City Colleges of Chicago

Category: Student Government Association

  • Douglas Graves

    Douglas Graves

    Douglas Graves traveled across the country and across the world as he served in the U.S. Marine Corps for eight years, and is now working hard to make a difference in his own neighborhood. From Chicago’s South Side, Douglas said he had a regular childhood – he worked hard in school and always had an…

  • Ada Marys Lorenzana

    Ada Marys Lorenzana

    Ada Marys Lorenzana was always a good student, but when it came to going to college, she wasn’t sure how she would pay for it. As a junior at Lane Tech High School, she had applied and been accepted to four-year universities, but there was no federal financial aid available to her. That’s when her…

  • Andres Granados

    Andres Granados

    When Andres Granados left Bradley University after three years because it wasn’t the right fit and it was too much of a struggle financially, he wasn’t ready to give up on college. That college at that time just didn’t work for him. After returning from Peoria, the 21-year-old Bridgeview resident enrolled at Daley College in…

  • Anh Leu

    Anh Leu

    Anh Leu started her journey with City Colleges while she was still at Taft High School on the city’s Northwest Side, taking dual enrollment courses and earning college credit for free. After that introduction to Wright College, when it was time to decide on a college, continuing there just made sense -especially because Anh wished…

  • Chintan Patel

    Chintan Patel

    Chintan Patel says that he wouldn’t be where he is today if it weren’t for Wright College. An international student who came to Chicago from India to get his college degree, Chintan decided on Wright College on the advice of his friends, who urged him to start at a community college to save money. Wright…

  • Ahmed Flex Omar

    Ahmed Flex Omar

    Working to advance constructive solutions to extremism and human rights abuses through the stories of Muslim Americans, Harold Washington College alum Ahmed Flex Omar serves as deputy director for Chicago-based Muslim American Leadership Alliance (MALA), of which he is a co-founder. His journey from his home land of Somaliland to Chicago is a reflection of…

  • Toi Pearson

    Toi Pearson

    It may have taken her longer than she wanted, but Toi Pearson is on her way to a bachelor’s degree and a career in business. “My path has completely and utterly changed. I learned what my strengths are, and that I don’t have to stick with what I already know.” Born and raised in Chicago,…

  • Safiyyah Shakir

    Safiyyah Shakir

    Safiyyah Shakir is following pretty closely in her mother’s footsteps, but carving out a path all her own. Born and raised in Chicago, Safiyyah and her four younger siblings were home-schooled by their mom. As Safiyyah finished her high school curriculum, she felt as though she was, in her own words, “done with school.” She…

  • Jimmy Ellis

    Jimmy Ellis

    In his own words, Jimmy Ellis is obsessed with coding. With a love of computers that began when his dad bought him one when he was 4, Jimmy already has his A+ Certification and his own business repairing computers. But his real interest is in coding, which he’s been doing since he was 12 years…

  • Omar Martinez Gonzalez

    Omar Martinez Gonzalez

    Omar Martinez Gonzalez came to the United States at the age of three from Mexico City, Mexico, and grew up in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, graduating from Roger C. Sullivan High School’s Medical & Health Careers Academy in 2009. He enrolled at Wilbur Wright College during the fall 2009 semester because it was…