Higher Potential
Spring 2021 触听叠测 Nicole Dudenhoefer 鈥�17
As a child of a school counselor, Raven K. Cokley 鈥�13 knew from an early age the tremendous difference counseling can make in students鈥� lives 鈥� and she knew she wanted to help others too.
When the Sarasota, Florida, native enrolled at 激情快播, she studied psychology and planned to become a counseling psychologist, but she ultimately found that, for her, helping others would come in the form of teaching and research. Now a counselor educator at Johns Hopkins University, she helps train future mental health counselors how best to care for students, especially those of color and young Black girls.
鈥淏eing at a university and in the school system as a school-based mental health counseling educator allows me to do what my mother has done,鈥� she says, 鈥渢o show up for students and be a safe space for them on campus.鈥�
Cokley says she always loved school, but she didn鈥檛 realize that working in higher education was where she wanted to be until she became involved with the McNair Scholars Program, a federal initiative that prepares first-generation and underrepresented undergraduate students for doctoral studies.
鈥淢cNair changed my life 鈥� that is where my passion for academia came from,鈥� Cokley says. 鈥淚 knew that I wanted to go to grad school, but I didn鈥檛 necessarily think that I could do academia forever, and I didn鈥檛 realize I could be the professor I was hoping I would see in my classes. McNair helped me to see that it could be me.鈥�
As an undergraduate, the Order of Pegasus recipient says her involvement with McNair 鈥� along with other organizations such as the President鈥檚 Leadership Council, LEAD Scholars, Burnett Honors College, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the 鈥� helped her build a network of support at 激情快播 and a circle of mentors who pushed her to excel beyond her imagination.
While pursuing her master鈥檚 degree in community counseling and a doctorate in counseling and student personnel services at the University of Georgia, Cokley found herself lacking the strong sense of community she once was able to lean on.
So she joined forces with fellow Ph.D. students Lamesha Brown and Jason Wallace to co-found , an online community that helps first-generation students pursuing doctorates navigate the process. Using their insight as successful doctoral graduates, the trio provides guidance on topics 鈥� such as writing personal statements, choosing an advisor and a dissertation topic, and building community within doctoral programs 鈥� to over 9,000 followers on Twitter.
鈥淔or anybody who wants to get any type of doctorate 鈥� not just a Ph.D. 鈥� there鈥檚 this perception that you鈥檙e just supposed to know everything, but that鈥檚 not the case,鈥� Cokley says. 鈥淍FirstGenDocs allows us that safe space, that community to ask those questions, to share those resources and support each other.鈥�
Broadening her vision to serve students, Cokley is also building two nonprofits, Brilliant Black Girl and Counselors for Black Lives, which aim to support and uplift students who are often overlooked both in their potential and needs.
鈥淚 dream of an educational system where Black students 鈥� Black girls in particular 鈥� get to show up as unapologetically Black and brilliant, and where people get to experience the fullness of who we are as people, thinkers and leaders,鈥� Cokley says. 鈥淎nd I think we have so much work to do before that happens.鈥