Student Spotlight: Vontesha Stanfield

Lakeview High School Junior, Vontesha Stanfield, has been with Cabrini Connections since she was in 7^th grade. For the past 3 years, she has been paired up with her current mentor, Jen Jozwick, who Vontesha describes as her best friend. Vontesha is currently looking at colleges where she can study nursing upon graduation. Right now, she has pretty much settled on Spelman College, a historically black liberal arts college for women that is located in Atlanta. In fact, her favorite movie is ATL, a 2006 coming-of-age tale about four friends preparing for life after high school and how different challenges bring about turning points in each of their lives. At this juncture in her life, Vontesha says she is ready to leave her hometown of Chicago and spend some time in the south, where she is excited to have the opportunity to do something different while at the same time escaping the brutal Chicago winters.

She’s excited to go to Atlanta for a number of reasons. In deciding on a career in nursing, she has been inspired by a number of women in her life including her mother, who is currently in nursing school, her cousin—a nurse, and LaFaye Garth, a senior at Cabrini Connections who will be licensed as a registered nurse by January 2009. In her spare time, Vontesha works with two of our other students, Angelene and Whitney Hemphill at the Moody Church Kids Club, helping hundreds of kids who, like herself, are growing up in Cabrini Green. Working with kids is definitely something she wants to continue doing as she transitions into professional life.

By her own admission, Vontesha is quiet and fairly shy, and despite her interest in the college party scene at Spelman, claims that she would rather curl up with a good book than stay out dancing all night. Though you would never know it by her appearance, another one of Vontesha’s preferred activities is eating—especially hamburgers and pizza. In fact, her friends endearingly call her “Big Hungry.”

We here at Cabrini Connections are really glad that Vontesha is so dedicated to both our program and her future and we will be helping her every step of the way with the college application and admissions process until she’s accepted to and has negotiated her financial aid package with Spelman college. Keep up the good work Vontesha!