Zain Pasha '11
Our 2011 JFK Awardee is committed to creating opportunities for low-income high school students
Zain
Pasha '11 is the winner of the Class of 1964’s JFK Memorial Award for
2011. Zain, whose home is Liberty, Missouri, was a double major in
Economics and Government, with a minor in Information Science. He was
selected from among 30 applicants, one of the largest JFK candidate
pools in recent years. A serious student who had to be prodded to reveal
some hobbies – tennis and digital photography – Zain is headed to Kansas
City as a middle school science teacher with
Teach for America before
pursuing a master’s in education policy and management. Besides
teaching, Zain also intends to start a non-profit organization to
support high-achieving low-income students in securing post-secondary
opportunities.
Zain’s chosen profession grows out of his experience as a student in a
rural classroom, where limited resources inhibited his pursuing
challenging extracurricular activities. Thanks to a teacher who secured
a scholarship for him to study robotics at the local high school while
Zain was still in second grade, he writes, “it changed my outlook and
encouraged me to seek future challenges that would force me to think
about problems in creative ways; I firmly believe that without my
teacher’s confidence and the support I received from the scholarship I
would not be the person I am today. I want to have a similar impact on
the lives of students who face the same challenges that I did, and
working through Teach For America and my organization will allow me to
do that.”
A second key factor in Zain’s professional development was his
experience as an intern for two summers with
Deloitte Consulting. He selected Deloitte because of the company’s
commitment to community service. This policy brought Zain into contact
with a New York City-area charter school, during a community service
work day. He recognized that the school’s students were missing out on
access to technology and hence to virtual collaboration and online
educational resources. In short, “There was value left on the table.” So
he set about to remedy the situation, writing a successful proposal to
Deloitte for a pilot education reform project that could later be
extended to other charter schools, incorporating technology best
practices that would be identified through a long-term research project.
Zain continued his involvement with this project during his senior year
at Cornell.
Zain’s work with Deloitte also stimulated him to flex his
entrepreneurial muscles. He writes, “Deloitte showed me that business
skills are not simply meant for those working on projects at Fortune 500
companies, but rather could be applied very effectively to help make a
positive impact in the world.”
JFK scholarship winners are an exceptional bunch, accustomed to winning
plaudits. Still, Zain’s letters of reference stand out as testimony to
his extraordinary qualities. One professor wrote that “Zain Pasha is one
of the most remarkable students I have known in almost 30 years of
university teaching.” Another called him “the most outstanding student I
have come across in my time at Cornell” [and three other top
universities]. Zain is a member of
Sphinx Head as
well as being a
Meinig
Family Cornell National Scholar. In addition to his academic
accomplishments, he founded and oversaw the electronic publishing
division of The Triple Helix,
an international non-profit devoted to the study of science in society.
As President of Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society, he
helped to organize a benefit concert and panel discussion for
Pakistan-India flood relief.
Zain Pasha’s commitment to improving educational opportunities for all
students is what Cornell is about. The Class of 1964 is proud to support
Zain as he takes the next steps in his career.