Category: Truman College
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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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Ivy Rose Lomahan
“Is my English good enough to go back to school?” “Will my children be okay while I’m in class?” “Will I be able to afford the tuition fees on top of the bills I am already paying?” The questions—and the doubts—ran through my mind. It was daunting going back to school after being away for…
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Elia López
This story was originally published as a City Colleges news blog titled “Truman College Professor Receives AATSP Outstanding Community College Teacher of the Year Award” on April 12, 2022. Surprisingly, this year’s American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) Outstanding Community College Teacher of the Year Elia López didn’t set out to…
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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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Dekala Cardine
Dekala Cardine, born and raised on the West side of the city, graduated from Chicago Tech Academy High School in 2020 before deciding to enroll at City Colleges of Chicago this past fall. Dekala first heard about the ACE (Advancing Chicago’s Education) scholarship in May 2021 from an email from City Colleges, which sparked her…
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Renee King
From working in a call center and at a bank, to serving as a full-time nanny, Renee King’s resume already spans several industries—and now the 31-year-old Jamaican immigrant is focused on adding her dream job in dentistry to the list. Renee graduated with her associate degree in science from Truman College in the spring of…
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Yozgyul Mustafova
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Steven Bahena
While scrolling through his Twitter feed last summer, 26-year-old Steven Bahena came across an article about a press conference where Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the new Fresh Start program at City Colleges of Chicago. The lifelong Rogers Park resident visited the Mayor’s account to learn more and saw that the initiative allows City Colleges students…
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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…