Cameron Cole was born on the south side of Chicago to Chantal and Ronald Cole. Growing up, his parents instilled in him the age old adage of hard work leads to success. He learned that confidence in himself was the key to his future and remembers his mother standing with him in the mirror and saying “your future is as bright as the sun.” This would be his primary driving force moving forward.
In kindergarten, Cameron attended the University of Chicago Charter School North Kenwood Oakland campus; this is what sparked his intellectual curiosity. From a young age, his parents saw that he excelled in math and the sciences and as result, he knew he wanted to do something that dealt with these subjects. His first experience with engineering began at the University of Chicago’s Digital Media Academy building robots, bridges, and bottle rockets. From there, his love of engineering only grew. Being accepted into the Kenwood Academy Gifted and Talented Center in seventh grade allowed him to pursue his high school education at an accelerated rate (being in high school classes in seventh grade) and gave him a better opportunity to study what he loved most.
While school was essential in building his foundation, it was what Cameron did outside of the classroom that has far reaching effects on the person he is today. Continuing with his engineering focus, he joined the Pre-Freshman Program in Engineering and Science (PREP) sponsored by Chicago State University and the National Society of Black Engineers. Here, he gained many hands on experiences with in field he would one day call his own. With this experience, he eventually attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MIT MITES) summer program after his junior year. While this program pushed him to his academic limits, he emerged from the six week intensive program ready to take on any challenge presented before him.
Outside of his career focus, Cameron has been has a heavy focus on community service. Living on the south side of Chicago, he understood the need for change on a personal level as he saw this need on a daily basis. To service his community, he serves as President of the Kenwood Brotherhood, a male mentoring organization within his high school that enriches young males. In addition, he also volunteers through his local National Honor Society chapter and even tutors students during his mornings.
In his future, Cameron hopes to merge these two halves of his life, engineering and community service, in a career that will allow him to apply the math and science he loves to give back to the community he has come from.
