Student Spotlight: Gregory Hatchett

Gregory Hatchett, a Junior at Rauner College Prep, has been with Cabrini Connections since the 7^th grade. He’s currently paired up with longtime volunteer Mike Jozwik. Gregory is certain that he wants to go to college after he graduates and even knows where: Mississippi State University. He is very excited at the prospect of attending a historically black college, and not only because he won’t have to deal with the Chicago winters anymore! He’s learned a lot about the University from his cousin who is currently a student there and knows that it will be a great place to prepare for his two potential career paths: graphic design or law (at this point he’s undecided). Gregory has loved to draw for as long as he can remember and continues to fill notebook after notebook with his signature mix of graffiti and Japanese anime stylings. He’s been actively involved with the art club over the past few years, which has helped him to hone his craft outside of the countless hours he spends on his own working on his art. In fact his artwork has graced the walls of numerous Chicago-area galleries through his participation in our Annual Cabrini Connections Art and Film Festival. Eventually, he hopes to use his talents to make his own series of comic books, inspired by some of his favorites such as classic DC comics such as spiderman and superman.

On the other hand, if Gregory decides to commit himself to studying law, he hopes to eventually be able to help people coming from low-income neighborhoods like Cabrini Green navigate the IRS’ complex webs of tax code. He realizes that these individuals often don’t have the resources to hire accountants to help them identify the various tax breaks and loopholes that that may qualify for and that consequently, these individuals often are shouldered with unfair tax burdens. He is also considering injury law because he has experienced firsthand the need for lawyers in low-income communities to help people with injuries and disabilities fight for their rights to fair compensation and not be intimidated, like his father was, into working while injured. Cabrini Connections salutes Gregory and his desire to help others! Hopefully his desires will become a reality and we can stay in contact throughout his college years and as he enters the working world!

Student Spotlight: Marquita Fisher

Chicago Hope Academy 9th grader Marquita Fisher has been in our program since she graduated from her YMCA mentoring program and started here as a 7th grader back in 2006. At her YMCA program, she was paired up with Kiera Kelly. Referring to their first few mentoring sessions, Marquita explains “we clicked right away—she understood me”. Luckily their relationship grew strong enough that when Marquita’s K-6 program at the YMCA ended, Kiera agreed to stay with her and work together at Cabrini Connections where they continue to build their mentoring relationship to this day. In Marquita’s 8th grade year, she and Kiera discussed what high school she should attend. After attending LaFayette Elementary School on the west side it would have been easy for her to attend her neighborhood school, Manley. However, Kiera encouraged her to strive to attend the best possible high school she could, so she ended up applying and gaining admission to Chicago Hope Academy, a private college prep school blocks from where she stays on the West side.

The shift to the more rigorous workload of a college prep school like Chicago Hope Academy was difficult at first, particularly in math, but with Kiera’s encouragement, Marquita has been staying after school and working with her teachers to ensure she understands all the material and gets all her work done on time.

However, Marquita realizes that all this hard work is for a purpose. After graduating High School she intends to enroll in an out-of-state university and study psychology or social work. She has known for a while that she wants to do some sort of counseling for a career since she often finds herself counseling her friends and family through difficult times. Through relating other people’s struggles with her own, Marquita finds that she can relate with people well, both youth and adults. She hopes that eventually she can use this gift to help others cope with difficult situations as a professional counselor. Just this past week in the Cabrini Connections College Zone, Marquita and Kiera met with our own college zone advisors Carla and Stephanie to discuss the wide variety of careers that she could explore that involve counseling others through difficult times.

When not exploring careers or working on school projects, Marquita and Kiera enjoy spending time together outside of our Wed night tutoring sessions. For example, they always celebrate their birthdays, which are only 2 days apart, June 21st and June 19th respectively, by going out on the town together. In the past they’ve gone to Dave and Busters, Six Flags, Safari Land, and all sorts of other fun places where they can enjoy each others company. Since Marquita describes herself as a “cool, outgoing person that likes to have fun”, they surely have a great time. Once again, congratulations Marquita on earning the student spotlight. Keep up the great work!

Student Spotlight: Josue Roque

Salazar Elementary seventh-grader Josue Roque has been with our program for just a couple months but he has already distinguished himself by his respectful demeanor and perfect attendance. Upon joining the program, he has met with his mentor, Rajul Shah, every single week, bringing homework and working productively each and every time. Lately they’ve been working on a debate project and studying for his constitution test, which he must pass to graduate. Though he acknowledges that he will have to study a lot more, he’s been feeling much more confident recently after working through it with Rajul. Speaking about his mentor, Josue states “I think he’s helped me a lot, he’s a great mentor and he makes sure that everything he does, I’m sure about. He doesn’t just give me the answers, he makes sure that I get everything and don’t miss anything.”

Josue is a very well-rounded student. Though his favorite class at school is language arts and social studies, mainly because he likes his teacher’s style of relating to the students, his real passions lie in math and science. In fact, Josue was selected by his math and science teachers as one of 3 7th graders in the entire school that will have the opportunity to attend a 2 week long math and science summer camp at Northern Illinois University. There, they will be working on experiments in real research laboratories at NIU, which he is very excited about.

When he’s not studying, Josue enjoys playing football and soccer in his neighborhood park down in Little Village, which he plans to do a lot of this summer. He also plans to help out at his school to see if they need his help cleaning or with odds and ends this summer. However, his highlight of the year is always when his family travels down to Ciudad Juarez on the US-Mexico border to visit his extended family who still live in Mexico. After his 8th grade year, he hopes to attend either Whitney Young, or Cristo Rey high schools. He’s particularly interested in Cristo Rey because there, he believes he will “learn how to be responsible, get jobs at real companies and work off the tuition”, through their innovative Corporate Internship Program. This program allows low-income students to earn 65% of the cost of their education by working five full days each month in entry-level positions at corporations in downtown Chicago such as Deloitte & Touche, JP Morgan Chase and Loyola University Health System. Even as a seventh-grader, it’s clear that Josue is thinking about his future in a very real and engaged way. We’re looking forward to working with him and Rajul to help his dreams become a reality. Congratulations Josue!

Student Spotlight: Arden Harris

Don't be surprised if you start hearing a lot more about seventh grader Arden Harris in the coming years. She's got the talent, the passion and the dedication to make it big in whatever she applies herself to accomplish. She's friendly, mature and not afraid to put herself in unfamiliar situations so she can grow as a person. For instance, for the past 2 years she has attended a three week long sleep-away camp in Carthage, Wisconsin. Kids of all ages come to this camp to work on developing their theater skills with other students. At the end, they put on elaborate productions such as "You Can't Take It With You" starring Arden herself.

Arden also attends Camp Pinewood, which is a little more rustic. At Camp Pinewood, Arden and a group of other kids rough it in the middle of the woods, building their own fires, practicing their archery and rock climbing while also working on their dance skills and other talents.

As you can probably tell, Arden has a passion for the arts. In fact, she has her own hip hop group, where she sings and dances with 2 friends. Inspired by her favorite artist Ciara, she wants to make it as a performer. To accomplish this goal she practices singing and dancing every single day as well as practices the piano multiple times a week!

Arden also works on her dance skills on the Cheerleading team, which is a lot of work, particularly when they are preparing for competitions as they are now. She'll stay in performing shape this spring by playing soccer for her school team for the second year in a row!

Arden and her mentor Fran Fritzmann work together to ensure Arden's grades stay high and never go below the A's and B's she knows she can work to achieve. She and Fran have been working together for years. They were paired up at Cabrini Green Tutoring Program and have been working together ever since. This stability has permitted Fran to get to know Arden's family and work with her mom to ensure Arden's success in the coming years

Discussing her drive to succeed Arden says: "I've seen what happens when you don't push yourself to success, and if I don't push myself, who's gonna push me? I wanna have a great future and it's never too early to worry about your future.” Congratulations Arden, your student spotlight feature is long overdue!

Student Spotlight: Cazimir (Cazzy) Ozuruigbo, Kaylin Patton, Donald Stewart and Elijah Wilson

This year, the Cabrini Connections tech club has benefited from the influx of some young and enthusiastic students, 6th and 7th graders Cazimir (Cazzy) Ozuruigbo, Kaylin Patton, Donald Stewart and Elijah Wilson. Though Kaylin heard out about our program first, he quickly spread the word to his friends and soon all 4 had joined and have had nearly 100% attendance at Tech club ever since. Over the past few months since the boys first started here at Cabrini Connections, they have learned enough HTML, which is a language used to describe web pages that web browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox can understand, to build their own personal websites from scratch. That is, through working with Steve and Vjeko they are learning to read and write this complex markup language used by web designers all around the world.

Though they have only been at it a few months, they have already used their knowledge to build functional websites, which contain everything from Cazzy’s Views and Rates, which allows users to watch and rate a wide variety of videos, to Donald’s site which contains videogame ratings and movie clips. At this point Elijah is working on a chatting website that is inspired by facebook. Kaylin on the other hand is more concerned with having a one-stop-shop for the best and most up-to-date videogame cheat codes. Regardless of the content, it’s clear that through their participation in our tech club, these youth are engaging with technology in a way that few other inner-city youth can. In tech club, students are closely advised by professional video game developer Steve Pawlick and our expert eLearning and Technology Coordinator Vjeko Hlede, who through one-on-one and group instruction, work with the youth to build their skills and familiarize them with principles of web design and content management systems, such as the ones used at colleges around the world. All the students agree that if it weren’t for their participation in tech club, they would not be designing their own websites or thinking about future careers in web design, a growing and very lucrative career field.

