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Full Scholarship for Fenwick Senior!

NHS member and Bellwood resident Craig Butler ’20 to attend University of Wisconsin – Madison on a full-tuition “ride” from the Posse Foundation.

By Mark Vruno

Craig Butler, a senior at Fenwick High School, has been named a 2020 Posse Foundation Scholar. Butler will receive a full-tuition scholarship to the University of Wisconsin – Madison, which is one of nearly 60 schools that collaborates with the Posse program. “It’s crazy. I thought it was a dream,” admits Butler, who commutes to Fenwick from Bellwood, IL.

“I was going home after school when I got the phone call from Posse,” he says. The 17-year-old was not sure what to expect. “I explained to the person why I thought Wisconsin was a good fit for me, and he said, ‘Craig, we have good news for you. You’re a Posse Scholar!’ I was somewhat surprised because I know only about 10 students from Chicago get it [the scholarship] to UW.”

The first call Butler made to share the big news was to his mother. “My Mom was so excited and proud,” he reports. “She knows my personality and how I work well with others. She’s always so optimistic.” The second call Butler made was to Mr. Daryl Richardson, his mentor at LINK Unlimited Scholars, who nominated him for the Posse leadership scholarship.

Fenwick Class of 2020 Counselor Emily Anderson praises, “Craig is an incredibly determined, hard-working and deserving individual. I couldn’t be more excited for him. He will be among the first in his family to attend college, and I have no doubt he will prove himself to be a grateful recipient of the Posse Scholarship.” After applying, Butler progressed through an intense, three-stage interviewing process, explains Ms. Anderson.

The speedy Butler runs track for the Friars, making All-Catholic League in the long jump his first year. He tried out for the football team as a senior this past fall. A versatile student-athlete, Butler also is a member of the Fenwick chess and bowling teams as well as the National Honor Society (NHS) and Black Student Union. “Craig has volunteered his time every Tuesday morning to Friar Mentors, providing tutoring for those who need help in Spanish,” Anderson notes.

Outside of Fenwick, he is a recipient of the LINK Unlimited Scholarship and has been awarded its Academic Gold-Tier for his classroom success. Butler also won the 2019 Nissan Resume Challenge.

“Craig is a kind, thoughtful and respectful individual,” Anderson concludes. “I am in awe of all that he has been able to accomplish — and he has done so with grace and tenacity.”

About the Posse Foundation

The Posse Foundation was founded in 1989 because one student was heard saying, “I never would’ve dropped out of college if I’d had my posse with me.” The foundation identifies students with extraordinary potential who might be overlooked by the traditional admissions process of elite schools. Now in its 31st year, it grants more than 700 scholarships annually to students selected from Chicago and nine other metropolitan areas throughout the United States: Atlanta, the Bay Area, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City and Washington, D.C. Butler and the other scholarship winners will attend college in supportive, multicultural groups of 10 students — posses. The program is recognized as one of the most comprehensive college success and leadership development initiatives in the country, as 90% of Posse Scholars go on to graduate.

READ ABOUT THE 2019 POSSE SCHOLAR FROM FENWICK

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Grooming Some of Fenwick’s Students to be Philanthropists in the Future

A philanthropic program for teenagers can contribute to our “mutual future social infrastructure,” writes Dr. Lordan.

By Gerald Lordan, PhD.

Fenwick seniors Ethan Seavey (left) and Isaiah Curry with mentor Justin Lewis (standing).

The Future Philanthropist Program (FPP) is an adolescent leadership-training program sponsored by the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, which invests $25,000 annually into community social-service agencies that provide programs for adolescents. Fenwick has five students presently participating in the program: Isaiah Curry ’19, Camille Luckett ’19, Aimee Morrissey ’20, Roger Rhomberg ’20 and Ethan Seavey ’19.

As the only high school in the United States sponsored by Dominican Friars, Fenwick is sui generis (unique). We want our Ministry to be a valued local anchor, a visible metropolitan resource and a recognized national lighthouse for our Thomist Educational Philosophy.  Every high school in the United State has a contractual obligation to the state legislature which chartered it to train patriotic citizens and literate workers. In addition to those legal obligations, Fenwick, as a Thomist School, has a covenant obligation with the Supreme Being to train moral servant leaders. To that end our curriculum includes Speech, Moral Theology, the Christian Service Project and the Kairos retreat.

Those lessons our students learn in the classroom, such as in Speech class, are important. Even more important are those lessons which our students learn inside the building but outside of the classroom, such as liturgy assemblies in the Auditorium. The most important lessons our students learn, such as Kairos, are taught to them outside of the building. Adolescent leadership training is an important component to the Fenwick Thomist experience.

FPP’s leadership affirms the symbiotic relationship between our school and the community. “The Future Philanthropists Program is proud to have partnered with Fenwick High School for the last nine years to teach juniors and seniors the art, science and business of philanthropy,” says program coordinator Karen Tardy. “Our Fenwick students are always eager and very engaged in the program, and they work hard to made a difference in our communities through grant-making, fund-raising and volunteering.  We appreciate the commitment Fenwick has made to the Future Philanthropists Program and their help in creating the leaders of tomorrow.”

FPP participants make a two-year commitment to attend monthly dinner meetings with a small affinity peer group and an adult mentor. Student members of the affinity groups come from Fenwick, Trinity and Oak Park-River Forest high schools. Community leaders share their observations about the past, present and future of our community with the students who, in turn, identify the most critical needs of adolescents in the community. They then solicit grant proposals from community service agencies to address these needs. The students award $25,000 in grant funds provided by the OPRFCF to implement the most promising proposals. Students then conduct field investigations to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposal implementation.

We hope this early life experience will encourage future philanthropists to stay within the community during their adult years to donate their talent, time and treasure to the advance the quality of life in the community where our Ministry has flourished.

Fenwick and the Village of Oak Park

Oak Park would not be Oak Park, and Fenwick would not be Fenwick, without one another. Fenwick, celebrating its 90th year in 2019, has flourished in the Oak Park/River Forest Community for these past nine decades. The school’s architects carved an Oak Park shield carved in stone above our front door on Washington Blvd. It is our intention to be a valued local anchor, a visible metropolitan resource and, as I mentioned before, a recognized national lighthouse for the Thomist educational philosophy.

The presence of vibrant parochial educational institutions, such as Trinity and Fenwick, was an important part in the community’s continuity and evolution. John Gearen ’32, an alumnus from the Class of 1932 (and the school library’s namesake) was a racial inclusive, and the late John Philbin, who sent his children to Fenwick, was a sexual-orientation inclusive. Both men were Fenwick Community leaders who served as Village President. Former Village Clerk Ginny Cassin also was a Fenwick parent. Oak Park is the garden in which we have blossomed.

Fenwick turns 100 in 10 more years. It is our intention to thrive and not just to survive in the next 100 years. It is interesting to note that the Fenwick Hispanic ethnicity enrollment is 17% of the student body. Our institution could be a magnet to attract the next great demographic evolution of Oak Park.

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