Cheryl Graves

I have met one of the many heroes in our community. Her name is Cheryl Graves.  I had a chance to interview her, and I got to know her. She is a positive person that thinks everyone should be heard equally. She also thinks that eating is a way that you could bring people together. She has a daughter who is 16 and is bipolar. Cheryl thinks that young people feel like they don’t have power. Injustice is something that motivates her because not everyone is treated fairly. She does her job to help people find their power and make sure their thoughts are being counted.

She helps people in the community in the way that she listens to everyone no matter their age or if they are young. Just because older people know things, that doesn’t mean they know everything. Everyone should be heard because everyone has a different thought or point of view. Everyone likes to be heard, and no one should be left behind for any reason. When people share different ideas with other people’s ideas, they bring their ideas together to come up with something better.

She is curious to learn about other communities such as technology and restaurants. Also she would like to see how things are functioning right now and how they functioned in the past. She says that every community has its specialties. She has always been curious about how things are functioning in other communities because she has always been working in the same community. She overcame many obstacles in order to get to where she is now.

She thinks that opportunities are the best part of the community and its people. She is a hero because she gets to hear everyone regardless of their age or anything personal. Her hero is her uncle Wilson Graves, someone threw a grenade at him and he got hurt, but did not give up. He organized  a basketball team and a soccer team, since it is on the south side and almost no one played soccer. Her uncle never gave up accomplish wonderful things, and that is why he is her hero.

Written by: Daniel Carteno

Daniel La Spata

                                                                                                                    Hilda Pinedo 

                                                                                                             11/19/10

            Daniel La Spata is one of the heroes in our community. Daniel is a nice person with many goals for our community. He is a nice man who likes to help people who don’t have that much stuff. He sure cares a lot about our community and the people in it. Daniel is a tall and with short blond hair. Daniel is one of the people that help our community problems. He is a community hero.

            Daniel works with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. He started working in the community after he graduated college. He helps homeless people and tries to make it possible for people in

Logan Square

to afford houses. Also he works on economic issues to make sure people get jobs with living wages so people could stay in the neighborhood. Daniel also works with John Mc Dermott. John is a staff member from LSNA and he got him started it in the community and his work really helps people that cant afford places for their family.

            Even though Daniel helps people he is a also a normal person. He is caring and loving. Daniel is a really nice guy. He also did some volunteer work when he was in college. He helped homeless people and cared for them. Daniel also asks himself why there are homeless people and homeless children too. This question made him help homeless people. He cares for a person that isn’t even his family that speaks to what kind of person he is. He also had to overcome obstacles that stop him from doing his work. Not everything was easy. Daniel said the hardest part of his job is keeping people engaged in the work they do because it takes a lot of time out of their lives and takes so much to make a dream come true. Daniel is a person just like us and sometimes he struggles like us.

          Daniel also has a hero in his life and it is his parents. Daniel said his parents supported him over everything. Daniel would also be a hero because he is making people live easier and helping them afford a place for their family. Especially because of our economy right now, everything is expensive. Daniel has big ideas about our community. He tries to make it better and affordable for everyone that struggles with money. Daniel is a great man and a hero who I think cares more about the community and other people than himself that makes him a hero.

                                                                                               written by:Hilda Pinedo

                                                                                                                      

Community Hero

Leo is a community hero!  Leo can easily be described as a leader in both school and his community.  He is involved with VOYCE which gives students in CPS a voice to make change.  My perception of Leo is he has a lot of self-confidence.  He is also extremely mature and responsible.  He is Ecuadorian and is tall, thin, and stylish.

            As mentioned before, Leo is involved with VOYCE and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.  Recently, Leo and VOYCE have been discussing the importance of student-teacher relationships.  He said, “teachers should not pick that job if they are not going to do it right.”  He has been leader at Freshman Retreats which teaches students to work together, build relationships with other students and teachers, and become more connected to Kelvyn Park. 

            Outside of his community service, Leo is interested in learning more about his culture.  He is also interested in writing and drawing.  When asked if he would write book, he replied “He can’t see himself writing a book.”  He also mentioned he wants to go to college in California.

            When asked about his heroes, he mentioned his mom and Juliet, a Community Organizer from Logan Square Neighborhood Association.  I feel that Leo should consider himself a hero.  What makes him a hero in my eyes is his dedication to his community and his work to make change.  Leo defines community as a place where people should feel safe and connected.  I feel, as does Leo, our community needs to change, but it takes heroes like Leo to make these changes.

Written By: Isidro Meraz

Luz Rodriguez

Luz Rodriguez is one of the many heroes in our community. I had a chance to interview her, and I really got to know her. She is Puerto Rican, has light skin; she is also funny and very down to earth. She is also a very friendly and confident individual. Luz is caring and has a big heart for people who are less fortunate. She is very smart, energetic, and she loves to meet new people. Luz also enjoys taking walks around this community and talking about how it has changed in positive ways.

Luz is interested in helping families around the community and seeing parents getting kids off the streets and putting them back on the right path. She is also likes being a hero and talking about her hero which is the Lord above. When my group and I interviewed Luz we had asked her how long she has been working in the community and she told us that it has been thirteen years since she started. Thirteen years is quite a long time in this community. Thirteen years of help and support. Thirteen years of incredibility.

