Kanah Bradley Makes Her Selection!!!

As we get closer and closer to the end of the school year, we also get closer to saying good bye to our 2011 graduating class. Just recently one of our seniors made her decision on where she will be heading to continue her education. Von Stueben High School senior, Kanah Bradley, who has been in the Cabrini Connections' program since March of 2009 has made the decision to attend Southern Illinois University this fall! Kanah was researching several colleges and universities, and has decided that Southern Illinois University would be the perfect fit for her to pursue her dreams of a career in medicine.

Kanah and her mentor Autumn Sharp have been working together for nearly two years here in the program, and they also spend time outside of the program as well. Autumn said this about her student's recent decision to attend SIU, "I am excited to see Kanah graduate and move on to SIU. I think she will do extremely well and we'll see her accomplishing her goal of being a doctor."

We are not only proud of Kanah and excited about this next step in her life, we are thankful of both Kanah and Autumn sharing their time, experiences, and commitment to the Cabrini Connections' program. We are looking to create more and more life changing stories and experiences like this one, and we are going to need more and more support from others to help us create these stories. If we can get consistent financial support and resources, we will then be able to keep the center open, filled with a strong leadership of staff and coordinators, that will lead dedicated and committed students and volunteers grow in the program...and THAT will lead to more and more SUCCESS stories like that of Kanah Bradley!

So Much More Than Tutoring and Mentoring...

Cabrini Connections is a tutoring and mentoring, volunteer-based program, but we are so much more!!! Besides tutoring and mentoring services, we provide not only site based resources for our participants, we also provide off-site opportunities that we feel can and will assist the students with their current and future academic and career goals. One of the many resources that we provide are college and university trips, and today we visited DePaul University!

Over the years we have visited many of the colleges and universities in the Chicagoland area, but what made this trip a little more unique than the rest was the fact that this entire opportunity was set up by a parent of one our current students. Rhonda Parrow, mother of 2nd year student Aaliyah Griffin, is a graduate student at DePaul University and she is involved with a program at DePaul that sets up tours similar to the one we went on today. There were a total of 5 students and 2 staff that took part in this opportunity, and although it was a smaller group, those that attended had a very positive experience.

The visit started with lunch at the Welcome Center and we also were provided an hour long admission's presentation given by a current DePaul University student. This presentation provided the group with any and all of the information about the school, financial aid, classes, social life, and more! Following the information session we then were greeted with our tour guide and he walked us around the campus providing us with more information about the life of a DePaul University student. One of the biggest attractions for the group was the student center on campus which serves as one of the main meeting places for DePaul students to eat, play games, socialize, AND....do homework.

Our group spent a little over two hours on the campus and it was a great opportunity for the students and staff to get more information about the university, what it takes to get into the school, life after graduation, and the opportunity to just envision themselves walking on a college campus in the near future! We definitely want to thank Rhonda Parrow and the DePaul University for providing us with this great opportunity, we greatly appreciate the great service that we received today.

Dreams Become Reality for Former Mentee and Mentor!

Below is a GREAT story of the power of the Cabrini Connections' program and how not only the students benefit from being involved in the program, but how the volunteers that work with the students benefit from seeing all of their hard work, dedication, and commitment pay off. This is not only another great entry in the Cabrini Connections' story, but another example of why programs like Cabrini Connections need to be put in place in neighborhoods all over the country.

Just wanted to share with all of you that a couple of weeks before Christmas I had the distinct honor of watching Diara Fleming graduate from Northern Illinois University. It was one of the most amazing things I have witnessed. In just over 4 years, Diara has worked her way through NIU to graduate with a GPA of over 3.0. She plans to go on to graduate school as soon as possible.

For those of you who don't know Diara, she was a bright student at both Cabrini Green Tutoring and the Cabrini Connections. She graduated from Walter Peyten High School and went straight to NIU. Although the road was not easy for her- Diara has done tremendously through her career at NIU and I am confident she will accomplish amazing things. Diara will tell you that she could not have graduated without the support of many others outside of her family which simply did not provide the support she needed.

I tell you this not to be boastful in any way of my involvement- but to stress how critical it is for programs like Cabrini to continuing pairing up tutors/mentors so they have the support network they need to be successful.

Wishing everyone at Cabrini a very Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Courtland

The Reason Why We Do What We Do...

The Cabrini Connections' program works to provide resources to ensure that our students are in a career by the age of 25, but there are steps that need to be taken before getting into that ideal career. And one of the biggest steps before that phase of their life is getting into college. Over the past month several of our Cabrini Connections' seniors have been notified that they have received college acceptance letters!!!

