Scholar Success

Act Six scholars are succeeding and thriving on campus and in their communities at home. More than 90% of scholars who began the program are still enrolled or graduated, and scholar surveys show high levels of satisfaction with personal, academic and overall Act Six experience.

Even more, Act Six scholars are engaging and demonstrating leadership all across the campus and in their home communities. The following provide just a sampling:

• Holy Chea, Whitworth Cadre One Graduate (B.A. Communication), served for three years as program assistant at Northwest Leadership Foundation’s ProTeen Evening Center, providing positive alternatives to detention for court-involved youth in Tacoma. Holy was recently recruited by the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, where he now directs the Youth Against Violence Initiative and provides leadership to the Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Board.
• Delia Orosco, Whitworth Cadre One Graduate (B.A. Elementary Education, magna cum laude, M.Ed. University of Arizona), taught for two years in high poverty schools in Phoenix through Teach for America while earning her Master’s in Education.   She returned this year to Tacoma, where she provides college advocacy for students at Lincoln and Henry Foss high schools as an Upward Bound instructor.
• Daniel Bacon, Whitworth Cadre One Graduate (B.A. International Studies), served for three years as an AmeriCorps and VISTA member at the Peace Community Center in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood, where he tutors and provides advocacy for neighborhood high school students.  He now works full time at the Community Center as director of alumni support.  He is one of seven alumni to have given a year of service through AmeriCorps.
• Sarah Mabini, Whitworth Cadre One Graduate (B.S. Biology, magna cum laude), graduated magna cum laude and coordinated a diabetes research laboratory at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York for two years before enrolling in the Physician Assistant Master's Degree program at Methodist University in North Carolina.
• Nissana Nov, Whitworth Cadre Two Graduate (B.A. Cross-Cultural Studies, cum laude, M.A. Columbia University), served as the president of Whitworth’s International Club and was named a Weyerhaeuser Scholar in the Sociology and Political Science departments.  After a year of service on the Act Six staff as an AmeriCorps member, she recently completed a Master’s in Social Work at Columbia University.
• Denice Randle, Whitworth Cadre Two Graduate (B.A. English, M.A.T. Pacific Lutheran University), became the first Act Six alumna to earn a master’s degree and is now teaching at Tacoma’s Henry Foss High School as a College Bound instructor for Metropolitan Development Council.
• Luan Ly, Whitworth Cadre Two Graduate (B.A. International Business), after studying business in Chongqing, China and completing internships at World Vision and the Port of Tacoma is now living and teaching English in China.
  
• Obe Quarless, Whitworth Cadre Three Graduate (B.A. Music), was the second Act Six scholar to be elected president of the Associated Students of Whitworth University (ASWU) in the last three years.  He is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Steel Drum Performance at Northern Illinois University.
• Emmanuel Bofa, Whitworth Cadre Four Graduate (B.A. Communication), won the 2008 and 2009 NCAA Division III national championships in the 800 meter dash.  He is currently pursuing  Masters in Theology at Whitworth while serving as a campus ministry intern.
• Kyle Kim, Whitworth Cadre Five Graduate (B.A. Journalism), served for two years as a reporter and editor for Whitworth’s award-winning campus newspaper, completed a summer internship at the Los Angeles Daily News, and spent a year studying journalism in Australia.
• Danjuma Quarless, Whitworth Cadre Four Graduate (B.S. Bioinformatics, Computational Biology and Mathematics), was awarded a McDonald’s Biological Research Scholarship and won a coveted fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Summer Research Experience for Undergraduate Students, earning perfect scores from all judges in the culminating Medical Poster Competition. His currently pursuing a fully-funded Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at U.C. San Diego, the nation’s leading research institution in his field.
• Benjameen Quarless, Whitworth Cadre Five Philosophy Major, was selected from more than 1,000 applicants to participate in the 2011 Freedom Ride, a 10-day bus journey that retraced the route taken by the original freedom riders of 1961.  The ride was organized by PBS’ American Experience to mark the 50th anniversary of the original rides and to coincide with the debut of the Freedom Riders documentary film.