Stories of Our Success

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

From Chicago Lights to the real world, find out what former participants are up to now.

Lakeisha Williams

THEN, Lakeisha Williams was a Chicago Lights Tutoring student who loved math and science. She worked with Michele Ormont, her tutor, from about fourth grade until she graduated St. Benedict High School in 2019. “Michele played a big role in my success in school,” Lakeisha recalls. “[She] used her deep understanding of math to help clarify complex concepts for me. We often relied on library worksheets to deepen my understanding, and this helped me immensely in my college math class.”

Lakeisha attended St. Benedict with the help of a Chicago Lights scholarship, enjoyed technology enrichment classes on Tutoring evenings, completed a technology internship as part of Tutoring’s Career Development program, and continued to college with a Greer Foundation Scholarship. “The support from the [Chicago Lights] staff and their genuine excitement to see students succeed made a big difference for me and motivated me to keep pushing toward my goals,” she recalls.

Ashley Collins

THEN, Ashley Collins was a Chicago Lights Tutoring student eager to try all the things the program had to offer. A part of the program from fifth grade through her high school graduation, Ashley remembers doing all the worksheets she could get her hands on, going on a field trip to the stock market, participating in Career Development program mock interviews, a fashion show covered by local news, and internships, which then turned into a part-time job. “I loved Career Development, and it taught me how to be a young adult,” she recalls.

And all these experiences made her world a little broader. She says Chicago Lights helped her “realize all the choices and see all the options. I could go to college or trade school, and I knew I had a lot of support behind me for whatever I decided to do.”

She worked with several different tutors over the years, but Allison Branen, her first tutor, is still a part of her life. “She came to my high school graduation, and I went to a baby shower for her son, who’s five now,” she says. “We still text and talk from time to time.”

Kaylen Springfield

THEN, Kaylen Springfield was an eager young child who had heard about the Chicago Lights Urban Farm around her neighborhood and was ready to participate in their programs the moment she was old enough.

“I know I was the youngest you could be to be eligible,” she recalls with a laugh. “All my siblings and cousins also went to Farm Camp.” And once she got started, she didn’t stop. Kaylen attended the Farm’s summer camps throughout her elementary years. “We would make natural things, like toothpaste with ingredients we’d harvested, and we learned how to take care of plants,” she recalls. And it turns out, those lessons stuck with her.