Tammie Leigh Brown-Edwards, who recently completed her master’s degree in college student personnel at Western Illinois University, said she is not oblivious to the needs of a college student. She plans to put her experience to use as the advisor for the new Hope Chicago program at WIU.
“I hope to be a one-stop shop for them,” she said. “I want to be their cheerleader and a great resource for parents and students.”
Hope Chicago describes itself as an “innovative two-generation scholarship program providing college and vocational scholarships to Chicago Public School students and their parents.”
This past summer, Hope Chicago formalized partnerships with 23 Illinois institutions, including WIU, to support its inaugural Fall 2022 Hope Scholar cohort.
Western’s inaugural Hope Chicago class has around 60 students.
Brown-Edwards said she meets with all of them twice a month and plans to collaborate with WIU’s reach counselor to organize programs and workshops for the students.
“We would have workshops on topics like time management, and I’d be doing vision boards with them because I want to figure out their goals and aspirations for this semester,” she said.
Brown-Edwards is also an at-large member of the Macomb city council and has been involved with a variety of diversity and social justice initiatives in the community.
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