Veteran student, Vontesha Stanfield, was accepted in not one, not two, but THREE schools over the past month!!! Ms. Stanfield received acceptance letters from Northern Illinois, Indiana State, and Central State. She is still waiting to hear from two other schools she has applied to and is still in the process of submitting 5 more college applications!!!

Veteran student, Alexis Montgomery, was accepted into Wright College and Truman! She recently had a meet and greet at Wright College and all went very well. And what makes this news even more special is the fact that Wright College was the 1st college on her list of schools to attend!!! She will be visiting Oakton Community College in the near future.

First year student in the program, Megan Caradine, got accepted into Allen University in South Carolina and by December 15th she will know if she was accepted into her number one school of choice, Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. She has also applied to UIC, SIU, and a number of other schools.

The Cabrini Connections' staff would like to congratulate these three students on their accomplishments, but we would also like to thank those who have assisted in making these accomplishments take place; mentors Jen Jozwik (Vontesha), Sandra Lee (Alexis), and Liz Sablich (Megan) for all of their hard work, dedication, and commitment to the success of their students and for assisting with carrying out the mission and goals of the program. THANK YOU!

We would also like to thank the College Zone Coordinators; Stephanie Rogers, Carla Reyes, Katie Nolan, and newcomer Sue Gill! Thank you for your guidance and all of your assistance! And we also would like to thank the parents and family members of the students.

We are truly proud of these accomplishments, but we all know this is just one of the many steps to success, and its going to take more hard work, dedication, and support to get these youth and many more to the next level on their road to success. Please make an effort to be a tutor/mentor, a supporter, and a donor so that we can continue to provide these type of success stories.

~HOPE, BUILD, BELIEVE, AND ACHIEVE~

Cabrini Connections' Students Visit Northwestern University

The Cabrini Connections' program is all about connecting students to resources as they work towards graduating from high school, college, and entering a career by the age of 25. And what better university for a student to visit than THE Northwestern University. 2009-2010 Program Assistant, Bradley Troast, did a remarkable job of planning the perfect trip and opportunity for the Cabrini Connections' student who were out of school for a CPS in-service day.

A wide range of students attended this trip. Our program provides services for 7-12 grade students residing in and around the Cabrini Green housing community, and we had just that in the group who took part in this opportunity. There were seniors all the way to seventh graders, who wanted to learn more about Northwestern, but more importantly the overall process of what it takes to get on the right track for college. Several of our veteran students attended the trip, but we also had some of our very new students who joined the group.

After a short ride on the train up to Evanston, we took a brief tour of South campus before we entered Alison Hall for lunch. The staff at the dining hall pleasantly greeted each person in the group and then the fun began. This was many of the students' first time in a college or university dining hall and at lunch time at that. Our students were a little nervous and hesitant to blend in with the older Northwestern students, but quickly became comfortable as they entered various lines to get their food. We then all ate together in the dining hall and were greeted by several of Bradley's NU friends who took the time out to eat lunch and interact with our students. They provided some helpful tips about how to survive college, things that the students could be doing now to ensure a college opportunity, and more importantly, just encouraged the students to continue to reach for their goals.

Next, we were off to an official informational session at the admissions office, and this was truly special becausee it was filled with next-year prospective students and their parents. This gave our students a real opportunity to be around students who were in the process of making their college decision and hear many of the questions that they had for the instructors. We then were led on a tour of the campus where the students got to see many of the historic buildings, landmarks, the student center, and just the overall life of an NU student.

I am confident that our students had a great experience and learned a lot with this opportunity. We would like to continue to provide our students with these types of opportunities to equip them with any and all of the resources they need so that they too will one day be able to say "I am a college student!" For this to happen we are going to need more and more people to support the Cabrini Connections' program and our efforts. One way is to make a donation to support the NU vs Illinois Challenge. Your gift to the NU Team and Cabrini Connections helps us continue the tutoring/mentoring that we offer, and shows the generosity and commitment of NU alumni to help inner city kids to college and careers.

Thanks Northwestern University for a great experience and opportunity yesterday...and the education you provided me, Bradley, Nicole, Chris and all of the other NU alums who are a part of the Cabrini Connections' program!!!

~Go Cats~

Lots happening. Read the blogs.

Read the blogs by Chris, Nicole and Tech Club to sty informed with what's happening at Cabrini Connections

This week Chris writes about college visits.

