This summer, Program Officer Jessica Jones-Lewis interviewed two recipients of the Logan Scholarship, a Kelly High School program led by Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) and funded by the Reva and David Logan Foundation.
Background
In 2015, Kartemquin Films produced a film about the Kelly College Prep Girls Soccer Team, partially funded by the Foundation. The film followed three young women from Brighton Park as they went through high school and participated in soccer. It examined their struggles with poverty, family, immigration, and the perils of trying to accomplish something more. During the filming of the documentary, several of the teens were actively organizing with BPNC to improve the Brighton Park neighborhood and support the multi-year campaign to renovate Kelly Park directly across the street from Kelly High School, which had been unusable for soccer. With little to no funding to pay for buses to take the girls to practice or take the girls to soccer games, Kelly’s soccer team and its partnership with BPNC was a unique opportunity to impact Brighton Park.
When Kartemquin released the film, BPNC went on a couple junkets with the young women, the Kelly principal, and other leaders to talk about the community and its needs. Richard Logan, President of the Reva and David Logan Foundation, discovered them at one of these junkets and approached BPNC to see how the Foundation could support young women at Kelly High School. Through a variety of conversations and strategy sessions, they designed the Logan Scholarship.
The original scholarship helped cover costs of tuition for undergraduate and master’s degrees for 3 young women, but then shifted to focus on supporting 5-6 women at Kelly with their undergraduate degrees. The $20,000 award helps to close the financial gap that remains after all their financial aid and scholarships are applied, a deficit that otherwise prevents many young people from graduating. In addition to tuition costs, the scholarship has evolved to include support services and an emergency fund for all the unexpected costs associated with attending college. It’s been an enormous success.
Our first interviewee is Diana, who majored in English and Creative Writing and graduated May 2025. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Hispanic Literature.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Jessica: Diana, why was college an important step for you right out of high school?
Diana: I immigrated here 9 years ago. The way I explain it to people is: there are 10 doors, and 9 out of 10 are open for people who were born and raised here. 8 out of 10 are going to be closed for me, just because I didn’t have some knowledge or privileges that other people have here. I need a key for those doors, and anything I can get—either college, internships, university—it’s pretty important to me. I knew that I wanted to pursue higher education, and since I got here, my family, my classmates, my teachers would tell me, “All you can do is high school.” But different doors kept opening.
The Alternative Application [for Illinois Financial Aid] became a thing when I was still in high school; when I was a freshman that was not a thing, so that’s when people were telling me I was not going to be able to pursue higher education. I like proving everyone wrong, even myself. Back then I didn’t think I would be able to pursue a Master’s, and now I’m doing it. I wanted to do it as fast as I can just because I have the time and I still get support from my parents. I need time to get all those keys, as many as I can.
Jessica: How else did high school prepare you for the next step? And in what ways did it not prepare you?
Diana: I had really good teachers at Kelly that prepared me for the workload, like the pressure of certain assignments, meeting certain requirements. I had a teacher who wanted my class to get Honors credit but we couldn’t because we were part of the bilingual program, and for some reason we couldn’t get both. So she said, “Even if you don’t get the credit, you will get the knowledge.” It was a tough class, but I got the experience, the hard work it takes to be in an Honors class.
It had a lot to do with those teachers. They gave me a lot of warnings like, “College is not going to be as easy, you’re not going to have this close of a relationship with your professor in college.” I didn’t really listen to them at the time because I was like, “Nah, they’re overreacting,” but they weren’t. I’m pretty grateful for those teachers.
And the ways I felt unprepared—it was a little bit hard for me to adjust to college because I thought it was going to be the same dynamic and it wasn’t. Even though they told me that structure-wise it was going to be more independent, the assignments and responsibilities were going to be on me and no one was going to be there to push me or expect something from me as a teacher in high school would, I didn’t get to experience that before college. And they told me that was going to happen, but I guess it was my own ignorance that made me unprepared. I should listen more.
Jessica: It’s always hard to believe other people until you experience it. I hear that. Can you paint a picture of what your first year of college was like?
Diana: My first year, I didn’t expect to be fully on my own. I remember one time I had a doctor’s appointment and I was like, “Oh my god, I have to tell my professor.” And I went to him and I told him, “Tomorrow I might need to leave a bit earlier because I have a doctor’s appointment.” And he told me, “It’s your time. We don’t care if you’re here. We don’t care if you leave early.” It was more like a joke, but he straight up told me, “We don’t care if you’re here or not.” If it had been in high school, some of my teachers would have been like, “Are you okay? What is going on?” It would have been different.
It was pretty hard. My grades, I’ve never been a C student, and I got C’s and B’s for my first semester, and it was really hard on me because I take a lot of pride in my grades and that’s my motivation. So when I saw that I was like, “This cannot be happening.” My second semester, that first year, I had to lock in. It took a little while. I was trying to understand the whole dynamic of college and I had to take fewer classes than I took my first semester, but I think that helped me start getting used to the structure and responsibility.
