Spending a cold, snowy November Saturday at Jones College Prep for the Mikva Challenge Project Soapbox speech event was an inspiring experience. More than 250 high school students came out and gave the world a piece of their minds in 2-minute speeches on policy issues that fire them up. Estefani Armenta, a junior at Benito Juarez High School, reminded me…
Author: Samantha Smylie
3 Tips to Survive College From Someone Who Made It
Editor’s Note: This is a condensed version of Samantha Smylie’s speech to the 2018 graduating class at John Hope High School in Chicago. Hope is one of the high schools that will be closing as part of the plan to create a new high school in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. Smylie is a Hope High School graduate who earned a bachelor’s…