Now the students are putting their skills to use by creating a website to advertise our Annual Year-End Dinner, which will be held on June 4th at 1111 N Wells. This website will help us to maximize attendance at our year end culminating event that brings together past, present and future students, volunteers and staff along with their families for an evening of celebration and entertainment. Thanks Cazzy, Kaylin, Donald and Elijah for all your hard work and your help in making this year’s Year-End Dinner the best yet!

Student Spotlight: Dominique Dobbs

Dominique is a Senior at Lincoln Park High School and is in her third year with Cabrini Connections. For as long as she can remember, people have been coming to her seeking advice. She has always enjoyed helping her friends and acquaintances work through difficult relationships, family situations or other problems. For this reason, among others, she has known since she entered high school that she wanted to be a psychologist. Since she has a profound desire to help others, particularly those like herself who have had to deal with difficult family situations such as paternal abandonment, she wants to continue her schooling and be trained to do marriage and family counseling. This desire to work with families also stems from the fact that she grew up as the second oldest of 8 children...all of whom are girls! Therefore she has lots of experience negotiating complex family dynamics which will undoubtedly be of assistance in her future career.

Recently, she’s been working with her mentor, Christine Nielsen, to figure out her postgraduate plans. Right now she is completing her personal statements and finishing up her college applications with help from our College Assistance Program counselors, Carla and Stephanie.

This year has marked a turning point for Dominique as she’s really been buckling down and concentrating on her studies so that she’s the most attractive possible applicant for college. In fact, her last report card was the first time she’d ever received all B’s, which is a testament to how hard she and her mentor have been working lately! She also was the first student to bring in a large number of report cards for our recent effort to get all our students to bring in their grade cards so we can examine the impact that involvement with our program is having on our students’ academic performance. Bringing in a whopping 7 cumulative report cards, she earned over $60 dollars for her Cabrini Connections scholarship fund as well as a free bicycle, complete with a lock and safety helmet! Because she was the first of our students to bring in her report cards, we used her example to encourage other students to do likewise.

To cope with the struggles she faces she turns to writing poetry and song lyrics as well as art, her favorite subject at school. She also enjoys going to the movies. Dominique is definitely a ‘people-person’ and for this reason, she says “The best thing about Cabrini Connections is that it’s a place to meet new people with many different personalities. At Cabrini Connections everybody connects in their own way.” Congratulations Dominique, we are glad to see that you are so motivated to succeed and we will do our best to help ensure that you achieve your goals!

Student Spotlight: Akeim Phipps

This week we’d like to draw some attention to one of our Freshmen students, Akeim Phipps, who is in his second year with the program. Akeim originally came to us last year after his friend Deral Willis recommended the program to him. Unfortunately his first two tutors, Kyle and Jeremy were forced to end their involvement with the program after moving due to their careers. This year, Akeim has been working with first year Mike Ozmeral, Vice President of Reyes Holdings. Over the past few months, Mike and Akeim (pictured above) have spent a lot of time together working on homework, usually a mix of algebra and work from his computing class. They also play Scrabble and Upwords as a vocabulary building exercise, though Akeim prefers that they play Chicago, which is the best version of monopoly ever played, using famous landmarks from his hometown.

Akeim currently attends Prosser Career Academy where his favorite class is Spanish. He chose to enroll in Spanish because he finds it to be a far more useful language for his day to day life, certainly more so than French, his other option. Since his school is a career academy, he has the option of entering one of six selective career clusters, each with numerous specialties. He chose graphic design and will soon find out whether he is accepted or not. Akeim thinks that this will be useful for his dream career of video game designer/programmer. In fact, Akeim hopes to attend a technical school such as DeVry University upon high school graduation to further pursue his studies. Since he has been passionate about video games for a while, and is constantly thinking about new games or ways to improve games that are currently on the market, Akeim is very interested in potentially exploring this passion as a career. If he were to gain some video game development skills he has been working on some ideas for potential games that he’d like to design, including some improvements on the current Dragonball Z game and a brand new game based on a Japanese Anime series called Fighting Foodons.

Despite keeping a low profile at tutoring, Akeim had over 90% attendance last quarter. Akeim’s dedication to the program week-in and week-out resulted in a free trip to Six Flags this past summer where Akeim joined other students with excellent attendance last year for a full day of roller coasters, waterslides and arcade games last July. If he keeps up his great attendance this year, he’ll be able to attend our yearly trip once again. He has also taken advantage of additional enrichment opportunities such as a recent job shadowing day with Lawyer, Kate Pomper at her non-profit firm: Business and Professional People for the Public Interest. With this type of commitment to his future, we have no doubts Akeim is destined for excellence! Congratulations!

