Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Student Spotlight: Charles Thomas



Charles is a senior at Chicago International Charter School Northtown Academy and has been with Cabrini Connections since 7th grade. He’s thinking about going to college next year and is interested in business, so that perhaps down the road he can get into entertainment and open his own club. However, he appreciates the necessity of two things in our rapidly changing business environment: the need to embrace new technologies and the benefit of speaking another language. This is why he hopes to study business and technology next year at school along with improving his fluency in Spanish. He is not sure where he wants to go but he is considering the University of Michigan, Westwood College and Georgia Tech.

One of the things that opened his eyes to the importance of learning about different cultures was a trip he took with a fellow Cabrini Connections senior, LaFaye Garth, to Ireland. He and LaFaye won an essay contest we sponsored during his sophomore year that allowed them to join a small group of other kids on an all-expenses paid trip to Ireland where they toured the country, learned about Irish culture and interacted with kids from other tutor/mentor programs throughout Europe. During the trip, they spent one week living with a family in Galway and another week living with a different family in a rural area where Charles was able to hike up a mountain. This experience opened his eyes to the way people live outside of America, not only the Irish but the other European students he met during the program. Charles is glad to have had the opportunity to participate in this program and others at Cabrini Connections. For Charles, Cabrini Connections “helps me stay focused and teaches me new things, especially writing.” We hope that Charles will continue to focus on the future after he graduates from the program and will stay connected to his mentor of 6 years, Tony Carozza, who continues to do whatever it takes for Charles to achieve his goals.

No comments: