CTA Sending Minority Students to College with STEM Scholarships

Jasmine Jackson, 18, will attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. this fall to study engineering thanks to a $5,500 scholarship. The South Shore resident and Gary Comer College Prep graduate will also be the first in her family to graduate from college. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Purple Group
Jasmine Jackson, 18, will attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. this fall to study engineering thanks to a $5,500 scholarship. The South Shore resident and Gary Comer College Prep graduate will also be the first in her family to graduate from college. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Purple Group

CTA Sending Minority Students to College with STEM Scholarships

BY WENDELL HUTSON Contributing Writer

A high school senior poised to be the first college graduate in her family is headed to a historically black university this fall to study engineering thanks to a scholarship she received by the Chicago Transit Authority.

Jasmine Jackson, 18, is one of three recipients to receive the first-ever CTA Elevating Futures Scholarship Fund, which aims to help economically disadvantaged students pursue a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) career by providing $5,500 per year, plus mentoring support and internship opportunities for four years. The other two recipients are Jorge Vargas, a Humboldt Park resident, who will study civil engineering at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and George Vintila, a Portage Park resident, who will study computer engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

For Jackson, she will be attending Howard University in Washington, D.C. and said she plans to someday become a civil engineer.

“I like math and I like to design things and you have to do both of these things when you are an engineer, especially a civil engineer,” said Jackson, a South Shore resident and graduate of Gary Comer College Prep. “This scholarship is a big help for me because it allowed me not to take out a student loan.”

And even though the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many colleges and universities to maintain online courses this fall, Jackson said she is not worried about contracting the virus while away at school.

“You can’t live your life in fear and stay in your house forever,” added Jackson, who graduated with a 4.0 GPA.

Two CTA contractors funded the scholarship, Walsh-Fluor, and are currently working on the $2.1 billion Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One Project slated for a 2024 completion. The $250,000 fund will provide 10 scholarships from 2020 through 2023 for students who plan to study construction management, civil engineering, industrial or systems engineering. Students are also eligible to apply for paid, summer internships with Walsh-Fluor and the CTA.

“We are proud of these three students and the work they’ve accomplished,” said Dave Shier, a spokesman for the Walsh-Fluor RPM Project. “We hope this scholarship not only brightens their present, but enables them to lead tomorrow’s engineering fields and truly become the city of Chicago’s next generation of homegrown leaders.”

CTA officials added that creating educational opportunities for future leaders has always been a priority for the transit agency.

“No other mass transit entity has done anything like [this] before, especially that’s project related,” said Chynna Hampton, a CTA senior project manager. “As a transit agency, we have always pushed students to pursue a career in STEM.”

Creating a pathway for students seeking STEM careers is a responsibility the CTA takes seriously, contends CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. “From the very start, the RPM project has been about making a better future for all Chicagoans, residents, riders, businesses, and the workforce,” he added. “This program moves us closer to that goal by offering these remarkable students with the opportunity to pursue [an] education and build careers in the construction and engineering fields.”

When Jackson is not doing schoolwork, she enjoys writing poetry. “I don’t really have a favorite poet, but I always appreciate a good poem when I hear it,” said Jackson.

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