Student Spotlight: Melissa Young

Josephinum High School Freshman Melissa Young has been with her mentor, Elena for 2 years now and things just keep getting better and better. In fact, the two of them spend quite a bit of time together outside of tutoring, often hanging out at Elena’s house or going out with friends and fellow Cabrini Connections students Jon’nita Blake and Ashanti Roby. One of their favorite things to do is just chill and watch scary movies such as the recent horror flick, Jeepers Creepers 2. Other times they’ll go out to eat or to the movies, or occasionally even go skating, which they both really enjoy.

Like many students, it took Melissa a bit of searching to find the right high school for her. However, in the end she decided on Josephinum Academy and is quite happy she did. Even though they’re fairly strict (i.e. they require uniforms, have harsh attendance and detention policies…etc.) she’s glad to be at a small, Catholic, all girls academy. Her favorite subjects there are Literature and Spanish and her most challenging course is Religion. Although she comes from a Christian upbringing, she finds religion class difficult because it requires stepping back from her own belief system and opening herself up to the huge range of religions that exist in the world. However, she has brought her grade up from an F to a C and is working with her mentor to improve her grade even more.

When not at Cabrini Connections or Josephinum, you can usually find Melissa playing basketball with the boys, which she’s done since 7th grade. She also enjoys swimming, although she doesn’t get the opportunity to do it as often now that the New City YMCA on Halsted closed down. She also enjoys writing poetry and drawing to express her feelings and emotions. She started doing this after seeing the way her friend Destiny would draw when she got angry in order to get her feelings out and calm down. Melissa has found both drawing and poetry to be great ways of dealing with her frustrations and actually plans on putting her poetry into music, since she’s an avid singer. Next year she plans on joining the choir at school and working on her voice to accomplish this goal. Since she is also a member of the Cabrini Connections tech club, perhaps she’ll find a way to use technology to combine her multiple interests into one multimedia project involving her voice, her poetry and her drawings. Either way, don’t stop dreaming Melissa, you’re destined for great things!

Student Spotlight: Yolanda Hyles

This week Yolanda Hyles will be gracing the page of our Student Spotlight in honor of her recent academic accomplishments and all the hard work she continues to put into her studies. At present, Yolanda, a sophomore at Manley Career Academy, is 8th out of 327 students in her class! This means that Yolanda is one of the top 10 most accomplished sophomores at Manley! Congrats!

To achieve such excellent grades, Yolanda has been hard at work with her mentor, Molly Shah, working on everything from U.S. History to her graphic design class. Her biggest struggle is Chemistry, where Molly is trying to push her to earn the As that they both know she can get. Through working together over the past 2 years both inside our center and out Molly and Yolanda have developed a strong and supportive relationship. In Yolanda’s own words: “Molly’s stayed with me, made me stay focused on homework…she’s the reason why I’m in the top 10 instead of just playin’ around”.

Yolanda and Molly have met inside and outside of our center, building a well balanced relationship that is a mix of work and play. For instance, they have gone bowling together, eaten dinner at restaurants like Ed Debevic’s and Galleria Marchetti. For Yolanda, what originally drew her to Cabrini Connections is the fact that it’s fun! She likes the fact that we “go a lot of places.” Her favorite outing is our yearly summer trip to Six Flags for students with over 80% attendance the prior year. She’s also enjoyed attending some of our college trips, where we arrange private tours of colleges and universities to give the students the opportunity to learn first-hand about the campus, the classes and the student life of schools like DePaul, Chicago State, Westwood and Illinois Institute of Technology.

Although she’s only a sophomore, Yolanda is already thinking about her future. In the coming years, she hopes to attend Clark-Atlanta University, where she will study business. After that she’s thinking she will go on to cosmetology school and open her own hair and nail salon. Luckily, Yolanda has been working hard to keep her grades up and, if she stays on track, should be on track to follow her dreams!

The great thing is that now she’s not alone. In fact, in a recent interview for a mentor appreciation video, Yolanda, slightly nervous, but still confident explained: “Molly is my tutor. She’s my best friend. She’s like the best friend I ever had. She knows what to say when I’m up and when I’m down.” With friends like Molly, Yolanda can’t be stopped. Congratulations and keep up the great work!

Student Spotlight: Christian Palacios

This week we're proud to put one of our brightest, most promising students, Christian Palacios, in the Student Spotlight. Christian recently received some fantastic news. After scoring a nearly perfect 985/1000 on his High School Admissions rubric, he was extended offers of admission to Lincoln Park High School, Lane Tech and Whitney Young Magnet School, three of the best high schools in Chicago. After much debate, he decided to attend Whitney Young, where he will continue to prepare for a career in medicine, ideally as an anesthesiologist. Despite being in 8th grade, Christian has big dreams for the future. He's already planning on attending the University of Chicago to continue his preparations for medical school.

