“I think as an African American male who grew up on the South Side of Chicago, I always knew I needed to go to college,” says 23-year-old Chicago resident Kyle Larry.
And Larry did just that. He earned a full ride to a school that’s 1,100 miles east: Bates College in comparatively tiny — population 37,121 — Lewiston, Maine.
“I graduated class of 2021 with a double major in politics and psychology,” Larry says — and the accomplishment is due in no small part to Chicago Scholars.
Founded in 1996, the nonprofit works with students from under-resourced backgrounds for a seven-year cycle that covers the transition to college, through college, and beyond college toward their careers.