GYO Chicago/Lake County Candidates Ascend to Licensure
2025 GYO-IL Chicago/Lake County graduates and staff
On May 24, 2025, GYO-IL celebrated the fall of 2024 and spring of 2025 graduates of the Chicago/Lake County cohort with a luncheon at the Chicago Teachers Union Main Hall. During the recognition ceremony, the Chicago and Lake County candidate coordinators—Tammy Bolden, Luis Meza, Mary Osazuwa, and Colette Rucheinsky—called each graduate up to the stage, where they were awarded a plaque recognizing their completion of the GYO program.
The event included opening remarks by Richard Nettles, the Chicago/Lake County Program Director and several higher education members of the consortium including Dr. Shawn L. Jackson, the president of Truman College; Dr. Tom Philion, the dean of the College of Education at Northeastern Illinois University, and Dr. LaVada Taylor, the dean of the College of Education at Chicago State University. Additionally, Southwest Organizing Project and Chicago Public Schools members also attended.
GYO candidates presented an Oral History Showcase, from a yearlong cohort meeting curriculum on culturally responsive and community-connected teaching, demonstrating some of the community narratives they’ve incorporated into their classroom practice. GYO-Chicago/Lake County also recognized eleven alumni who had completed five years of service as teachers with certificates acknowledging this accomplishment. Attendees got the chance to take photos with their cohort, network with other participants, and reconnect with the staff who helped them on their journey.
Chicago/Lake County is GYO-IL’s biggest regional consortia, graduating 36 candidates in 2025. Over 97% of the cohort are members of an underrepresented community, with approximately 60% identifying as Hispanic or Latine and over 30% identifying as Black. Close to 40% of the graduates also identify as male.
The program has continued to expand its outreach to community-connected individuals and improve its outcomes throughout the years. Tammy Bolden, GYO-Chicago/Lake County’s Success Coach, shared that many of the candidates completed the program while juggling demanding roles as full-time students, professionals, and, in many cases, caretakers. They faced personal challenges and financial pressures, but that did not deter them from excelling in their studies. Bolden added, “Approximately 90% or more of candidates are successfully passing the courses they attempt. Overall, the data illustrates a clear pattern of increasing academic success across terms, with a growing proportion of the cohort maintaining strong academic standing. These outcomes reflect sustained academic perseverance and effective support structures contributing to improved performance over time."
2025 GYO-Chicago Graduate, Kimmika Johnson
Students like Kimmika Johnson, who graduated in 2025, exemplify that drive. As a GYO-Chicago candidate, she worked full-time as a paraprofessional, while completing a master’s degree in special education at National Louis University and advocating for her child, who has a disability. Despite the many responsibilities she juggled, she completed her graduate studies with straight As. Today, she is a special education teacher in the community where she was raised.
Kimmika credits GYO-Chicago’s coordinator Mary Osazuwa and her cohort mates for offering her the emotional support that helped her succeed. During meetings, Johnson and her fellow candidates discussed pedagogical issues and methods like trauma-informed practices. Osazuwa often checked in with her individually to make sure she was taking care of herself. “What sticks out to me the most [about my experience with GYO] is community,” she said. “GYO provided a meaningful space for us to build connections with community members, educators, and resources that were within our community, but were unknown to me at the time."
“I felt safe because I was surrounded by people who were pursuing something similar to me. They all had different backgrounds, they all worked in different schools, but they were all going towards the same goal: education. Just hearing real life stories motivated me. I would feel like it wasn’t a constant battle. I wasn’t alone.”
2025 GYO-Chicago graduate, Juan Najera
Juan Najera echoed that sentiment. After completing an M.A. in Bilingual Early Childhood Education at National Louis University in 2025 with the support of GYO-Chicago, Najera is currently working as a kindergarten math teacher in the neighborhood where he was born and raised. For Najera, the cohort meetings were crucial to helping him balance his studies with his personal life. As the youngest member of the group, hearing the other candidates’ stories and knowing they were all working towards the same goal kept him motivated on tough days. Candidate coordinators also played an important role in his experience. After struggling with the content exam for his licensure, Osazuwa and Bolden connected him with a tutor who gave him the tools to successfully pass the test. “I felt safe because I was surrounded by people who were pursuing something similar to me,” Juan said when remembering the meetings. “They all had different backgrounds, they all worked in different schools, but they were all going towards the same goal: education. Just hearing real life stories motivated me. I would feel like it wasn’t a constant battle. I wasn't alone.”
In 2026, GYO-IL is expecting to graduate another 35 candidates who will embark on their career as community-connected teachers. Soon, many will talk about their roles with the kind of pride and joy that Kimmika did: “I can relate to every little Brown and Black child in my classroom in some capacity. I want my son to know that he matters. I want the students that I connect with to know that they matter. And by making sure that I have everything that I need to pour into them, they will leave knowing that.”
Candidates brought a festive mood to the Chicago Teachers Union Main Hall