Christian and his mentor Mike Hayes realize that it's never too soon to be thinking about his future. For this reason, Christian has been attending the UIC Health Science Enrichment Program, which serves as a pipeline for students interested in health care careers, imparting the necessary skills for a career in medicine while introducing students at a young age to various careers and health care professionals. For example, through this program, Christian has met numerous doctors and even attended a cadaver laboratory, which he described as a fun and very interesting experience. Christian is dedicated to this program since, like Cabrini Connections, it offers graduating seniors college scholarships that they earn throughout the years based on their involvement.

Despite his passion for medicine, Christian describes himself as a fan of the arts. In fact, his favorite class at the school he attends, Skinner elementary, is his art class. Though he hasn't had much academic training, he is a very talented self-taught artist who plans to continue studying art in a classroom setting throughout high school. Right now he's enjoying learning about the role of art in different African cultures and has developed a particular affinity for the works of Norman Rockwell. He also has been involved with his school's drama club and plans to stay involved with theater in high school as well. In addition to arts and science, Christian has a passion for the Spanish language and continues to study it at school in his quest for fluency.

Throughout the past year, Christian and his mentor Mike have developed a strong tutoring/mentoring relationship, working together on a wide variety of subjects including lots of math, social studies, science...etc. They also talk a lot about current events, politics and other newsworthy topics. Though Mike has at times accused Christian of being a contrarian, it always provides them with plenty to discuss. We're just glad to have such an ambitious and dedicated student in our ranks. Keep up the great work Christian!

Student Spotlight: Sean Mayfield

8th grader Sean Mayfield came into our program 2 years ago straight from Cabrini Green Tutoring Program with his tutor, Alan (AJ) Tyson in tow. In fact, it was Alan who first told Sean about our program here at Cabrini Connections and originally encouraged him to continue on past 6th grade. We’re glad they did because Sean has become one of the most active and engaged students here at Cabrini Connections. He constantly goes above and beyond, seeking out ways to get involved and taking leadership positions, despite only being in 8th grade. For instance, he is the youngest student on our Youth Leadership Council, which he was voted onto by his peers and their mentors. He also came into our center each week over the past summer to be the beta tester for Steve and Alice’s Tech Club, which meets on Tuesday nights and has grown exponentially since the summer. Through his involvement in Tech Club, he has acquired the skills to design his own website, which is now up and running with personal content.

Sean and his mentor AJ have come to be quite close over the past 4 years. One thing they both share is a love for reading, which they often do together. For instance, right now they are reading a collection of science fiction short stories entitled “The Martian Odyssey.” In fact, most days after school when Sean isn’t here at Cabrini Connections working on homework or with tech club, you can find him at the Borders near North and Clybourn, soaking in as many books as he can. Besides sci-fi, he has a particular affinity for Manga, or Japanese comics, for the uninitiated.

Despite his literary passions, Sean’s favorite subject is Math, which he has been exposed to a great deal since he attends Newberry Math and Science Academy. He’ll soon be changing schools however as he enters high school next year. Remarkably, Sean was admitted to all 6 of the high schools to which he applied, including Noble Street Charter, UIC College Prep and Rauner College Prep. He has decided to attend Rauner where he will work hard towards accomplishing his dream of becoming a video game designer.

Although he does play a lot of video games, Sean has another factor motivating him to become a video game designer…his 29 year old brother, who is currently in the Air Force, has worked as a video game designer, designing games for game boy, PC and Playstation 2, including the new Street Fighter game.

In addition to being featured in the student spotlight, to reward him for all his hard work, Sean will be attending a free dinner at Charlie Trotter’s next Tuesday, where he will eat dinner with other youth leaders in our program and learn about careers in culinary arts. Congratulations Sean and bon appetit!

Student Spotlight: Marcus Burks

Wells Prep 8th grader Marcus Burks is glad to be involved with Cabrini Connections. Despite living on the South Side, Marcus is determined to show up each and every week to tutoring and has had perfect attendance so far during this brutal winter. Although Marcus has been paired up with his Mentor Joe Fridlin since the 5th grade, this is their first year active in our program. They met through Marcus’ cousin when Marcus was involved in a youth program at the old YMCA. They stayed in touch and are now building a strong mentoring relationship. They often find themselves working on social studies and reading, subjects where Marcus seeks improvement.

When not at Cabrini Connections, Marcus is the starting small forward and shooting guard for his school's basketball team . Although last year he didn’t get a lot of playing time, with a new basketball coach who appreciates Marcus’ talent despite his small stature, this year Marcus is having a great season!

Despite being only in 8th grade, Marcus is inspired to become a lawyer. He sees himself getting his degree at Northwestern University and going on to study law. Maybe it’s just the glasses, but all throughout Marcus’ life people have commented on his ability to argue and make his point articulately. Being as committed as he is to his future, Marcus attended a college visit and information session at Westwood College this fall with a group of other students. He even met with the dean of the college, whom he impressed with his intelligence and charm.

