Karim Abouelnaga '13
Narrowing the achievement gap in inner-city communities
The JFK Memorial Fellowship award winner for 2013 is Hotel School student Karim Abouelnaga, of Astoria, New York.
April 2019 update:
Karim was featured in a
Cornell Research article which described his ongoing effort to help
disadvantaged youths in New York City.
January 2014 update:
Karim has been recognized by
Forbes magazine in their "30 Under 30" list in the
Education category for his founding and leadership of the
Practice Makes Perfect
program. PMP helps underserved students by reducing summer learning
loss.
See a video of Karim acknowledging his selection.
Karim is an extraordinary Cornellian who grew up
juggling the demands of helping in a small family business with his
instinctive understanding that education is the way out of poverty. As
he wrote in his JFK application, “Like many children from immigrant
families, I struggled to succeed in an educational system with which my
parents were not familiar. While I could not articulate this problem
until college, it is one I know intimately, as it plagued my childhood,
hobbled the life prospects of my closest childhood friends, and
indelibly impacted my community.”
Karim's response has been to create opportunities for other young people
in similar circumstances by mobilizing Cornell friends to found a not
for profit organization, Practice Makes Perfect, which brings together
students at several educational levels for four years of intensive
summer study aimed at narrowing the achievement gap. With help from
Cornell, Ernst and Young, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Andrew and
Anne Tisch Foundation and numerous private donors. Practice Makes Perfect assists some
250 young people in New York City each year. The JFK award will augment
these numbers: “In a PMP Program, $10,000 changes the life prospects for
50 students by employing 15 high-achieving high school students,
providing mentorship for 30 academically struggling middle school
students, generating hundreds of dollars of positive value for the
community through service projects, and creating enriching summer
internship opportunities for five aspiring teachers.” PMP was named one
of the top sixteen most dynamic projects at the
Clinton 2012 Global University Initiative Conference.
Karim Abouelnaga '13 shakes hands with former President Bill Clinton. With them is Lindsay Brown, another participant at the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative University
Besides PMP, Karim has devoted himself to
Ithakids,
Black Students United and a mentorship program aimed at increasing the graduation rate of Cornell's black male students. He has traveled the country on behalf of the
LIFE Foundation, speaking to members of the insurance industry about his life and work. He is a
Cornell Presidential Research Scholar. Karim has held internships with BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and has volunteered on political campaigns. He is a licensed NYS Realtor, a
Newman Civic Fellow, a
Pearson Prize National Fellow, and Presidential fellow through the
Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. In his spare time, he enjoys competing in triathlons, where he raises funds for his projects, and volunteering. One of his professors describes an incident in class where a student, trying to improve the work of another, told him to “Try to Karim it up more.”
Karim's aim is to expand PMP's reach to thousands of students
nationwide. Working out of space donated by Teach for America, he will
devote himself to this project after graduation. One of Karim's referees
wrote, “The way Karim commits his efforts to representing those who are
historically underserved and underrepresented speaks volumes about him
and what he stands for. His efforts on campus earned him Cornell's
Distinguished Leadership Award....” Another of his professors “cites him
at the top of his list of people who will impact our society and
challenge the current way we treat our fellow man.”
Karim thanks the Class of 1964 for believing in him and his work. Once
again, Cornell has produced an outstanding public servant and JFK award
winner.