            Luz is an amazing woman for doing what she is doing and giving back to the community. Luz loves the work she does. She not only believes, but she knows that the community sees how important her work is. In the interview, Luz stated, “I would love to see more parents involved in their child’s school and I would also like to see more leadership in the community.”

            Luz feels that it is necessary for parents to be involved in schools so that they can be a bigger and stronger part of their child’s learning and growth. Luz also said that she doesn’t live around here but she sees that this is a good community. She states, “The people make the community so if the people get together they can make a good community.” Then she goes on to say, “This is a good school too. No matter what school you’re in, you’re going to learn because you’re going to make a difference in the community.” Then Luz continues to say, “My community started with me. I had to make a difference so that people could see a different person in me.” From these words I have learned that Luz is a courageous and encouraging person. Luz is a very dedicated woman and for that I just want her to know that her work, and much more herself, are highly appreciated in, not only Kelvyn Park High School, but in the community as well.

           

Written by: Jazmin Toro

Charles Lyons

          I interviewed Charles Lyons. He is a reverend at church that has a congregation of about 40 different nationalities among 3,000 people. He loves what he does because he provides spiritual care for them and they are spiritually healthy in mind, body, and soul.

He is a pastor at Armitage Baptist church that is in the Logan Square neighborhood and one of the reasons for pursuing that career is his father used to be a reverend at a church on the South Side, and he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. Charles is a community veteran. He has been in the church game for some 20 years. He does not consider himself a community hero.

          If he can change the world he would change it by stopping the slave-like treatment that we call politics. He would not let us continue to “do good so that the master would give us the proper necessities that we need in life to survive.” Meaning police, fire department, and ambulance for examples.

          One of the obstacles he had to overcome to become a successful pastor was school. He was never into studying, so he never was really getting good grades. That was an obstacle because he could not be a successful in life without the proper education.

We asked Rev. Lyons that if he could give one piece of advice to the young world what would it be and he said this: “Well we are spiritual beings first. So our spiritual health comes before our physical health. And if you (he points to his chest) are not healthy in here then your not healthy at all. So keep that in mind.”  

Rev. Lyons has made great impacts on people’s lives. I’ll give you an example: one day Juan walks into church. Juan is addicted to crack. Juan gets the money for the drugs through burglary. One day he sees a woman whose house he had just burglarized, and by the power of God’s word he got up and told the lady that he would pay her back for everything he stole.

“I don’t consider myself a hero because a hero wouldn’t think of his self like that, his ego would get in the way.”  He is a wonderful man and he does great things. He is truly a community hero whether he thinks so or not, because he does not have to take time out of his life to preach God’s word--he wants to.

                                               by: Christopher Coleman

Maria Alviso

          Maria Alviso has an important role in helping our community. While I was interviewing her, I really got to know what she does and who she really is. Maria is Mexican, she takes life and what she does serious and is encouraging. She likes to teach the unfortunate Latinos to speak English to better themselves and their family. She seemed to allow her experience to influence her success. In my point of view Maria is a person that cares, has hope, and makes a difference.

              Maria has worked with Chicago Public Schools in an after school program for thirteen years to help students’ parents to give more time and effort in helping their kids at home so that they can improve in their education and at home as a family. She helps the parents speak English, so that they can improve the help they offer to their kids. She’s glad to see that gangs have decreased and kids are doing better. She helps empower parents and that’s her biggest accomplishment.

              She is very sensitive towards the ones who don’t have the advantage to speak English in America. Maria herself has said, “The reason why immigrants cross the border is to move in search of better life and better opportunities for their family.” Maria is an immigrant with four kids of her own with the goal of giving them a better chance in life to help them throughout their way. She wanted to work for the community since she was little because she wanted to make a difference for her situation. Fortunately, one is the age of 22 and currently attending college studying to be a doctor. She wants to see a change in life from those who need it, so she sticks to her experience and goals for the future.

              Her mother is her personal hero because she has encouraged her. In my eyes she is a hero because of her dedication in helping others go through life with help rather then alone. She wants to be an influence on parents, teens and the community in all. Therefore, she has many hero qualities and the ambition to be a hero to many. She said, “The big word to describe community is family, and we are the future, school is also the most important thing in our community.” She would like to involve more youth and parents to improve and help the community. Maria has enough encouragement to make a difference or even an influence in the lives of many.

                                                                                             
Written by:  Justin Munoz

Maricela Hernandez

                                                               “Community Heroes”

    I had a great opportunity in interviewing a hero in our community named Maricela Hernandez. She was a really kind and very good speaker. She has a very good personality. She has short and curly hair.

    Maricela works in our community by helping out student that cut classes. She is a hero for that because she’s trying to make our community a better place for all of us. She likes to be independent, help them, and talk to them. She also want to tell parents to help to get involved make sure they do their homework and  have someone to be there when there not there. Macisela also likes working with staff and parents.

 

   Maricela talked about how she likes cooking and cleaning the house when she’s not around the community. Also she helps her daughter succeed and makes her believe in her self so she can be somebody in life by motivating her to do well in school not do bad because it doesn’t take you anywhere to always have you head up and take the good road.

    Maricela defines a hero like someone who’s always there for you when you need them. Also her heroes are her mom and her daughter for the fact that she loves them a lot and they always help her out and they’re always been there for her. Another thing is that her mom inspires her a lot for the fact that she has always been there for her since the day she was born because her dad left her and her mom raised her and told her to follow her dreams.                                                          

                                                                                   Written by: Guadalupe Rendon