Like many of us, Marcus can’t wait until it’s summer again, so he can hit the neighborhood pool and hang out with his friends without worrying about getting frostbite! By then, he’ll know what high school he will be attending. He’s hoping to get accepted to Whitney Young, one of the most competitive schools in the entire city. However, Marcus knows that success doesn’t depend solely on what school he attends; he knows that either way, he’s going to have to take advantage of opportunities at programs like ours to connect with people all over the city who can help ensure his success! Congratulations Marcus and keep up the great work!

Student Spotlight: Whitney Hemphill

This week we’d like to draw some attention to long-time student, Whitney Hemphill. Whitney, a Sophomore at Wells Community Academy, has been with the program since she was in 7th grade. Although she’s always been a committed student, she has shown particular dedication in recent months as she has fought to bring her grades up. She and her mentor, Anna Ashbaugh, have been working exceptionally hard to make sure all her assignments are turned in and that she really understands the material, particularly in U.S. History, where she is shooting for an A. She has also made it to school on time every single day this quarter, no easy feat in the middle of winter.

She has been working to improve her grades because she knows that if she proves herself to be a good student, it will be easier for her to gain admission to nursing programs so she can follow her dream of becoming a nurse. Ever since she was in the 8th grade, her own family doctor has inspired her to seek a career in nursing. She would particularly love to work in pediatrics as she already has lots of experience working with youth. Whitney has been active in the neighborhood “By The Hand” club which matches up older youth like herself with younger kids from the neighborhood to ensure their success in after-school programs that keep them off the streets. During the warmer months she also works at the nearby “City Farm” at Division and Clybourn where she works with After School Matters to plant, farm and sell fruits and vegetables in an urban community garden that is tended by local residents.

We are also proud to recognize Whitney as the winner of our recent “I have a dream…” essay contest with her presentation “I’m Dreaming of Change.” In it, Whitney, a 15 year resident of Cabrini Green soberly lays out its past and present, including the 2007 shooting of her cousin Kearra. She shows how the attitudes of her peers have changed as they’ve matured and how some get drawn into gangs, drugs and violence, while others, like Whitney, manage to stay on track. It’s a powerful presentation and I recommend that you check it out on the wall in our center or on the Cabrini Connections website!

Congratulations Whitney on a job well done! Keep up the great work!

Student Spotlight: Victoria Rivera

Lincoln Park High School Sophomore, Victoria Rivera is a long time student here at Cabrini Connections who is destined for great things. Victoria has been here since the 7th grade and in the interim has developed a deep friendship with her mentor, Amy Proger. They often get together outside of tutoring to grab a bite to eat and chat; Amy is always encouraging Victoria to try new things, like tapas or regional Italian food, which is always a treat.

Victoria has a lot of different interests. Talk to Victoria for a minute and you’ll realize that she’s bubbling over with enthusiasm about things to come. It’s clear she spends a lot of time thinking about her future and as a 10th grader, she’s already figuring out what she needs to do to avoid the common pitfalls that have prevented people she knows from going to college and reaching her fullest potential. As a 2 sport athlete, softball and cheerleading, with a passion for helping others, Victoria is interested in sports medicine and becoming a physical therapist.

In addition to cheerleading at school, she pursues her passion for dance at her church, where she participates in a contemporary dance ensemble that she really enjoys. Victoria is quite active in her church, she has been taking speaking classes there since 7th grade, which prepare her to speak extemporaneously so when someone in the congregation falls ill or fails to show up, she can take over and deliver the message like a pro. She also participates in a youth program at her church called “Project Achieve.” Participation in this program each Saturday helps Victoria prepare for future success. For example, they organize a trip each year to historically black colleges such as Clark-Atlanta and Spelman so students like Victoria can experience these Southern colleges first-hand.

For Victoria, she keeps coming back to Cabrini Connections year after year because “It’s like home.” She attributes her recent success on her 1st semester grades (all A’s and B’s) to a combination of her own hard work and her mentor’s commitment to helping her succeed. We’re so proud of your accomplishments Victoria and are certain that these are but a taste of the greatness to come! Congratulations!

Student Spotlight: Ashaunti Roby

Newberry Academy 8th grader Ashaunti Roby is a stellar student; just look at her most recent report card. On it you’ll find all A’s and just 2 B’s. Her school is a math and science academy, which is good for her because math and science are her two best subjects. For Ashaunti, academic excellence isn’t enough. She shows her leadership through involvement in her school’s student council where she represents the entire student body as Vice President. This means that she and the President run all the meetings and determine what activities and projects the council takes on. For instance, their most recent project was coordinating a food and supply drive for soldiers in the Middle-East.