My second semester got pretty lonely because it’s not like high school, everyone is in their own world and has their own struggles. They go to class and they don’t talk to anybody, and then they leave class. So that was a little bit challenging too. There would be days that I wouldn’t talk at all. My first words of the day would be after getting home and seeing my family and being like, “Oh, hi, I’m here.” And I would realize this was the first time I’d talked the whole day. So that was also a little bit hard.
I had some high school friends at the time that were going to UIC as well, so that helped me. But there were some ups and downs for that first year.
Jessica: So you were a commuter student to campus. Do you think that some of the structural aspects would have been different if you had stayed on campus?
Diana: Yeah, definitely. Later on, I joined clubs when I was old enough to stay late, because they’re meant to be for people in the dorms. Most of them are 7pm, 8pm, and if I stayed, I would be getting home at 8, 9, that would have been too late for me. It would have been totally different for me if I had been at the dorms or closer to campus.
Jessica: How did you find out about opportunities for meeting new people?
Diana: We have the involvement fairs where we learn a lot about clubs. I would go because you get freebies, so it would be fun to go and get information. I never really thought about joining or trying to get more involved until my second year. I did have some friends from high school, but we had different schedules so we wouldn’t really see each other, and I started to get pretty lonely. I struggled with depression and anxiety for my second year, and I had the privilege to have therapy outside of school. Through that I was able to get the courage to go to events. I started going to events by myself which was pretty scary, but I knew if I were to go with a friend I would spend the whole event with them and I wouldn’t make an effort to meet other people. It did help me in the long run.
Jessica: Can you share the support that you received from the Logan Scholarship program before you started college, while you were in school, and then as you’ve graduated?
Diana: Before starting college, I remember they immediately sent me a list of materials for school that I could ask for. [My student support coordinator] was like, “Even if you don’t think you need it right now, ask for it, because you might need it later on.” I remember I was really hesitant. There was an iPad option, and I was like, “I don’t know if I’m gonna need that,” and she was like, “Trust me, you’re gonna need it later on.” And then I did. Most of my books are now on that iPad. It was a good choice. I guess for me, I struggled a lot throughout the whole experience with asking for stuff. It felt too exploitative. So having people like Maria and Esmeralda tell me, “No, you can ask, you can ask,” that was really nice.
For my financial aid, I got a little bit of an issue with it in my third year. [The financial aid department] took it all away. The scholarship helped me a lot with that, which I was really grateful for. But it was beyond the money or the tuition. I remember for the Alternative Application, not a lot of people know how to fill that one out. Every time I had to fill that out, I texted or emailed Maria asking, “Can you please help me?” And she was pretty familiar with the process. I don’t know anything about taxes, so I was really confused and scared of filling something out wrong and then getting in some kind of trouble. Even after she left the scholarship, she helped me again. She told me to come to Kelly. She said, “It’s my lunch time but I can help you really fast.” It was those kinds of details that helped me. The money is really helpful, but it’s not the only thing that’s gonna make you succeed.
I’m a first-generation student. For undergrad, I did have friends from high school who were going to college too so I could ask them questions, but now none of my friends are going for their Master’s. My family supports me to an extent, but there’s some things they don’t know or understand. So just having someone to talk about it, a community to ask questions about it. Sometimes I will say to Esmeralda, “I don’t know what’s going on,” and she will say, “Maybe you can ask this person, maybe you can communicate to this department.” Things that may be common sense, but sometimes I get really overwhelmed, so I do need someone to tell me, “This could be an option, you can do this.” That’s been pretty helpful, even after the scholarship.
Jessica: How do you feel that the Logan Scholars program was different than the opportunities the university provided you as a student?
Diana: It goes back to how involved the scholarship is with the students and how personal it can get. For the check ins, we would talk about school but also about personal situations. I was offered multiple times, “If you need support we can contact a therapist, we can help you with that.” UIC does offer some counseling sessions that you can go to, but just having someone that knows you, and is getting updates on your life and is interested in that, it’s pretty different from other institutions or scholarships.
Also, there’s a kind of commitment from both parties. I know you and you are helping me, and I have a face to the person who is helping me, so I have a commitment to do the best I can with what you are giving me, and you have a commitment to help me. I think it’s a really nice cycle. The scholarship really wants you to succeed not just academically but in other areas of your life. If you succeed in those areas, it’s going to be easier for you to succeed in college.
I remember when my last story got published, I think Esmeralda, after my parents, was the first person to tell me “I’m so proud of you,” and that felt so nice. I was really scared about the story because it was about the refugee situation and it was in favor of the refugees. It was one of my first stories, so I thought, “If people don’t like it, it’s gonna be my first ‘cancel’ situation, people are gonna hate me.” And having Esmeralda saying, “I’m proud of you,” and, “I’d like to share it with other people,” it’s pretty different from any other scholarship or institution that I’ve had contact with. That really motivates you to keep going and prove to them that what they’re doing is worth something.
