Christopher Huff

Christopher Huff is a graduate student in social work and is originally from Chicago. He enjoys watching football during the playoffs and also like learning new things.

 

Christopher’s childhood wasn't the best. He grew up in the south side of Chicago where three gangs connected to one another and he lived right in the edge of all three. Growing up around drug use and violence, Christopher joined a gang at the age of thirteen. Christopher said “I joined it out of fear in 8th grade because kids like me would get beat up.” He got out at the age of fifteen after he got charged as an adult and almost had to spend the rest of his life in jail.

His turning point in life was when he got out of jail and started following God. He said “I needed to find another way out of the hood so i started following God.” But he also found another way out of the hood by going to school and started a group called “United As One.”  Christopher got a full scholarship to college.

Christopher wants to become the mayor of Chicago in ten years when he finishes school he wants to build a coalition to rebuild the whole school system in Chicago. He wants to defeat racism , classism and also sexisum especial in the city of Chicago.

Brian Perea

Brian was my interviewee and I can say I learned a lot from him.  He was a really nice and a good person to talk to. I chose him because he went to Kelvyn Park and he did what many students like to do and never go to class and having to take summer school and night school to make up our classes. Brian is a DJ and has a great passion for music.

Brian’s view on education is that he regrets not staying in school and he says, “it’s kind of embarrassing telling people that because I should have been done with college by now.” Right now Brian is trying to finish school and begin his career.

What inspired me about Brian is how he works with kids and that he loves doing it. His work is making our community a better place because he helps kids out by helping them get focused on school and life so that they make positive decisions.

His issue with our city is how he does not like when people make bad choices like gangbanging. He said that those people need to, “make better choices and become someone in life.”

His views on heroes are that they are people that made him see things that he thought that were easy were in reality things that get harder every year. He told us, “enjoy life now because once you leave your mom’s house and want to go back you will have to pay a price.” Brian made me see that once you get older things are not always easy.

Maria Trejo

Maria Trejo is a very kind and helpful person that works at Ames Middle School as the Elevate Director. She primarily brings in programs that will help develop 7th and 8th graders. She loves working with families in terms of just trying to guide them to a positive path in life and preparing them to be a leader and not a follower in high school because its a difficult transition as well.

She went to college and was a part of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. At first she started off as the parent volunteer at Monroe Elementary School when her daughters were young. She found the organization by volunteering and from there she moved up within the organization. She found herself liking education and she got married very young so she didn't finish college. At that time her husband had a land loaning business and they got a large amount of money with that business, but it soon ended because they got divorced.

She started going back to school many years after she graduated high school. But it was very difficult for her to go to school and take care of two children. Her daughters now are in college and both have scholarships. She does not regret her daughters, but she definitely regrets getting married. And now she has a wonderful job and two successful daughters. She enjoys helping kids so much that she decided to become a teacher, so a few years she graduated as a bilingual cultural teacher, but she was not yet able to teach in a classroom because of the positions she has now. She feels like she has more access to families and students to just be in a classroom.   

She thinks that students need more help with their education. She thinks also thinks that Ames should stay as a public school because if it becomes a military academy it will affect Kelvyn Park a lot because it will be difficult to to have high schoolers and middle schoolers in the same school . She did everything she could to help Ames Middle School and Kelvyn Park High School but it didn't change CPS’ decision. She feels proud of her success even though she didn’t get what she and others were fighting for, but she now wants to study law so she can be able to help the schools that have a similar problem as Ames Middle School.

Maria Trejo said to enjoy and participate with the clubs and activities our school has. Take advantage to study because there's a lot of kids that don't have an education. She also said that to not have kids at a young age and to wait until we finish college because it was difficult for her at her age and that its going to be even more difficult for a teenager. She believes this because you have to worry about school, paying for books and all the things you’ll need such as a baby, buying things for not only yourself but for the baby, and having the time to take care of another human being.     

Jorge Rodriguez

               Jorge Rodriguez      When Jorge was eight he moved to Chicago with his family. He was raised mostly by women and his grandpa, his dad left when he was six. His best childhood memories was when he was six because his dad wasn’t in the house and he felt comfort he felt safe for the first time. The reason he felt safe and secure was because of his dad left, he wasn't that great of a parent he was a drunk and was violent. Some Things he regrets doing is not doing great in high school. He liked College because he studied and had some fun. He made friends and he was learning and having fun. Jorge has two jobs he doesn't get that much free time but he enjoys his jobs, when he has time to spend he likes having fun with his friends or with someone. He makes every little thing count that is good. He enjoys his job because it’s something he likes to do and he studied for it. He feels great when he teaches students to make the best they can do in school because later on their life they’re going to regret they didn’t do good in school. One experience that Jorge had was having a student get shot and killed. The student was in the hospital because he was in comma, then after that the student died. Some people started talking about students getting killed and they were pointing out Jorge and the student. Jorge felt in a way mad and bad,mad because they were kinda blaming Jorge that it was his fault. He knew that it wasn't his fault because his student was shot in a weekend and he doesn't works in weekends. He felt bad because the people talking about deaths didn’t even know his students name. Jorge likes to spend his time with others and have a good time, he mostly likes to go out and would go anywhere. He likes to travel to new places he seems to enjoy traveling hes been in a lot of places that seem fun to go and explore. He cares about his family and especially his kids he likes to spend time with them and raise them and not mistakes. If he would’ve his own school he will make learning fun and students will like it. He doesn't knows if he wants students to wear uniform but he wants them to feel good. Jorge is making changes with other students on how to think before you act,he has made some students make better choices in school and outside. Some students have improved their grades or accomplished some of their goals. Jorge is great person that enjoys peoples company and likes helping people out.  