Ashaunti is committed to speaking out and helping to be the change that Obama spoke so often about during the recent election. She recently wrote an essay as part of our I Have a Dream… contest about her hopes and dreams for her community in the coming years. In it, she lamented the number of young “wanna-be gangsters” growing up in her community without a place for them outside of gang life. She put forth the solution of greatly expanding after-school programs to keep these at-risk kids off the streets and in productive activities that will help give them the drive to succeed. She also discussed the rising unemployment and how the government doesn’t adequately provide for ex-cons after they do their time and want to re-enter society. She argues that most ex-offenders simply want the opportunity to pay off bills, put food on the table and clothe their children but are denied even this opportunity because of the extraordinary hurdles that society puts between them and decent jobs. Read the rest of her essay on the Cabrini Connections website.

When not studying, convening student council meetings or at Cabrini Connections, Ashaunti loves listening to music. Some of her favorites are Ne-Yo, Beyoncé and of course, her namesake Ashanti.

Ashaunti and her mentor, Sarah Randag, have been together for 2 years now and have developed a strong mentoring relationship. They often get together outside of tutoring to chat, go out for dinner or even see a play. They work together to ensure Ashaunti stays on the right track to accomplish her long term goal of becoming an English or Math Professor. Since Sarah and Ashaunti are so consistent in logging their progress with SVHATS, we’re confident that we’ll be able to track her progress each week as she continues her quest to become Professor Roby. Congratulations Ashaunti!

Student Spotlight: Jazmine Terrell

9th grader Jazmine Terrell is in her first year at Noble Street College Prep and she’s loving it. She’s been spending much of her free time practicing and performing with the cheerleading team at her school, where they root on the Noble St Golden Tigers basketball, football and soccer teams. As much as Jazmine has been challenging herself with her involvement in cheerleading, she and her tutor Jen Nolan have been working together to ensure she thrives in her challenging academic environment as well.

Jasmine and Jen, a lawyer working at the Civic Federation, a non-partisan government watchdog organization, have been working together this entire year to bring Jasmine’s grades up, and they’ve had great success! According to Jasmine, since working with Jen, she has been “working harder, asking more questions in class when I don’t get something and coming in early for help when I need it.” Jasmine has also been attending her school's “Homework Fiesta”, which is something akin to a University professor’s office hours. Here she can get one-on-one homework help with her teachers as well as connect with other students to master her coursework.

Jasmine started here after her tutoring program ended at the YMCA. She heard about our program through friends from the neighborhood and upon coming, realized she knew more kids from the neighborhood than she thought.
Throughout the year so far, Jasmine has developed a great relationship with her mentor, Jen. Jasmine says: “Everything’s been going great, we can talk about anything. I tell her everything ‘cause I know I can trust her. She encourages me and gets me to keep a positive attitude.” Jasmine continues: “Without Jen and this program, I’d still be getting straight C’s.”

Jasmine has benefited from her relationship with Jen in other ways as well. For instance, although Jasmine isn’t exactly sure what she wants to do when she grows up, she knows it will have something to do with law. Here, Jen has been able to share her own experiences with law school and the law with Jasmine so that she can have a better idea of what a career in law would be like, which has only further encouraged Jasmine to follow her dreams of becoming a lawyer. Go for it Jasmine! We’re rooting for you!

Student Spotlight: Ashanti Anderson

Jenner Academy 7th grader Ashanti Anderson is in her second year here at Cabrini Connections. Starting last year as a 6th grader, she joined in order to improve her math skills and benefit from a mentoring relationship. This year she has been paired up with Motorola Senior Electrical Engineer Frances Kwee, who is well qualified to help her with her math. Their relationship has progressed well in the past couple of months and they even met up on their own over Ashanti’s winter break to grab some Chinese food and get to know each other better. Though Ashanti learned that she’s not the biggest fan of Chinese food, they had a great time and will continue to work hard to build their relationship.

In school Ashanti’s favorite subjects are math, reading and social studies. She recently watched the classic PBS series Roots, and found it fascinating to learn more about the history of slavery both here in the U.S and in Africa. She says that learning about slavery helps to “tell us about why we are free now.” Though she likes the majority of her classes, she despises science—finding it dull and boring. Luckily, Frances is actually a scientist herself, and a very interesting and engaging one at that, so perhaps with a little encouragement she will eventually grow to enjoy the subject. She might want to in order to accomplish her dream of becoming a trial lawyer like the ones seen on CSI.

We at Cabrini Connections are so glad to have Ashanti with us and are proud to put her in the Student Spotlight. Congratulations Ashanti and keep up the good work!