Jessica: Can you share what your family’s experience has been like during your college years?
Diana: Well, they experienced my stress. For my second year, I was struggling a lot with anxiety, because for high school I wouldn’t have to speak English at all, and then for college it was the complete opposite. If I wanted my voice to be heard, my participation to matter, my opinion to matter I would have to speak up in English, I would have to present in English. So I had a period of time when I was struggling with anxiety attacks, and my family, especially my mom, was there to support me a lot during that time.
I remember one time there was a mix-up with an exam I had to take online and I couldn’t do it when I opened it, and then I closed the computer and went to do my stuff, and when I came back the timer had run out and I had an F. I think it was a midterm exam, and I got so anxious I had an attack, and my mom held me and said, “It’s ok, it’s ok.” She’s pretty logical so she was like, “You can text the teacher, you can talk to somebody, it’s ok, it’s just a grade.” They helped me to the best of their abilities, mostly emotionally.
When they took my financial aid, I cried a lot that day too, and they were like “It’s ok, they helped you already so it’s time for us to help you.” I never really wanted to take their money because I know that they have personal goals and dreams they want to achieve, so me taking their money was like me getting in the way of those goals and dreams. I feel like it should be the opposite. I should be helping them with their goals and dreams instead of taking away from them. So when that happened, they were like, “We’re gonna give you the money, whatever you need we’re gonna help you with it.” But I didn’t do it. I got a job. I asked the scholarship program, “Whatever help you can give, I would really appreciate it.”
My dad, he didn’t really want me to go for English. He would always be like, “Why not a doctor? Why not a lawyer?” And I would be like, “No, dad, the humanities are dying, I really need to do something about it.” Even now they’re like, “Oh, you’re getting your Master’s, for what?” And it’s like, “Hispanic literature,” and they’re like, “Oh…” So even though they don’t really understand it or they would like me to pursue something else, they’re really supportive and mostly understanding, as much as they can be.
Maybe they don’t love the humanities, but they’re really supportive of whatever I write. For the refugee story, my dad was pretty opposed to it. He had a very strong stance of, “I don’t want them here, they’re taking opportunities from us.” So I was really anxious about him reading the story. That story was actually from a class I took, and a professor at UIC helped me get that published. My dad read it without me when my brother was there, and I asked my brother, “Did he get mad? What did he say?” And he told me, “He just said, ‘Oh wow.’ And he closed it.” And I was like, “In a disappointing way?” And he said, “No, he was just surprised. I think he was proud.” As soon as we got physical copies of the magazine, he said, “I want one, I want a magazine with your story in it.”
Throughout college, as I accomplished certain stuff and they were able to see the accomplishments, they’ve been able to understand it more, to change certain perspectives. I feel like education is really important to keep yourself educated, especially nowadays with the whole situation. There’s a quote that says, “I study not to be smarter, but to be less ignorant.” So that’s the way I see it, and I feel like my family is getting some of that, even if they’re not themselves going to college. The way they see me acting or fighting or advocating for certain stuff in my writing, when they read it, they get some of that education.
Jessica: What are your long-term goals and aspirations?
Diana: For now, I want to get the Master’s. I would like to get an MFA in Creative Writing. So now with the Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Hispanic Literature, with an MFA I would be able to teach Creative Writing, which is what I would like to do. I had a teacher once that made me realize this is my passion, and that I really liked creative and professional writing, and what I could do and communicate through that. So I would really love to be that person for a different student. I would love to be a writer, but writing doesn’t give you that much money. So you need a day job for your night job. I would love to keep advocating for people and making space for people like me in my writing. That’s something I’ve experienced through other writers as well. I want to create that space physically and metaphorically.
Jessica: Are there other things that you want to share about your experience?
Diana: Maybe just the gratitude of it all. Especially with the situation right now, with what I’m seeing, I was pretty privileged to have this support. I really think it was a luck thing. Somehow life gave me that privilege, and without it, I wouldn’t have been able to get as far as I did. I really want that to be a thing for more people, especially when it comes to majors like mine. Language and writing and communications are important to advocate for yourself and for your community. I remember thinking I’m gonna go for it because, thanks to this scholarship, I don’t have to worry about the money. I don’t have to make profit immediately to pay thousands in loans, so I can go for my passion. I feel like a lot of people drop out of college because they do it for the money and not for the passion, and they cannot handle everything. I didn’t have to stress about money, I didn’t have to be in a major I hated. That really helped me succeed. And I do give all the credit to the scholarship and I would love for other people to have that and to help in any way I can to make that happen.
Jessica: Make sure you give yourself credit. The scholarship side is the easy part. You’re the one putting in the hours and the work to make that success.