5 minute read
CHA host 'Trunk Party' to equip students with college necessities
by Suzanne Hanney
Amid thumping DJ music and an overhead marquee scrolling the message, “Congratulations CHA graduates! Investing in the Power of Potential,” the Chicago Housing Authority hosted a “trunk party” August 3 in the United Center East Atrium for over 170 of its youth who will be starting college this fall.
There was pizza and Pepsi, congratulatory words and caring advice from adults, ranging from CHA’s Chief Executive Officer Tracey Scott to former CHA graduate and current high school teacher/coach George Beecham, to Molina Healthcare Senior Growth and Community Engagement Specialist Erika Hannah. Then, wearing T-shirts and sweatshirts from their respective schools, the students stood in line to receive dorm room furnishings: a laundry basket, sheets, towels, a lamp, a free laptop and even free internet service.
Besides the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC), Illinois State University at Normal, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Northwestern University and other colleges in-state, students will be attending schools all over the nation: the University of Southern California (USC), Spelman College, and more. While CHA youth may receive financial aid to pay for tuition, their families still face out-of-pocket expenses. The 13th annual Take Flight College Sendoff was designed to close that gap and was made possible through corporate support. It was hosted by Springboard to Success, the nonprofit partner of CHA.
Demarion Brown, who plans to study entrepreneurship at UIC, said that his high school grades at Johnson College Prep, 63rd and Stewart, were only so-so until his senior year, when he made all A’s. He became more serious about his life when he developed angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma, a rare soft tissue cancerous tumor on his leg, in June between junior and senior year. He had surgery to remove the tumor, he has scans every three months, and he is cancer-free.
“A lot of people get cancer, and a lot of people get sick,” he said. “I thought I would be one of those people who get cancer and get sick. So, God made a miracle for me to get cured. It was all God’s plan.”
Brown wants to bring some kind of sports business back to his Washington Park neighborhood. He loves basketball, football, baseball, hockey and soccer, mostly as a spectator. Family members said he excels at fantasy football and predicting real game outcomes.
As a result of the party, Brown met Angela Parker, a former resident of Altgeld Gardens on the far South Side who started Ryan's Cleaning Services 14 years ago. Parker promised Brown a $2,500 stipend each semester until he graduates. “God blessed him; I am going to bless him,” she said.
Mikhyla Appling has a similar goal of going into sports medicine, with undergraduate premed at Spelman College. “Sports is something close to my heart and I like helping people, so why not put them together?” Appling said she moved all over the South Side before finishing at Kenwood Academy.
“The biggest barrier [to overcome] was breaking out of my shell, being shy in terms of talking to people and making new friends,” she said. What helped her was “being pushed by my elders and people I look up to. Things like Socratic seminars, discussions, being pushed to talk more and present in front of my class, then using those skills to make new connections.”
Also planning to go into sports medicine was Ciara Haynes, who grew up in Bronzeville and was No. 3 in her class at Noble Academy on North Ogden. She will be attending Northwestern University.
Izbayo Chantal and Shawnell Sims-Ceballos both plan to attend USC, and met for the first time at the trunk party. Chantal attended Chicago Math and Science Academy, and plans to major in business administration. Sims-Ceballos was a scholarship student at Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, WI and will major in legal studies, with the goal of becoming an attorney.
Briana Keeton grew up in Englewood and graduated from Perspectives Charter School’s Rodney D. Joslin campus on Cermak Road. The obstacles she overcame were “poverty, being an African American female on the South Side of Chicago. I felt like I could do it, but there were moments I wanted to give up. My support team – family and school – pushed me forward.” Keeton will be majoring in fashion design at the University of Memphis.
Beecham and Hannah both shared that they were firstgeneration college students.
Beecham was raised by a single mother, “so I was motivated very early to become an example for those in my community.” He graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts in 2018, and now he teaches biology and helps coach basketball at Chicago Bulls College Prep, his alma mater, where he played point guard. He is also a West Side landlord in partnership with CHA, “doing my best to provide quality housing to people in the city.”
“Embrace the journey. Be proud of yourself. It took a lot to even get here,” Hannah said. “Get out of your comfort zone. Meet new people. Talk to your professors. Connect with a mentor as soon as you can. Enjoy new activities. Seek support early and often. You do not want to struggle.
