Friends of Sullivan Awards Annual Scholarship Helps Graduates Transition to College
$1000 Grant Awarded to 2021 Recipient
Friends of Sullivan is continuing a tradition started by the former Sullivan Alumni Organization and offering annual scholarships to graduating seniors. Our recipient this year is a young Nigerian immigrant, Victoria Amandianeze, who has received a full ride scholarship to Coe College in Cedar Rapids Iowa.
Principal Thomas continually identifies situations where deserving students who earn full ride scholarships often struggle to come up with the costs of transitioning to their new environment.
The parents of these students often lack the resources or even the awareness of the assistance needed to help their son or daughter acclimate to a new life on a college campus. Such was the case with Victoria - yet, the $1000 grant offered to her - much through the support of the Rogers Park Builders Group - has made a huge difference for her.
And kudos to Victoria’s mentor, Rogers Park resident and business owner Sheryl Rosenberg, for driving down to campus to help Victoria get settled.
Housing Grant of $5000 Awarded to 2020 Friends of Sullivan Scholarship Recipient
The 2020 scholarship awardee, Randy Young, a Sullivan High School football star, received $5000 in the form of a housing grant to assist him as he attended College of DuPage, and the opportunity to play football there. Randy’s dream of playing Division 3 football was delayed for a year - and he is benefitting from the Friends of Sullivan scholarship right now!
Randy graduated from Sullivan High School in June, 2020 sensing great excitement about his future. Four years earlier, having been raised in a broken West Side home, he knew he had to work hard at his chosen high school in order to achieve success.
Sullivan High School offered him a chance to succeed, and Randy sought after it. A new found love and passion - the sport of football - inspired him to double down on his school work and his athleticism - landing him with an opportunity to play college level football at College of DuPage.
And though Randy found the right combination of student aid and loans to enable him to attend COD, Randy came up short in one critical way - how was he going to afford both room and board while residing at COD?
Knowing that Randy would face this challenge, Principal Chad Thomas asked Friends of Sullivan to help out. Principal Thomas had long recognized that despite huge challenges, Randy had shown great commitment and focus - that if offered a helping hand, that Randy could excel. After an extensive interview process, in May, 2020 Friends of Sullivan agreed to furnish Randy with a $5000 scholarship - enough to help him cover his initial lodging costs while residing at COD.
Unfortunately, COVID interrupted Randy’s plans - yet, this summer (2021) - the dream started, and Randy is proudly attending classes and preparing for a football season ahead.
We hope to report more on Randy’s progress in future updates to this website.