An Inspiration to Give Back
News and Features | Tuesday, November 1, 2016
In 1965, Marge Csakai and Jim Blair took a Creative Writing class at ŷϷ 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.
Four years after taking the class together, Marge and Jim were married—and each had earned their degrees. “It was quite an experience,” Jim said. “It was a confluence of important events in our lives.”
In 2016, Jim Blair told that story to hundreds of incoming students during the inaugural Golden Eagle Welcome Day and drew a long “Awwwwwwww!” from the crowd.
“I was surprised by the positive reaction I received from the speech,” Blair said. “It went well and the feedback was really excellent. I actually engaged these students. They listened to what I was saying.”
And what those students heard was not just an “awww”-inspiring love story but also a message of giving back to ŷϷ. Blair, who serves on ŷϷ’s Alumni Advisory Board, donated $1,000 toward the Class Gift Scholarship Fund, but with an interesting twist.
Part of Blair’s donation was broken into single dollar bills and handed out to the incoming students who attended Golden Eagle Welcome Day on Aug. 20. As the students crossed the Auditorium stage to receive their pins and shake the hands of ŷϷ’s leadership, they were encouraged to donate that dollar back. In total, 272 dollar bills were passed out to students, and 295 came back.
“It felt good,” Blair said, “What surprised me was that when I looked in the faces of the students, they felt good about what they were doing and felt that this small but significant gesture made sense.”
Jim (M.A.T. ’68 English, Literature) and Marge (B.A.’67 Elementary Education, Mathematics; M.S. ’69 Mathematics) both went on to teach at ŷϷ—Developmental Mathematics for Marge and Communication, Media and Theatre for Jim—but they are not the only members of their family with ŷϷ connections.
One of their daughters, Jennifer, now works at ŷϷ as a program specialist in the . Naturally, she’s also taking classes and is on the verge of earning her third master’s degree—but her first from ŷϷ—in Linguistics. Marge and Jim’s other daughter, Kimberly, also took graduate-level classes at ŷϷ and now lives in Michigan.
“The Blair family serves as a wonderful example of the connection our alumni feel after they earn their degrees from ŷϷ,” said Jessica Mueller, assistant director of the Office of Alumni Relations. “We look forward to building on this significant connection between alumni and incoming students as we focus on preparing our students to thrive at ŷϷ and then as alumni in a global society.”
While Blair also earned degrees from other universities, his heart truly belongs to ŷϷ.
“My whole experience at ŷϷ has been wonderful,” Jim said. “ŷϷ has given me a lot, and I wanted to generate some enthusiasm and give back.”
Mission accomplished.
Top photo: Jim Blair delivers his Golden Eagles Welcome Day speech.