Alumna Kara Cowdrick ’10 delights in watching former student Alexis Rodriguez-Soriano ’28 join the Elon community.
Kara Cowdrick ’10 remembers the day she met Alexis Rodriguez-Soriano ’28. Shortly after graduating from Elon in 2010 with a degree in education and a minor in Spanish, Cowdrick accepted a job teaching multilingual learners at Chesney Elementary School in Duluth, Georgia. It didn’t take long for her to notice something special about the bright-eyed young man who had emigrated with his family from El Salvador years before.
“He was so vivacious and full of joy,” Cowdrick said. “He loved coming to school every day and learning with his peers.”
A proud member of “Cowdrick’s Crew,” Rodriguez-Soriano also stood out for other reasons. He was strong in math, made the honor roll and emerged as a leader who could be counted on to help fellow students when they were struggling.
“My big thing teaching my fifth graders was that you are part of a team and that you’re not going to be successful alone,” Cowdrick said. “He modeled that beautifully.”
Before Rodriguez-Soriano graduated from high school, Cowdrick wrote him a “senior letter,” as she did for all her former students, congratulating him on his accomplishments and wishing him the best. He wrote back with the news that he’d been accepted to Elon and had received a scholarship in the university’s renowned Odyssey Program, which supports students with significant financial need, including first-generation college students.
“I remember tears welling up in my eyes with pride,” Cowdrick said. “I’d never been so proud to be an Elon alum, knowing that incredible students like Alexis were going to my university. So much of what I learned at Elon was about how to be a teacher for students like him. I’m so proud of him.”
Other reflections followed.
“As a teacher, you never know what kind of impact you’re going to make with students during your time with them. When I heard from Alexis, I realized I was one piece of that support story,” Cowdrick said. “He now gets to have so many Elon experiences that I had, and it makes me more motivated to give students in my classroom everything I have every day.”
Rodriguez-Soriano counts Cowdrick among his favorite teachers growing up. She was known for dressing up as famous figures from history, singing songs and donning her Elon gear each year on Elon Day.
“She made learning come alive,” he said. “I always looked forward to coming to school because I knew it would be an adventure.”
Rodriguez-Soriano was deeply moved by Cowdrick’s letter, along with the photos and videos she sent from his fifth-grade year. It meant a lot to him knowing he would be following in his mentor’s footsteps by attending Elon.
“Every other teacher, once you leave their classroom, you think they forget about you, but Miss Cowdrick kept those memories alive for us,” he said. “She really cared about me and always told me I would do great things. She made you feel you were important and that you were seen.”
The two remain in touch, mostly through social media. Rodriguez-Soriano plans to major in mechanical engineering and spends as much time as possible in Founders Hall in the Innovation Quad, home to Elon’s STEM programs. He’s also a member of the university’s Latino Hispanic Union and Engineering Club.
After 10 years at Chesney Elementary, Cowdrick now serves as an instructional coach at Lilburn Elementary in the Gwinnett County Public Schools outside Atlanta and as adjunct instructor at Mercer University.
“I enjoy the challenge of guiding teachers to give the best instruction they can to their students, yet there are times I miss having my own classroom and making strong personal connections with students and their families,” she said.
Cowdrick regularly draws on the high-impact teaching and mentoring she received from faculty in Elon’s Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education, including Vice President and Professor of Education Emerita Jean Rattigan-Rohr, who retired from the university in 2023. Rattigan-Rohr founded the “It Takes A Village Project,” a successful tutoring initiative for struggling young readers. The Village Project is part of Elon’s Center for Access and Success, which Rattigan-Rohr led and includes the Village Project and Odyssey Program among other initiatives.
“When I think about the educator I want to be, I think of Dr. Rohr,” Cowdrick said. “She was such a collaborator and made everyone understand that it really does take a village to be successful. I carry that into the classroom. I think what am I doing to collaborate and how can I be solution-oriented instead of saying, ‘that’s a problem for someone else.’ If we all just do the little things, it can make a big impact on society.”
Rattigan-Rohr agrees.
“In learning about Kara and her student, the imagery that comes to mind is the act of skipping a stone on the water and watching the ripples build and keep going,” said Rattigan-Rohr. “This feels like a perfect metaphor for teaching and mentoring. I am delighted to see how these ripples keep going on and on.”