand out in their essays and school projects when applying for any scholarship. In her experience, that is what will make the committees notice them.

“You have to have something that stands out about you because they're reading hundreds and thousands of applications,” Cook said. “I've read applications for the Mitchell scholarship since, and it's just hard. There are so many people who are so amazing from all sorts of schools, so there really has to be something special about that person. That doesn't mean you have to be the best scholar or the smartest person; it just means there must be some connection between you and the scholarship you're applying for that stands out or is interesting. 

“Let's say you want to go and get a Fulbright or other scholarship. You should have a really strong perspective on what it is you want to study, where you want to study, and have shown that you're the best person to go and study that topic, at that location, at that moment.”

In 2006, Cook was selected as one of 12 Mitchell Scholarship recipients, earning the opportunity to work toward her master’s degree in Ireland. The year abroad was an experience she said she will never forget.

“The fun part about it is, not only does it expand your horizons getting to see all these things and meet people from such different backgrounds than I had ever met before, and getting the chance to study and see Europe, but I also think that it also is something you can talk about forever,” Cook said. “You can always say, ‘Well, got to go to Europe. I got to do this.’ You can talk about that experience, and it's interesting to people. You can connect with a wider variety of people because you have a wider variety of experiences.”

The trip not only benefited Cook’s view of the world, but the scholarship funds enabled her to earn her master’s degree in Dublin. With the rising costs of college tuition, especially making it harder to get a graduate degree, the money earned from the scholarship was priceless.

“These major scholarships give you the advantage of getting a graduate degree that you can use for the rest of your life for no cost or very little cost, and it's just such a huge boost to a young person, especially with things being as expensive as they are,” Cook said. “So it pays so many dividends throughout the years that it's an amazing leg up.”

After earning a juris doctorate from UC, Cook spent a year in China for the World Wildlife Federation before making stops at several legal and political science institutions. In 2016, she began working as a toxics director for the Public Impact Research Group. Her political science background allowed her to lobby for such things as toy safety, a key issue in her time being removing asbestos from child makeup, while her English background enabled her to write about these issues for CNN and The New York Times.

A couple of years ago, Cook moved to Houston to begin working at Harris County. Looking back, she said she couldn’t have predicted how her career has gone after she left OSU.

“I'm sure that I thought I would be doing something involving more English, maybe, or that I'd be like a lawyer, like an Ally McBeal,” Cook said. “But I learned that there's all these other ways of influencing policy and changing things that I found really fun and interesting and exciting.”

Cook emphasized the importance of applying for scholarships, which is more important than ever because of rising costs. Sadly, even the Mitchell Scholarship has been affected, being put on pause because of a lack of funding. 

But, she said, numerous scholarships are available that can aid students in their college careers and give them access to places and careers they wouldn’t have thought possible.

“It's a huge boost to start your career without a huge loan balance you have to worry about,” Cook said. “So, I think that people can go out and get more scholarships than they even know exist. I think that the worst thing that happens is someone tells you, ‘No.’ I got turned down for scholarships. I think everyone does. The only downside is the amount of time it takes, honestly. If you can find that time, it will absolutely pay off.”