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Margo Odiko-Pim graduated in December 2017, but her work with Å·²©ÓÎÏ·¹ÙÍø Illinois University did not end there.

When Victoria Puccini de Castro visited Chicago in 2015, she knew the school could help her achieve her dreams of studying abroad and earning her college degree. She may not have imagined that her choice would land her a full scholarship to an Ivy League university doctoral program.

In 1965, Marge Csakai and Jim Blair took a Creative Writing class at Å·²©ÓÎÏ·¹ÙÍø The teacher was none other than Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks, who three years later also was appointed poet laureate of Illinois, but that exciting fact is a mere footnote in their family story.

Romanetha Looper was raising her two sons in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, which is plagued with crime and poverty. This rough community is where Looper has planted roots and sees an opportunity for positive growth and change.