Student Spotlight: Savon Clark

Skinner School 8th grader Savon Clark has consistently proven himself to be one of our most dedicated students. Besides having more points than any other 8th grader (earned through involvement in activities at Cabrini Connections), he had perfect attendance this fall and was elected to the 2008-2009 Youth Leadership Council. Additionally, he and his mentor Mike Kolberg were the only participants to continue meeting weekly in our center during the summer months this year. Savon requested that they meet in order to improve his math skills for his 8th grade year. Though Savon has found his classes to be a greater challenge this year, he says “I feel better about getting the A’s now ‘cause I have to work for them.” It’s telling that his 2 biggest challenges this year are in reading and math, his two favorite subjects. About his mentor, Mike, he says: “Mike has really helped me out with all my subjects, when my grades were falling he helped me to pick them back up. I’m glad that he’s been sticking it through with me, helping me strive for A’s all the time, I really appreciate Mike.”

Savon is taking the winter off after playing fullback and linebacker for the Windy City Dolphins. He is already training for track, which starts in the spring. He’s been lifting and doing lots of push-ups so he can excel in his events, the 4X2 relay, the 400 meter dash and shotput.

He’s also excited to be a part of the Youth Leadership Council and is eager to work with the other students to improve Cabrini Connections. He’s been taking notes of potential improvements and doing research to try to address them with the council. Hopefully all of his hard work will pay off soon when he finds out what high school he will be attending next year. He applied to some of the best and most competitive schools in the entire city: Whitney Young, Lane Tech, Walter Payton and Lindblom. Wherever he ends up, we are certain that he will make the most of his opportunities and strive for the very best. Congratulations Savon!

Everyone's in the Spotlight!

Looking back on this 1st quarter, the following exemplary individuals have graced this site and the walls of Cabrini Connections as student and volunteer spotlights.

Students

DeSean Hale
Eboni Rivera
LaFaye Garth
Aarion Woods
Angelene Hemphill
Charles Thomas
Charles Hill
Dijana Smith
Gary Wise
Joshua Vera
Vontesha Stanfield

Volunteers

Alexandria Hill
Carl Hurdlik
Carolyn Grunst
Frances Kwee
Jen King
Joe Alverson
John Knight
Nicole Gordon
Steve Pawlik
Alice Toth
Tami Wielgus
Zak Kustok

Thanks so much for your hard work and dedication! We encourage everyone to read their spotlight articles to understand what makes these individuals so remarkable and worthy of praise. Click their name to read their article or just check out the wall and bulletin board at Cabrini Connections. I guarantee you'll learn something interesting.

However, just because these individuals were mentioned doesn't mean that they are the only people around here who are deserving of recognition. Making this program work is really a team effort between students, volunteers and staff, and we have been happy to see everyone doing their part, from volunteers bringing snacks week after week, to students taking initiative and running for the Youth Leadership Council trying to bring positive change to Cabrini Connections. We are excited to see students and volunteers stepping up and trying to do more to make Cabrini Connections the best possible tutor/mentor program.

So, look out for new student and volunteer spotlights during winter quarter. We're lucky to have such interesting, promising and dedicated volunteers and students and we're happy to brag about them. Have a very happy holiday!

Student Spotlight: Charles Hill

Charles Hill is a kid with a very bright future. After only being in the program for a few months, Charles has made himself at home and dove right into our programming, attending everything he can to help him prepare for the future. For instance, he was one of 4 winners of our Halloween essay contest, where he won a free trip to FEAR at Navy Pier, an elaborate haunted house right in front of Lake Michigan. Also, despite being an 8th grader, he attended a college visit to DePaul University to start to learn more about area colleges and to help get a better idea of what he wants to do with his life. He also attended an information session this past weekend to learn more about how to gain admission to some of the most prestigious and competitive high schools in Chicago. Not only that, but Charles has had perfect attendance so far this year!

Charles has also been an early adopter of our SVHATS 2.0 student/volunteer history and tracking system. Here he documents each and every one of his interactions with his mentor, Szu-Han Ho and has posted some of his poetry to share with students, mentors and staff. Charles loves to write and is planning on being a writer when he grows up as well, either as an author or as a journalist/reporter. For this reason his favorite class at the Albany Park Multicultural Academy, where he is an 8th grader, is Language Arts. He particularly likes how he can use language and writing to address his emotions and feelings and create works that express certain things that he’s going through in an interesting way. He writes poetry as well as longer-form fiction and short stories. He’s also starting to learn the guitar so he can begin to put some of his poems to music.

When Charles is not asking us what he can do to help out around the center, he can usually be found nose-deep in a huge book. His favorite reads of the last few months have been the Twilight series, a collection of four popular fantasy novels, the first of which was recently made into a full-length movie.

Charles deeply values his relationship with his mentor Szu-Han. With her, he can talk about his life and emotions while sharing his writing and poetry with a very caring individual who has his best interests at heart. In fact, they are so dedicated to building a relationship that they are starting to learn Japanese together!

When asked about Cabrini Connections, Charles’ immediate response is that “It’s kid friendly and a great place to learn!” We’re glad you agree Charles! Keep up the great work and we can’t wait to hear some of your new songs!