Alumni Update: James Golliday

( reposted from Cabrini Connections website)

My name is James Golliday and I'm a former participant of the Montgomery Wards Tutoring Program. This was the original program before Cabrini Connections. This is a message for anybody from Cabrini Green who participated in either program as a child. This tutor/mentor program provided many of us the knowledge and opportunity to be successful in life. It was hard enough growing up in Cabrini with all the gangs, drugs and other violence we had to endure. Personally, I was happy when Tuesday and Wednesday came around because I knew for at least two hours I was going to a place where someone cared about my life and wanted to help me. I tried to maintain perfect attendance just so I could participate in the field trips. Cabrini tutoring program gave us an opportunity to go places we probably would never have visited as a child. The Chistmas and Halloween parties helped out many children who were less fortunate than others during a Christmas and Halloween. After leaving the program I served four years in the United States Marine Corps. After being discharged from the Marine Corps, I returned home and enrolled in college. I will be receiving my Bachelor's of Arts in Social Science and Secondary Education in May of 2003 and I will be attending Northeastern Illinois University in the fall for grad school. Currently, I'm student teaching at Jones College Prep High School. I mentioned my brief biography because the success I have achieved I owe not only to my family, but to the Cabrini Tutoring Program. There are many of you who have achieved the same amount of success. As alumni, we need to start networking to make sure this program doesn't fold. Dan (President of Cabrini Connections) will not be around for ever, and who better to take over the program than those who went through the program. Yes, this is a cry for help. Alumni, please don't forget where your roots are.