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Cheryl Hyman
on embracing challenges
Leads One of Largest Higher Education
Systems in the World
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City Colleges of Chicago
Chancellor Cheryl Hyman (Zbigniew Bzdak/Tribune Newspapers)
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April 5, 2015
I grew up in public housing on
Chicago's West Side. My parents used to struggle with addiction. My lowest point
came when, at 17, I dropped out of high school. I could have found a lot of
excuses for failing to reach my potential.I didn't choose the best path - at
first. But it didn't take long for me to realize that I wanted a different life,
and that I needed an education to get it. I returned to high school, graduated,
and set a goal of launching a career around my passion for technology.
I set my sights higher - on a
degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, a four-year college in Chicago
with a strong computer science program. After meeting with an advisor at the
school, however, I recognized I wasn't financially ready. So I decided to go to
City Colleges, where my grandmother had gone years earlier to become a nurse. I
earned my associate's degree and then transferred to the Institute of
Technology, where I completed a bachelor's in computer science. By going to
community college first, I saved thousands of dollars on my degree.
After college, I was hired by a major Chicago utility
company, and ultimately became one of the company's youngest executives. The
climb up the corporate ladder was not always clear, but I worked to maximize
every opportunity. I worked hard, and when that was not enough, I worked
harder.
But
these accomplishments didn't come by waving a magic wand. They didn't come by
politely raising a hand. They came from leaning in. If you embrace challenges, no matter how big, and keep
moving forward, one day you will look up and be surprised at how far you have
come.
I don't shy away from conflict or
confrontation, I have little patience for excuses, and I have a relentless
expectation of excellence - every day. These are the traits I look for when I
hire leaders in my organization.
Cheryl L. Hyman is
Chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, a 115,000-student network that is
one of the nation's largest community college systems. In that role, she is
leading a reinvention of the institution that has resulted in the highest number
of degrees awarded in the system's history. She is proud to note that her
parents, mentioned in this article, survived their challenges too, and serve as
great sources of support for her today.
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Kenya
attack: 147 dead in Garissa University assault
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Photo by Dai Kurokawa/European Pressphoto
Agency
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From
Africa
At least 147 people, mostly
students, have been killed in an assault by al-Shabab militants on a university
in north-eastern Kenya.
Heavily armed attackers stormed
Garissa University early on Thursday, killing two security guards then firing
indiscriminately on students.
Four of the gunman were
eventually surrounded in a dormitory, and died when their suicide vests
detonated. It is the deadliest attack yet by
al-Shabab.
The militants singled out
Christians and shot them, witnesses said.
More than 500 students managed to
escape, 79 of whom were injured. A fifth gunman has reportedly been
arrested.
Eric Wekesa, a student at
Garissa, told Reuters he locked himself in his room before eventually
fleeing.
"What I managed to hear from them
is 'We came to kill or finally be killed.' That's what they said."
"It was horrible, there was
shooting everywhere," another student, Augustine Alanga told the BBC's Newsday
programme. He said it was "pathetic" that the
university was only guarded bty two police officers.
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned what he called a "terrorist attack" and
said the UN was ready to help Kenya "prevent and counter terrorism and violent
extremism".
The United States said it was
offering Nairobi assistance to take on al-Shabab and would continue to work with
others in the region to take on the group.
The Kenyan government has named
Mohamed Kuno, a high-ranking al-Shabab official, as the mastermind of the
attack.
Al-Shabab says it attacked the
university because it is at war with Kenya, BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper
reports.
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Accountability on Trial
The
Atlanta school cheating convictions are unhelpful to education reform.
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Former Deerwood Academy
assistant principal Tabeeka Jordan, center, is led to a holding cell after a
jury found her guilty in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating
trial.
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By Robert Pondiscio
This is how it starts. You work
with these kids all year. You teach them how to do fractions or find the main
idea. They struggle; they make mistakes. They get it. They forget it. You keep
at it. Some days you go home with tire tracks on your back, but you come back
the next day. They're your kids, even the ones who push your buttons. Especially
them.
On test day, you look over their
shoulders while proctoring. You cringe. A careless mistake. Another one. You
know they know this stuff. You've been over it enough. The one kid, he's bright
enough but unfocused. Always rushing; always has to be done first. Use the
remaining time to check your answers, you suggest. "I did," he says.
Your finger comes to rest on his
answer sheet. "Check this one."
This is how it ends.
In an Atlanta courtroom, with 11 educators convicted of criminal charges in a
cheating scandal dating back to 2001. Forty-four schools, 180 educators, 35
indictments. The ones convicted
Wednesday face up to 20 years in prison. They were all found guilty under the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Charges usually brought
against mobsters and organized crime bosses were brought against elementary
school teachers.
It's hard to look at what's
happened in Atlanta without alarm and a bit of revulsion. How could this happen?
What signal, spoken or unspoken, leads elementary school teachers to engage in
"organized and systemic misconduct" bad enough to warrant a conviction on
racketeering charges? No one wakes up one morning with a fully formed plot in
their head to change hundreds of test scores in dozens of schools. Who bears the
responsibility for creating "a culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation"
that leads to "cheating at all levels" in a major American school system that
goes "unchecked for years"?
The teachers and administrators
convicted Wednesday cannot be forgiven. But they deserve some small degree of
sympathy. "They got a signal from somebody, whether it's their principal or
superintendent, that we need to see rising test scores at all costs," observes
Peter Cunningham, a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of
Education, who now runs Education Post, a non-profit ed-reform organization.
