![]() “And I just felt that if I could find 50, 100, 200, 500 adults that felt the way I felt and were passionate about making a difference in these youths’ lives … I felt like we can make a difference, not just in our community, not just in our city … we can make an impact on the world.” ![]() “I was helping students in our local church right here on the West Side of Chicago,” said Lilly, who half-smiles beneath his salt and pepper goatee and shifts uneasily in his chair as he talks about himself. Lilly’s nonprofit pairs students with mentors that guide them from sixth grade through college and onto, hopefully, a successful career. If they want their doctoral degree, go get it.” “That’s me,” said 55-year-old Lilly, who has long served as a pastor at Greater St. After graduating from high school in Alabama, he attended trade school and moved to Chicago to work as a bricklayer. ‘They just need the door open … We want to kick the door open.’ Lisa Philip / WBEZ ‘Our students are just as smart as any other students,’ Bernard Lilly said. “When we give students the opportunity to attend a college, college gives them an opportunity to figure out what they want to do in life,” he said. Lilly holds on to this belief despite rising tuition costs, student debt, and broader skepticism of higher education as an institution. Together the golds and maroons, blacks and reds, and royal purples and yellows of the banners embody Lilly’s persistent belief that a college education not only uplifts students – it can uplift their families and communities too. Since its start, the organization has seen 50 students through college and beyond. This month, fifteen are headed to campuses across the country with support from the nonprofit. The Morehouse pennant in Makhi’s hand, and the others already pinned up, each represent a campus visit organized by the College Mentoring Experience, which Lilly founded in 2014 to help students from the West Side get to and through college. “It’s the least thing I can do for my parents’ sacrifices for me … waking up early and driving me to school every day, putting food on my plate.” “In my eyes, to even be successful in my life, I gotta go to college,” Makhi said.
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