Current Scholars Profiles

Abiola Fasehun (Class of 2008)

My four years at Carnegie Mellon University have provided me with tremendous opportunities for personal growth. I look forward to my fifth year and will use this time to help foster a continuing enrichment of Carnegie Mellon women.

Abiola Fasehun is pursuing a double major in Ethics, History, Public Policy and Professional Writing. Abiola’s Fifth Year Scholar Project will be to work with the Women's Center, Gender Issues Programming, and the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs to create a Women’s Leadership Institute. The Women’s Leadership Institute will help to empower Carnegie Mellon women through outreach, diversity, and networking. Throughout Abiola's four years she remained very active in organizations that focused on outreach at Carnegie Mellon and within the Pittsburgh community. Abiola is currently the President of the Pre-Law Society and the Modern Languages Student Advisory Council. During her Fifth year, Abiola will continue to pursue a minor in French and Francophone Studies.

Alicia Pompei (Class of 2008)

It's very surprising to me that during my tenure at Carnegie Mellon, I have increasingly grown to love and enjoy what this campus has to offer. There has never been a moment where I can truly say to myself, 'Okay, that's it, that's all I can do here.' I want to enable that inspiration in others by providing them with the tools they need to stay active in the campus community.

During her time at Carnegie Mellon, Alicia's academic career encompassed a Communication Design BFA with a concentration in Business Management. In the realm of extracurricular activities, Alicia has devoted herself to Student Life and Student Development, as an RA, Pre-Colllege Counselor, and Head Orientation Counselor Role. In her Fifth Year Scholar project, Alicia hopes to marry these experiences and expertise while working with the Student Activities Office to build a strong, reliable, and readily available resource for students who take initiative on campus.

Rosemary Lapka (Class of 2007)

The Fifth Year Scholar program is an excellent opportunity to continue my involvement on campus, create and expand relationships, and test out future career options. I am very thankful for the ability to have more time to develop my interests and give back to the campus community.

Through academics required her to declare a specific design concentration, Rosemary found herself interested in design as a whole and many areas relevant to design, including architecture, business, branding, marketing, and management. Her design career has been defined by a focus on communicating sustainable design and an initiative to work with other disciplines in various projects. These have included studying sustainable architecture at Ecosa Institute in Prescott, AZ, along with designing for the Carnegie Mellon’s 2005 Solar Decathlon team and co-managing the 2007 Carnegie Mellon Solar Decathlon team. She has worked with Carnegie Mellon Green Practices and served as a Teaching Assistant and lecturer numerous times for the Design Department. Her Fifth Year project will continue to focus on using communication to raise awareness about environmental and sustainable issues. Working with the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research, Rosemary will help to craft a marketing and communications plan for the Institute to raise campus and outside community awareness of the innovative environmental academics going on at Carnegie Mellon.

Clayton Barlow-Wilcox (Class of 2007)

As a varsity basketball player, my four years have been dedicated to class and basketball. The fifth year scholar program will finally give me the chance to immerse myself in the CMU community as just a student, and I can finally focus all my attention to the community and furthering my education. I´m so excited for the the chance to continue my studies at CMU. The school has given me so much, and it will be great to give something else back.

As a business administration and Social and Cultural history major, Clayton has had the chance to experience the technical and humanities aspects of CMU. In his fifth year, he hopes to further his education in Political Science and foreign languages. Clayton has spent four years as a varsity basketball player and is excited to contribute to the community in another way besides athletics. He has also been a teaching assistant for a number of communication classes, and hopes that this experience will help with implementing his project. Clayton hopes to create an online forum for CMU study abroad students to contribute information about their experiences abroad. The site will provide a wealth of knowledge for study abroad students to access for years to come.

Darbi Roberts (Class of 2007)

In her first three years at Carnegie Mellon, Darbi hasn't turned down a single chance to enrich her experience. Starting out as an Engineer, switching to Psychology, and then picking up an additional major in European Studies, Darbi has explored quite an array of intellectual disciplines. In her fifth year, she plans to continue this with a small study of music, taking both lessons and music history courses. She has also had an opportunity to be a part of many different communities on campus, including Athletics, Residence Life, the Faith community, and Greek Life. Darbi hopes to be able to aid in the development of strong young leaders in each of these communities through her Fifth Year project. In her project she will work with Forbes House, a first-year living-learning community focused on leadership and civic engagement, to help develop a strong sense of community among promising and aspiring leaders. It is her hopes that by working with enthusiastic, fresh minds, and with the help of both student and faculty mentors, she can help foster a long-term commitment to leadership among those involved in the program.

Michael Szczerban (Class of 2007)

Michael is a student of Information Systems, English, and Creative Writing. He works as a research programmer on tools that support collaborative learning and as a book designer for the University Press, where he helps to publish books of poetry. He also edits The Oakland Review, the school's undergraduate literary journal. Michael hosts "Petrichor," a weekly radio show on WRCT, Carnegie Mellon's radio station. During his fifth year, Michael hopes to broaden his study in the humanities and sciences and to work with Carnegie Mellon and community non-profit organizations to expand mutually beneficial opportunities wherein students contribute time and knowledge while learning in a real-world environment.