The
correct objects of sympathy here are Atlanta's children. They were lied to at
best, robbed at worst, and led to believe they were where they needed to be
academically when they were not. They were denied the education they deserved
for expediency's sake.
Accountability is supposed to mean long-overdue
attention to those our education system has historically neglected. Now it also
means elementary school teachers perp walked, led from a courtroom in handcuffs.
Maybe it's justice. But it's a sad day nonetheless.
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There is no reason for your child to be left
behind in school or in life. You must take control of your child's education.
Those who control the education of the children control the future of that
race.
The Black Star Project
is
recruiting:
1) 10 male
or female high school students interested in learning to build websites and in
understanding code in our Youthtech program
2) 10 young
men and young women in 6th to 12th grade who want to accelerate in math for our
Math Bootcamp
3) 10 boys in 1st
to 4th grade whose parents want them to become serious and effective readers for
our Black Male Reading Academy
4) 10 young
women and young men in 5th to 8th grade for our Saturday University focusing on
reading, writing and math.
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Coaches Seated - Ivan Lee, Ava Myles and George
Solorio
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All classes are
at The Black Star Project, 3509 South King Drive, Chicago, Illinois. Please
call 773.285.9600 to register for any of the above classes or for more
information about these free programs. Parents must have a high level of support
and engagement with our academic programs. Enrollment is limited.
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Attend
the
2015 Black
Star Project
College
Fair
on
Saturday,
April 25, 2015
The
Chicago Lake Shore Hotel
4900 South
Lake Shore Drive
Chicago,
Illinois
10:00 am
to 1:00 pm
50 colleges
and universities will exhibit including:
- Alabama A&M University - HBCU
- Benedictine University
- Carthage College
- Central Michigan University
- City College of Chicago
- Cornell College
- DePaul University
- Dominican University
- East West University
- Eastern Illinois University
- Fisk University HBCU
- Governors State University
- Illinois Institute of Technology
- Indiana State University
- Indiana University Northwest
- Kentucky State University - HBCU
- Lane College - HBCU
- Lawrence University
- Lincoln University - HBCU
- Luther College
- Mississippi Valley State University -
HBCU
- Morgan State University - HBCU
- National Louis University
- New Mexico State University
- Northern Michigan University
- Northeastern Illinois University
- Northern Illinois University
- Northwestern University
- Prairie View A&M University
- Ripon College
- Robert Morris University
- Rust College - HBCU
- University of Chicago
- University of Illinois Chicago
- University of Illinois Springfield
- University of Southern Alabama
- University of Southern Indiana
- University of Wyoming
- U.S. Coast Guard
- U.S. Marines
- U.S. Naval Academy
- Valparaiso
University
- Vincennes University
- Wilberforce University - HBCU
- Xavier (LA) - HBCU
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| The 2013 College Fair attracts more than 1,000
participants. |
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Great universities like DePaul University was
there!
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Students, parents and educators from
Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Flint and
Lansing - Michigan; Gary, Michigan City, Bloomington, Evansville, South Bend,
Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, East Chicago and Hammond - Indiana; Davenport, Iowa
City, Clinton, DesMoines, Cedar Rapids and Bettendorf - Iowa; Milwaukee, Racine,
Madison, Kenosha and Green Bay - Wisconsin; St. Louis and Columbia - Missouri;
and Rockford, Peoria, Aurora, Springfield, East St. Louis, Joliet, Carbondale,
Decatur, Danville, Kankakee; Bloomington, Quincy, Champaign, Waukegan and
Chicago - Illinois are encouraged to attend this college fair. Please
call 773.285.9600 for more information.
Click Here to see and hear
the last Black Star Project's College Fair.
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Attend workshop with the
Hip Hop Principals
of the
Coles Model of Excellence
Language Academy in
Chicago, Illinois
Mr. Jeff
Dase (left above) and Mr. El-Roy Estes (right above) are both products of the
Chicago Public School system in which they work. Coles School is a neighborhood
school, K-8 with 521 students, that has become a Level 1 School in Good Standing
under the leadership of Mr. Dase and Mr. Estes.
Learn how
Mr. Dase and Mr. Estes, Hip Hop Principals, turned around a
chaotic, low-performing school at the National Council for Educating
Black Children Convention in Indianapolis between April 15 and April
17, 2015. They will share the initiatives and strategies which gave them with a
proven track record of success.
Click Here for a preview of
their methods as heard on WVON Radio.
Click Here for more information about
the National Council for Educating Black Children
Convention.
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I Am a Young
Man: Honoring My Past,
Celebrating
My Present, Anticipating My Future
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| COSEBOC Annual Gathering of
Leaders |
Our young men are crying
out to be understood and recognized for their intelligence, talent and
possibility. The 9th annual Gathering of Leaders will support you, as
educators, to do so. We are building a movement of educators and their allies
to take the lead in creating a positive narrative and supportive learning
environment for all.
Join 700 educators on
the campus of the University of Memphis and share your passion for ensuring that
all boys and young men of color achieve academic success. Highlights will
include:
- Special session For School Principals
Only
- Special session For Members Only
held at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel
- Our traditional, extraordinary Call to
Action by young men of color
- COSEBOC Talks: Plenary sessions with
nationally-recognized speakers and educator/student respondents
- Workshops on research, policy, and practice
in the seven core areas of the COSEBOC Standards -
Assessment,
Parent/Family/Community Partnership, Curriculum and Instruction,
School Environment and Climate, School Leadership, School Counseling, and School
Organization
- Workshops led by COSEBOC School Award
winners
- The Barbershop Project
- FY15 COSEBOC School Award Dinner
- Networking Cafe
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