Baker and Cook Fellowship
Annual Fellowship Sponsored by Atomic Object
The Baker and Cook Fellowship will help support a graduating senior BIPOC student who is enrolled in a high school in Washtenaw County who intends to major in Computer Science or is currently enrolled in Computer Science courses in high school.
Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students are chronically underrepresented in STEM careers. Many systemic factors play into this reality, including that people of color tend not to have a pre-existing professional network to support them throughout and after their STEM education. By founding this fellowship, we intend to build a bridge from our organization to these individuals to provide this support.
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From 1920 to 1972 the Ann Arbor Foundry operated at 1327 Jones Drive in Ann Arbor. It began as a co-operative for a group of displaced foundry workers, with an unlikely pair of co-owners: Charlie Baker, an orphan whose forebears fled to Canada to escape slavery in the U.S., and Tom Cook, a Jewish refugee from Czarist Russia.
Baker and Cook also supported each other’s causes. Minutes from a 1950's Ann Arbor Foundry meeting record Baker moving to give money to the United Jewish Appeal, while Cook moved to give funds to the Dunbar Center, a forerunner of the Ann Arbor Community Center. Cook was believed to be the first local contributor to the United Negro College Fund.
It is in this spirit of community inclusion and connection that we’ve named our fellowship after Charlie Baker and Tom Cook.
The Fellowship
What will this fellowship involve?
WEEKLY EXPECTATIONS
- 4 hours of work per week (35 weeks per year) with Atomic Object
- Work centered around weekly 30-minute 1:1 check-in
- Work can be identified and allocated based on need shown in the 1:1 check-ins
WORK TO BE PERFORMED MAY INCLUDE:
- Studying
- 1:1 mentoring with a software engineer or company executive
- Additional ad-hoc work for additional pay
- Academic planning
- Following a curriculum focused on College Success
- Job shadowing
- Participating in technical projects with Atomic
CAREER DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
Each year in the Fall, Atomic can provide assistance in job/internship search including:
- Resume Review
- Interview Prep
- Job posting review
- Job offer negotiation
- Career Planning
The fellowship will purposefully not run in the summer months to encourage participants to take advantage of the opportunity to intern elsewhere.
Application & Selection Process
Application Process
To apply for this fellowship, you’ll need to provide the following as a part of your application:
- Transcript
- Essay Response
- Needs-based questions showing income level (ex: access to the National School Lunch Program, approximate income level of the family)
Atomic will use our hiring portal to collect the transcripts, essay responses, responses to needs-based questions, and to schedule in-person interviews. All application submissions will be evaluated according to our scoring system.
For further details, and to find the essay prompts, click the “Apply Now” button above.
Selection Process
Following the submissions, Atomic will do a blind review of all applications.
We will select 4 top candidates who will schedule a 30-minute interview with the selection committee. The interview scores will be averaged and added to the candidate’s tally of points. GPA will be evaluated between finalists during this stage.
The merit portion comprises 60% of the final score and is based on the essay submission, interview, and overall quality of the application. Need-based documents will comprise 40% of each candidates’ final score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why a fellowship and not a scholarship?
As part-time employment, income from the fellowship does not need to be reported to the institution of higher learning and will not affect other ongoing scholarships or grants.
We also believe that a fellowship better serves our goals of providing academic support, job hunting orientation, and a professional network than a one-off scholarship.
Who is eligible?
Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color (BIPOC) graduation senior currently enrolled in a high school in Washtenaw County, intending to major in Computer Science or currently enrolled in Computer Science courses in high school.
Who is administering the fellowship?
Atomic Object will manage the fellowship. Participants in the fellowship have the opportunity to be employees of Atomic Object. The funds earned through the fellowship may be spent on participant-determined priorities. These priorities may be academic or they may be personal.
Important Contacts:
- Dylan Goings, dylan.goings@atomicobject.com
- Jonah Bailey, jonah.bailey@atomicobject.com
Fellowship Selection Committee:
- Dylan Goings
Diversity
Atomic is a place of respect, support, and friendship—where every person can be their genuine self. We’re working hard to build a diverse and inclusive team and to create rewarding careers for all of our employees.
