Editor’s Note:  Jonathan wrote it.  Heather posted it.

Hello faithful readers of the blog… or maybe future readers…
My name is Jonathan Clarke, and I was born at Durham Regional Hospital a little over 22 years ago. Although I have traveled all over the US, I still enjoy and find myself drawn back to Durham. I started off my college life at Durham Tech at 16 when I was enrolled in their high school credit / college credit program where I took 2 college classes each semester till I graduated high school in 2005. I went on for another year at DTCC to obtain my Associate of Applied Science in Electronics Engineering Technology in 2006. From that point I decided to take a trip up to Anchorage, Alaska where I spent a little over 2 months going from having no connections, jobs, or money and eating 1 meal a day at the soup kitchen, to securing a management position at local movie theater, ending up buying a new snowboard and ski clothing, and spending 5 days up on the slope where I had the run of the mountain. After Alaska, I enrolled into North Carolina A&T State University in the Electronics and Computers Technology department where I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 4.0 GPA in 2009.

While finishing up my senior project “Boost Converter: Guidelines for Boost Converter PCB Layout” I ran across a Facebook notification about summer interns at DurhamCares for the upcoming summer. I had 3 other companies I was talking to for a job, but the idea of working with a successful entrepreneur, in a young small company really sparked my interest, and I sent an e-mail to Henry asking for some more information. Long story short I did decide to come and work with DurhamCares and fully enjoy the work that I am doing for the community and advancing my business skills.

My role here at DurhamCares is working on a comprehensive business and operational plan for future replication of the DurhamCares model to other cities. Also I am working on a video interview initiative, which involves interviewing business and community leaders of Durham and getting them to express their story in order to further help the citizens of Durham connect with the leaders in a more personal and informational way.

For my future plans I am currently studying for the GMAT where I want to apply for Business School later this fall. My top choices are MIT: Sloan School of Business, University of Pennsylvania: Wharton School, University of Chicago: Booth, and UNC - Chapel Hill: Kenan-Flagler. After B-School my plan will be starting a small tech company dealing with new product development in embedded systems.

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