A Sullivan Scholar and 2009 graduate, Hollis Wong-Wear is a poet, songwriter, creative producer and lead vocalist in the electronic R&B band, The Flavr Blue. In addition to her work as an artist, Wong-Wear is a manager, community leader, and businesswoman. Her dedication to education, the arts, youth, social justice and empowerment issues have led her into public service, serving on the boards of the Seattle Center Advisory Commission, the Seattle Music Commission, and 4Culture, King County’s public art agency. She earned a 2014 Grammy nomination for Album of the Year for her vocal performance of “White Walls” on The Heist by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
Seattle University’s Outstanding Recent Alumna recipient, Shasti Conrad, ’07, is a rising star who cites both the Sullivan Scholars and Honors programs as the highlight of Seattle U. Following graduation, she became a field organizer for Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign and joined President Obama’s first class of White House interns. She parlayed that internship into a full-time role in the West Wing with Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to the president. Shasti now serves as State Committeewoman to the Washington State Democratic Party for the 37th Legislative District. Committed to Seattle University, Shasti has been a mentor to other Sullivan Scholars, students and alumni.
From his first quarter, Braden Wild has been making an impact. Wild became involved in student government and helped Seattle U become the first university in the Pacific Northwest to be fair trade certified. By invitation from faculty from Albers and the College of Science and Engineering, Wild accompanied a group of faculty and students to Nicaragua to examine the quality of the coffee, do a water filtration project and review economic research on fair trade vs. non-fair trade coffee. Wild served as the student representative for Students with Disabilities for two years and as Vice President of University Affairs.