Hobart and William Smith Colleges

25 November 2009 Cooney Participates in Charrette

Hobart Alumnus Jeremy Cooney 04 took part in a two-day charrette with 36 students from Syracuse University, Cornell University and the University of Rochester to discuss creative solutions for one of the toughest problems facing Upstate New York: retaining smart, hard-working young people post-graduation.

The charrette titled Work/Play/Stay was an intense, design-based collaborative project that encouraged a select group of college students to constructively discuss and formulate solutions to increase college graduate retention rates in Upstate New York. In preparation for the event, each university selected 12 students from a variety of disciples and schools. The objective was to encourage students to use their diverse perspectives to solve complex, real-world problems creatively and collaboratively.

Work/Play/Stay was held at The Warehouse in Syracuse, N.Y., home to SUs COLAB organization. The Warehouse is essentially the think-tank or collaborative laboratory setting that has hosted several charrettes to date. Syracuse Universitys Walt Whitman School of Management also played an integral part in the event by providing contacts, resources and funding to get Work/Play/Stay underway.

A third-generation Hobart graduate, Cooney graduated with honors in public policy. He was a member of the Druid Society, Chi Phi fraternity and was president of Hobart Student Government. After graduation, Cooney worked at Alumni House and was named manager of campaign leadership of The Campaign for the Colleges. He then graduated from The University of Albany Law School. Cooney was recently appointed as a member of the New York Young Leaders Congress because of his passion for and interest in promoting his home state. He was also selected early in 2009 to serve on the editorial board for the Albany Law Review as its executive editor for symposia.