Student Success Stories

Roosevelt University students: Living the Legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

Charles Brown and Carmille Sipp

President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future." That’s what undergraduates Charles Brown and Carmille Sipp have been doing as Roosevelt University volunteers for the Jumpstart early childhood education program. Brown, a 24-year-old environmental policy major who grew up in a Chicago neighborhood rife with gangs and drugs, spends about 11 hours weekly working with youngsters facing similar circumstances at Jumpstart’s National Teacher’s Academy site in the city. "I want to give this next generation of kids hope. I try to make them see that they shouldn’t give up," said Brown. Meanwhile, Sipp, 22, a special education major and 16-hour-per-week Jumpstart volunteer, also is dedicated to the program’s mission of providing a foundation for kids to succeed when they enter school. "I was raised to be selfless and I believe that if you’ve got one hand free, offer it to those who need it," she said. Recently, she has spread the word about Jumpstart to Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois and to the Fry Foundation, which, after her presentation, gave Jumpstart’s Chicago regional program a $25,000 grant.

Nicole Hamblin

Ever since high school, Nicole Hamblin has rated Franklin D. Roosevelt as her favorite president. Like others who respect FDR, the 20-year-old undergraduate English major first identified with his platform while completing a high school project on FDR and the New Deal. During the project, Hamblin came to admire the nation’s 32nd president for his ability to be a strong leader, even while he was confined to a wheelchair. "He got a lot done - and that’s how I like to be in my life," said Hamblin, now in her third year at the University. Indeed, Hamblin has done a lot for fellow students as secretary of student government in Schaumburg during the 2004-2005 academic year and currently as Schaumburg’s student government president. Among accomplishments, she has helped make it easier for students to have a voice and to vote; she has organized student events; and she is currently working to make the campus more wheelchair accessible. "I always feel better about myself when I’m working to make positive changes," said Hamblin.

Jennifer Janichek

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt once remarked "Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world." To Jennifer Janichek, a graduate clinical psychology student, those small places, close to home, are the nation’s prisons. She believes too many nonviolent drug offenders, who are often minorities, are being locked up instead of being given treatment for their addictions. To tackle the issue, she established a Roosevelt University chapter of the national Students for Sensible Drug Policy in 2004. Since then, she has written to Chicago Congressman Danny Davis, encouraging him to work for a drug policy that recognizes harm from drug use could be reduced if clean needles and methadone were more readily available. She also has been instrumental in getting Sen. Dick Durbin to draft an amendment that, when introduced, would remove the nation’s ban on financial aid for drug offenders who want to go to college. Because of her efforts, Janichek won the 2005 Legislative Achievement Award from the national Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which cited the Roosevelt chapter as among the most active in the country.

Ashley Kehoe

As the recipient of Campus Compact’s 2005 McCormick Tribune Raise Your Voice Fellowship, Ashley Kehoe has been a model for her peers of what it means to be civically engaged. An English major in the Roosevelt Scholars Program, Kehoe has been involved in her community at the grassroots level since coming to the University in 2004. She was an American Cancer Society volunteer who helped organize the "Relay for Life" fundraiser. She was an instructor in the University’s new First Year Experience program. She also recently became secretary of the Student Government Association at the Chicago Campus. "I believe in reaching out to everyone to try to get people involved," said Kehoe, who was pleasantly surprised during the fall 2005 semester to see student government meetings often packed. As part of her yearlong fellowship, Kehoe was a student recruiter and volunteer for the American Democracy Institute’s youth summit, which brought about 4,000 people and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Auditorium Theatre in December. "I learned a lot about election reform, civic activism and the challenges that young people face in trying to get involved in government," she said.

Nick McCormick

History graduate student Nick McCormick came to Roosevelt University in the fall of 2003 with plans to study the Civil War. Along the way, he developed an interest in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, which he believes is still relevant today. "Before I came to Roosevelt, I knew about social security and FDR’s involvement in World War II, and that was about it," said McCormick, who since then has done a paper on slave narratives that were recorded by writers put to work in the South by the New Deal’s Work Project Administration. From his research, he concluded that the project, while offering human relief, also has proven to be culturally useful to today’s historians. "My belief is that we need to get back in touch with the liberal thought and policies of the New Deal," said McCormick, who, as the recipient of the Albert and Rosalind Lapawsky fellowship, recently spent 10 hours a week working in the University’s Center for New Deal Studies. "We’re talking about an ideology that gave a voice to those who never had one before and we’re talking about an ideology that set a precedent in which government cares for its citizens in a time of need," said McCormick, who recently was hired as the University’s graduation coordinator.

Jonathan Rapp

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." Those words have meaning for graduate clinical psychology student Jonathan Rapp, a mental health counselor who works daily with the homeless at Journeys from PADS to HOPE in Palatine. "I definitely feel a kinship for FDR because he was in favor of the kind of program that I’m involved with here," said Rapp, who works full time at the drop-in center counseling clients, holding group sessions and even at times serving lunches. Previously, Rapp was a counselor at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines where he worked with disadvantaged youth. Through it all, he has believed that Roosevelt’s policies have made a difference for those who wind up on society’s bottom rung. "He saw the country was in a bad way and he did everything he could to turn it around," Rapp said of FDR. Rapp is also interested in helping those who need it most to turn things around. "At the end of the day, I go home knowing that whether or not I made a difference in someone’s life, at least I’ve tried," he said.

Bridgette Steels

Out of 43 U.S. presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt stands alone as America’s best example of a "people’s president," according to graduate history major Bridgette Steels. She recently wrote on that topic for a U.S. history class. "I tried to show that Roosevelt did more for the common man than any other president," said Steels, who learned much about the New Deal during her research. "People in his time said they needed help, and by answering their call, he truly became the people’s president," said Steels, who wants to get a Ph.D. in U.S. and African American history and to one day teach history from a "holistic" point of view at the college level. Topics she hopes to shed light on and educate future students about include the U.S. history of Native Americans and the history of African Americans. In addition, FDR’s place as the "people’s president" also may one day be on her teaching agenda. "He has earned his place in history as the U.S. president who did the most for the common man. That’s a story that needs to be told," she said.