2013 Scholarship Finalists

Alexandra Cochran
Cypress Creek High School

Despite family ties to Big Ten country in Michigan, most of Alexandra Cochran's friends assumed she would be heading to the University of Texas. Her father Kip had adopted the Longhorns after moving his family to the Lone Star State when Alexandra was very young and when it came to college choices, mother Kim preferred to have her only child close to home.

A friend told Alexandra to keep an open mind. Actually, what he said was something along the lines of, "You have to see OU!"

What she saw of the University of Oklahoma campus and its people in Norman on Junior Day, as well as what she saw on her visit to the Texas campus in Austin, left little doubt in Alexandra's mind that she was destined to be a Sooner.

"OU had that homey aspect that UT doesn't have," Alexandra says. "UT scared me."

Say what?

"I saw the grim reaper looking at me through my window when I was in Austin," Cochran explains in a figurative sense. "It was a horrible experience. The university was not what I was looking for."

UT's loss is OU's gain.

Cochran graduated magna cum laude from Cypress Creek High School. She was a member of National Honor Society, a cheerleader and even lettered on the Cy Creek varsity golf team as a freshman. Back problems forced her off the golf course but did not diminish her zeal to stay active and engaged.

Involvement in her schools' Special People Assisting Remarkable Kids program sparked Alexandra's passion to help others. She served as president of the organization, which assists students with special needs, her senior year.

Given that experience, Alexandra seemed certain to pursue a speech pathology degree in college, but she's had a change of heart.

For many years, Alexandra was an accomplished young dancer and figure skater, but the rigors of those pursuits ultimately caused her extreme and chronic back problems. Finally, during the winter of her senior year of high school, a surgical procedure dramatically reduced her pain and she is grateful for the relief.

"Like my doctor, I want to be able to make people feel better," Alexandra says. "I don't think I want to do surgeries, so, I'm planning to go the physical therapy route."

The good news for Alexandra’s future patients is that she’s about as far removed from a “grim-reaper” type as one could ever hope to find.