Category: Education
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Vicenty Lucas Jackson
Vincenty Lucas Jackson is getting valuable experience for his future career before he even starts his first class at Truman College this fall. As a part of the STEAMbassadors program, the future early childhood education teacher spent the summer learning—and then teaching—digital animation. “For the first month of the summer, we were learning our materials,…
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Timothy Avant
Timothy Avant used to live five houses down from the Truman College campus. Now, he’s a student at the college, preparing to become an early childhood educator tuition-free with the support of two scholarships: the Men of Color in Education Initiative and the Chicago Early Learning Workforce Scholarship (CELWS). The former Broadway actor knew he…
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Lila Aouani
Lila Aouani had already lived in many places before she came to Chicago—Florida, Boston, Ohio, and North Carolina. “Having to move around my entire childhood was definitely hard, but it pushed me to become stronger,” said Lila, a recent graduate of Truman College’s first S.E.E.D. cohort. The S.E.E.D scholarship, which stands for Supporting Emerging Educators…
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Valentina Atehortua
Two years ago, Valentina Atehortua moved thousands of miles away from her home in Colombia, arriving in Chicago just months before COVID-19 did. As she adjusted to the cultural differences of living in a new country during a stay-at-home order, she was able to build a community at Truman College. Read Valentina’s story in her…
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Georgina Reyes
When Georgina Reyes immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador in 2011 with her three children, her oldest son was eager to earn his GED. Georgina cheered him on with excitement, and, years later, decided she would follow his lead. Determined to prove that “education is for adults, too,” she enrolled in free GED prep…
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Melania Aldama
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Evelyn Patino
Evelyn Patino has heard all of the misconceptions about what it means to be an early childhood educator. One of her biggest pet peeves is hearing from others that teachers in an early childhood classroom are simply ‘babysitting’ kids all day with minimal teaching. She also hears that people assume teachers in an early childhood…
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Joseph Rosa-Molina
Joseph Rosa-Molina knows he is one of the outliers within the early childhood education field. Most studies indicate that females make up roughly 95% of the workforce in early childhood education. Yet Rosa-Molina has found a career as an early childhood educator, even if he is usually the only male in his classroom or worksite.…
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Sinead Abarca
Sinead Abarca found her true calling in education, even if it happened a bit later than she anticipated. When she graduated from high school in 2009, she had a plan to jump right into a four-year university. However, when a scholarship she had planned on fell through, her plans changed. She reluctantly made the decision…
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Mylinh Tran