Category: Resources and Supports
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Flor Roman
Flor Roman always had an interest in child development. After running her own childcare business for many years, Flor decided to go back to school. When she couldn’t access financial aid, Flor didn’t give up on her dream of pursuing an education in early learning. Studying alongside the larger early childhood community was so important…
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Tomika Bernstein and James Robinson
Tomika Bernstein and James Robinson are starting new careers in the transportation, logistics, and distribution field thanks, in large part, to the Project Evolve scholarship program exclusive to Olive-Harvey College students. Tomika is benefiting from the knowledge and skills she is learning in supply chain and logistics management; she credits the welcoming staff at Olive-Harvey for…
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Nancy Barrera
Nancy Barrera grew up in Chicago on the far South Side and attended Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy High School, where an Advanced Placement United States history class she took during her junior year sparked her interest in politics. So, when she enrolled at Harold Washington College in 2020, the decision to further that interest…
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Deynna Rey
Since Deynna Rey was a child growing up in Venezuela, she dreamed of going to college, but the expense made it feel out of reach. Through a combination of her own hard work and the encouragement she received from faculty and staff at City Colleges of Chicago, Deynna is on her way to a bachelor’s…
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Chakyra Space
Chakyra Space was born and raised in Chicago and attended Curie Metropolitan High School. Due to her strong grades, she was able to earn the Star Scholarship, and she enrolled at Daley College in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Growing up, Chakyra discovered her interest in numbers and realized she wanted to work in…
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Kam Tim Kwan
Kam Tim Kwan moved to Chicago from Hong Kong three years ago. His native language is Cantonese, so, in order to improve his English, he attended ESL courses at Harold Washington College for two semesters. Kam Tim says that his ESL courses gave him the confidence and motivation he needed to continue his education and…
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Florencia Laino
Being undocumented has always played a big role in who I am. But it’s also been my biggest challenge in pursuing higher education. At least that’s what I thought before. I came to Chicago from Uruguay when I was almost a year old and grew up sharing a one-bedroom apartment with my family in Albany…
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Marvens Saint-Juste
When Harold Washington College student Marvens Saint-Juste was struggling to pay for his classes, he thought to himself, “there has to be a way [to take advantage of resources]—I just need to conduct the research.” The research was quicker than he originally imagined. In fact, just a few minutes later, Marvens found the application for…
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Jessica Ballenger
Jessica Ballenger was going through a very difficult time in her life when she found out she had been awarded the PepsiCo Foundation’s Uplift Scholarship. “It was an indicator that things were turning around for me—that I have a chance at being successful,” the Olive-Harvey College student recalled. As a working mom and student, the…
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Diego Ramirez
One of the most challenging things about being undocumented is the uncertainty. For me, that challenge was magnified when I started thinking about college. I was born in Mexico, and I came to the United States with my family when I was three years old. I grew up in the Albany Park neighborhood and lived…