Cortez Alexander
Title: Student Representative/Communications Committee
Childhood Dream: To be a scientist and find a cure for AIDS
Cortez Alexander graduated from Michele Clark Magnet High School on Chicago’s Westside. While in high school, he served in various leadership positions ranging from president to vice-president and even held an ambassadorial role in his school. He served as vice-president of his class both junior and senior year. While in this position, he and his class government lead a class of one-hundred and sixty seven seniors to change the culture and climate of the school. In addition, he served as his school’s International Baccalaureate Ambassador where he coordinated and spoke at meetings regarding the I.B. Program and its implementation inside his high school.
Cortez is a leader who does not mind learning new things. He is trained in leadership by “The School for International Training” in Brattleboro, VT; while there he completed 40 hours of professional development while specifically focusing on dialogue facilitation with youth in conflict regions. He has also been featured in an article by an organizations, World Learning, as being a youth who promotes international development. In addition to this, he is also trained in workshop design and intercultural communication. Cortez has been featured on CNN regarding his role in changing perceptions of youth from Iraq. He finds it fascinating that in the global society we have today, many remain unaware of the different cultures around it and so he created a blog titled “Breaking Perceptions” which is dedicated to enhancing international understanding between countries.
In addition, he was a Dreams For Kids: Dream Leader and served as a Dream Leader Facilitator in 2009. During his senior year, Cortez accumulated over 300 community service hours, which ranged from public speaking to interacting with underrepresented youth in Chicago. Due to his volunteerism, he now acts as Student Representative on the Dreams For Kids Board of Directors. Cortez brings a network of individuals who are passionate about changing the world. In addition, he volunteers with an organization named “World Chicago” where he serves as the International Youth Ambassador, in this position, his duty is to interact with all international youth delegations. These delegations come from different countries such as Iraq, Serbia, and the United Kingdom. With these different organizations, he has learned various skills, such as public speaking, leadership development, and cross-cultural communication.
Consequently, Cortez has decided to devote the rest of his life to International Relations. He recently attended Seton Hall University to study Diplomacy and International Relations.