Portraits of Community Heroes

The person I interviewed was Cynthia Rodriguez, she was very excited about the interview, well I kind of forgot how she felt about the interview.

But anyways we started on asking her about her life in general.

She is the first one in her family to go to college and is currently studying Latino studies. During her free time she likes to hang out with her friends.

After asking questions about her life in general we moved on to asking questions about education. She thinks that getting an education in life is important because you’ll get a brighter future and life. She also thinks that school should teach their students to ask more questions.

After asking questions about education we moved on to what work she does. Right now she is trying to stop mistreatment for for workers who work hard and is trying to get them more rights.

Jarrett Diamond

Jarrett Diamond was born on May,28th born and raised on the east side of Chicago. Traveled a lot

at a young age.  Mr. Diamond likes listening to music and he likes to sit and think, he also enjoys basketball and said “Basketball is a tool to get away sometimes.” He likes life’s challenges, “Achieving little goals leads to achieving bigger goals.” He thinks the media changes the outlook of how people really are, he also thinks all people are crazy. Mr. Diamond says “Don’t quit, don’t settle for nothing keep working hard, work harder to get by, always set goals higher than what is expected, work for whatever you want.” He attended Small

Lane College.

He thinks education is needed, everybody globally has education in common. “Education is the key in life,

it’ll get you further in life, quitting is never an option.” Dropping out= Boredom, Boredom= getting in trouble. Don’t drop out. “You find yourself in college, college is the real deal, college is ten times more fun than high school.” He thinks suspension rates are ridiculous but understandable. Success= knowing how to play the system. “Do good the whole school year especially the end of the quarter,start strong and finish stronger.”

He says “Education will get you into the door.” He thinks that in college you find out how good your parents

raised you. But he also think college isn’t for everyone because some people are too spoiled. “Learn how to

play the system and talk to your teachers.”

“Don’t settle for nothing doing anything, learn how to do… Even if you got to watch 100 times.” He thinks every goal is achievable, “Never give up on anything in life” He says don’t judge anyone until you put yourself in their shoes, give everyone respect and feel some type of way about them and don’t look down and think you’re better than someone who doesn’t have anything because people change everyday. You can’t judge anyone because of their appearance because the poor could be the rich and the richest looking people you see could be the poor ones.

He thinks that everybody graduates from kindergarten,less people graduate from 8th grade, even less people graduate from high school and even less people graduate from college, and even less people go back to get their masters or PHD. “School is to help the system in some type of way I can’t explain but education is needed.” He says his high school experience was a roller coaster, he went to two different high schools, he went popular, he played basketball, he also had girls, he was fighting, he did a little bit of everything in high school. “I see a little bit of myself in certain students, I be like I was there, I understand where ya’ll are coming from, but I didn’t quit because quitting wasn’t an opinion.”

He says at a young age he went through a lot, “But you can’t make it an excuse not to finish.” Dropping out of high school never crossed his mind “Because I honestly like school, that’s one of the reasons I work in the school now.” He thinks people that sleep a lot are broke, “People sleep when they’re broke because they have nothing else to do, you can’t get paid to sleep, sleeping isn’t a job.”

Maura Nugent

       Maura grew up in Evanston , because of the segregation in her school and community it affected her to teach social justice . She’s married and has two kids . Maura wants to accomplish happy and successful children and return to teaching , to be one of the best teachers . She taught at Kelvyn Park High School for six and a half years . “ I think every mistake that I made in my life I learned from them . . . I tend to not believe in mistakes . . . you always learn something and grow as a person .” She’s insecure , but has no regrets , learns from and admits her mistakes . Maura went to college and studied the ocean for a bit . She has great opinions and speaks her mind .

        She thinks that CPS schools are the best school to attend, or they should be, and that everybody should know and get along with each other in their own community .  Maura thinks that suspension is an unacceptable thing and it’s not really solving anything . She also believes that not all students have equal education because of charter schools . Also, students will probably think they’re not smart or good enough just because they didn’t get accepted to any of those schools .

        Maura was on her students to do good, she was an English teacher and she also taught Social justice after school . She was the one who started the program . She believes that it’s way harder to grow up in Chicago than Evanston, it’s where people struggle more . One of the reasons she wants to go back to teaching is so her and her students can do more community work . She thinks every student can get to college, but teachers have to push students through high school first . It’s good that she says that and she was hard on her students because it means that she wants students to be successful, happy, and to change the world.

      Maura stated “... you hear it all the time “you’re the future”, but it’s true and it’s your terms of power to change the world.” She believes that we can make the world and the community a better place, she’s inspirational. She says that we are the heroes and the one who can change this generation to a better place, because now the world is sometimes a scary and dark place with youth violence, violence, and the color of your skin .

    Other than us being heroes for our generation, teachers can be heroes too. Teachers who are trying their hardest and trying to be the best or at least great are also heroes . Especially when they try to push their students to work hard and to make them do the best they can. “ I think all students are able to go to college, but the teachers also have to push the students themselves.” Teachers who don’t push them that hard would seem as if they don’t care and that looks bad on them. Teachers who are willing to do anything to see their students bright and successful, always pushing them through the good and bad, and not giving up on any students are also heroes to our community .