Also read this week's student spotlight and volunteer spotlight

In Nicole's blog you learn about tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region.

And the Photo Friday's articles on the Tech Club blog provides ideas of how to use technology. Volunteers are welcome to join tech club as well as teens.

St. Cloud State University visits Cabrini Connections

One of the big pushes this fall and throughout the entire year will be to get our students interested and exposed to the college experience. On October 29th Admissions Representative, Cortez Evans, visited the Cabrini Connections program and provided our students the opportunity to learn a little more about St. Cloud State University. Mr. Evans not only talked about special programs, opportunities, and resources that the University offers, he also discussed what our students can be doing currently to ensure a enrollment at the University.

During the presentation and video clip that Mr. Evans provided, he asked a lot of questions that directly applied to many our students which sparked further interest of those students. He discussed their Nursing program that interested LaFaye Garth and Terrisha Brownlow, he discussed athletics and the football program that interested returning student Raheem Muhammad, and he discussed their study abroad program that interested many of the students who attended the presentation.

Following the official presentation, Mr. Evans continued to meet and greet other volunteers and students in the program in an effort to educate everybody on the resources that could be obtained by becoming a student at St. Cloud State University. Cabrini Connections would like to thank Mr. Cortez Evans for not only visiting the our program and sharing information with our students, but for assisting us with getting our students interested in attending a college in the future and successful career following college!

Westwood College Visit

Recently, as part of the Cabrini Connections College Prep Program, we took a number of students to visit Westwood College, meeting with various administrators, students, professors and even the University President. This was the 2nd of many College visits that we will be organizing this year. The next is this coming Friday, Nov 7th, where we will be taking students to visit Chicago State University and The Illinois Institute of Technology. During our College visit series we are trying to expose students to the wide variety of schools in the Chicagoland area, everything from 2 year community colleges to elite schools such as Northwestern and The University of Chicago. The idea is to expose not only our Juniors and Seniors to various schools but also our underclassmen, so that they might be better able to visualize themselves at College in a few years and have something to strive for during their High School years.

At Westwood College the kids attended an admissions presentation geared towards urban youth that emphasized the affordability of Westwood and how it's focus on developing skills for particular careers, such as criminal justice, computer animation or design, ensures that graduates are well prepared for the working world and in most cases, already have a well-paying job lined up before they graduate. The University president joined us for the latter half of the presentation and spoke with the kids for a bit, which left an impression on them. Upon finding out that one of our students, Sean Mayfield, has a passion for animation he took us to a couple classrooms where animation classes were in session and encouraged us to sit in. After class we grabbed some pizza with the professor while she showed off some of her department's animation work, which was really impressive. After lunch we toured the rest of the campus, met up with one of our tutors, Stephanie, a senior at Westwood, who gave us the inside scoop on student life at Westwood and introduced us to some more faculty. All in all we had an exceptional time at Westwood and I think that some of our kids will definitely be giving the school serious consideration. Stay tuned for more updates from our future college visits.

Real College Life Experience

One of the true goals of the Cabrini Connections' program is for the students who enter our program to graduate from high school, take advantage of secondary education, and go on to the career of their choice. On Monday (Columbus Day) several of the Cabrini Connections' students had a "Real College Life Experience" at De Paul University.

The Cabrini Connections' staff (Chris Warren) and Tutor/Mentor Connection staff (Nicole White) transported several of the student to DePaul University for a private tour and informational session on campus. During this experience the students had the opportunity to observe the campus, interact with college students, get information about all aspects of DePaul University and college life in general, and ask any and all questions they could think of.

Just speaking with the staff and several students upon their return, this was definitely a worthwhile and beneficial experience for the students. And this is not the only opportunity for the students to get a better understanding of not only college life, but the admissions process and what it takes NOW to get to that college life. The Cabrini Connections' students will have the opportunity to visit Westwood College on October 24th, Chicago State University and Illinois Institute of Technology on November 7th.

We are making an effort to go above and beyond the weekly tutoring/mentoring sessions by getting our students exposure to the places where there hard work today can lead them into the future; and that place is the college or university of their choice! Supports of this concept and the overall Cabrini Connections' program can assist us in our process by making a financial contribution to our College Application Process fund. The money that we collect for this fund goes to assist students pay for the fees that come along with submitting those college applications.

"Don't let a College Application fee deter our students from reaping the benefits of the College Experience"

Thanks for the support!!!