More than 800 Chicago Public Schools students got the chance to make their college dreams come true at the event. Some walked in expecting a few college interviews and walked out with a full ride scholarship.
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Riley Powell will be the first person in her family to go to college. She came to the Empower Me tour to learn more about how to apply for grants and scholarships to college but little did she know that she'd walk out with nearly $30,000 to Livingstone College. And she's not the only one.
Stacey Lee Spratt, the tour's director, said in 2018 alone the UNCF Historically Black Colleges and Universities offered more than $4 million in scholarships to CPS students.
UNCF bringing 'Empower Me Tour' to Chicago
She said the college and career readiness program and the application process is free of cost to students. Twenty two HBCUs were at the Chicago stop giving on site interviews and scholarships.
"Every time I hear a student cheering for each other when they hear that their colleague has gotten a scholarship. There's no greater feeling," said Spratt.
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For senior Arink Shorter, the event is putting her one step closer to her dream of becoming a lawyer.
"African American students, they don't really get the opportunity to go on college tours and things like that, because we always have people looking at us and if we can't do it," she said. "It has given me the strength and the courage to just step out there and just do literally anything I put my mind to."
For more information https://uncf.org/programs/empower-me-tour.