70 CHA college students get tips on how to “Stay the Course”
CHICAGO (Jan. 9, 2020) - Representatives from prominent corporate organizations – including BMO Harris, the Chicago Bulls, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Lyric Opera - networked with 70 Chicago Housing Authority college scholars Wednesday at Loyola University to discuss career opportunities at “Take Flight: Staying the Course."
Staying the Course is a check-in event designed to help CHA students in college stay connected with those who provide internship and employment opportunities.
More than a dozen corporate representatives spoke to students about their own careers and offered counsel in a networking session on how to achieve their dreams and stay afloat in the college world – financially and otherwise.
“Not only do we want to help students get to college – we want to make sure they have the resources necessary to stay and be successful there,” said CHA Acting CEO James Bebley. “This event makes sure they know where to find those resources, and also provides them with connections to a variety of prominent organizations and networking opportunities that can lead to jobs. The name says it all: we want to help them stay the course.”
The students were CHA scholarship winners and previous participants of CHA's “Take Flight College Send-Off" trunk party, which happens every August.
The event was sponsored by BMO Harris Bank. Among the representative organizations that participated:
- America Needs You (ANY)
- BMO Harris
- Chicago Bulls
- Cabrera Capital Markets
- Chicago Housing Authority
- First Eagle Bank
- Globetrotters
- The Habitat Company
- Lyric Opera
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital
- Olenick
- RSM
- Rush University Medical Center
- Skills for Chicagoland's Future
Beyond the networking session with local firms, the event also provided students lunch, connections with CHA's College Coaches, peer learning, free professional headshots, and giveaways, including $200 vouchers for school books to five lucky winners.
CHA provided information on the CHA Scholarship, which opens its application period on Tuesday, Jan. 14. A total of 270 scholarships will be awarded in 2020. CHA previously awarded 220 scholarships totaling $250,000 to students attending 90 colleges nationwide to help them pay for their education.
In 2019, over 50 CHA students who attend four-year institutions locally and nationwide attended City Colleges of Chicago over the summer and transferred credits to their college, getting these students to graduation quicker and with less debt.
This event was underwritten by CHA's non-profit partner, Springboard to Success, through the generous sponsorship of BMO Harris.
For photos, click https://thecha.photoshelter.com/download-page/D0000Z03ZANeBvM0