Younass Mohamed Barkouch

Younass Mohamed Barkouch is a first-generation college student and the eldest of five children to Moroccan immigrants who came to the United States to pursue the American Dream. He is a product of the Jersey City public school system and a proud alumnus of Dr. Ronald E. McNair's Academic high school. Younass attended Rutgers University as an Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) scholar and earned his Bachelors of Science from Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and School of Arts and Sciences. Younass competed as an NCAA Division I student-athlete on both the Cross Country and Track & Field team while also serving as a mentor and the pre-medical field leader for the Rutgers Educational and Athletic Development Initiative (READI), a student-run organization created to provide academic, professional, and athletic support to student-athletes in STEM. READI’s success inspired Younass to work with McNair alumni to start Alumnor Mentoring, an alumni-run mentoring organization designed to provide juniors and seniors guidance through the college application process to improve college readiness and help identify internship and volunteering opportunities to enhance professional development. Younass participated in the Alan Grossman Interdisciplinary Research Team Fellowship and received funding to investigate educational equity and factors contributing to educational inequity in Jersey City public high schools. His research provided him quantitative insight on the district and motivated him to run for a seat on the Jersey City Board of Education.