Category: Alumni
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Selina Badu
Selina Badu, Truman College’s 2023 salutatorian, was born and raised in Ghana, where she attended high school and served as a caretaker for her grandmother. That experience introduced Selina to the healthcare field and motivated her to pursue an education and future career in nursing. She came to Chicago in 2019 and started her college…
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Angel Negron
Angel Negron, a recent Harold Washington College graduate, is getting ready to transfer to Columbia College Chicago to pursue a bachelor’s degree in interior architecture. As he prepares for the transition, one thing he won’t have to prepare for is the financial burden of his education. Angel was recently awarded Columbia’s Chicagoland Transfer Award (CTA),…
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Chef Gabriel Alvarez
Chef Gabriel Alvarez started his college journey at City Colleges of Chicago—something that helps him relate to his students at Kennedy-King College’s Washburne Culinary & Hospitality Institute. “I get to welcome students in that I see a little of me in them,” he said. Chef Alvarez didn’t know what he wanted to do when he…
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Ryan Morgia
Ryan Morgia moved to the United States from the Philippines with his wife and child in 2019. Before the move, Ryan worked in the oil manufacturing industry as the factory manager of an engineering firm he developed. He was a licensed professional mechanical engineer in his home country and had earned his bachelor’s degree in…
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Sergio Alvarado
Sergio Alvarado was so committed to furthering his education at Daley College, he moved from Kansas to take courses there. The Chicago native has worked in the trades since 2011. He got his start in heating and air conditioning before transitioning to the industrial manufacturing industry, where he continues to work today. “I think the…
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Dominika Panek
For recent Wright College graduate Dominika Panek, getting involved on campus was an essential part of her college journey. She was an editor for Wright’s Great Books Symposium Journal, a student-run literature publication, and she organized bone marrow drives on Wright’s campus for Be the Match, a national nonprofit organization. Throughout her time at Wright,…
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Rencie Horst
Rencie Horst has worked as a certified nursing assistant (CNA), a call center representative, a construction worker, and a photographer throughout her career—but her most important role is as a mom. Rencie has five kids, ranging in age from 13 to 22, and her oldest son was born with cerebral palsy. To take care of…
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Selvin Tobar
Selvin Tobar, Wright College’s 2023 valedictorian, grew up on the North Side of Chicago and attended Von Steuben High School, where he discovered an interest in chemistry and engineering. It was there he found out that he could attend his first two years of college for free at City Colleges of Chicago through the Star…
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Christina Bernabe
Christina Bernabe, Daley College’s 2023 valedictorian, grew up in Chicago’s Clearing neighborhood and came to Richard J. Daley College in August of 2020. She was a returning college student who had previously put her academic career at another community college on hold due to financial obstacles. Christina had always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur who…
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Kelsey McHugh
Kelsey McHugh, Malcolm X College’s 2023 valedictorian, had already earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from Central Washington University before starting her journey at Malcolm X. She was working as an actor and audiovisual technician when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and upended the industry in a moment’s notice. That’s when Kelsey decided to…