Harper College will be closed on Wednesday, February 12 in observance of Lincoln’s Day.
Yosephine Lee (center) was one of the recipients of the 2024 HOPE Scholarship. Amanda Mirczuk (left), a 2020 recipient, and HOPE Giving Circle Member Anne Pepper helped present Yosephine with her scholarship. To celebrate the group’s 10th anniversary, HOPE Giving Circle is seeking to raise $100,000 for 10 scholarships this year.
As a high school student, Yosephine Lee blended in with the crowd. When she enrolled at Harper College, she got involved – joining student clubs, working as a peer tutor and achieving academic success in her nursing program. Now, the 20-year-old Hoffman Estates native is on track to earn an associate degree in nursing with global honors and social justice distinctions.
Yosephine this fall will head to the University of Illinois Chicago, where she will pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing with significant support as one of this year’s five recipients of the HOPE Scholarship, which awards deserving students with a $10,000 scholarship, one-on-one mentoring and professional development opportunities.
The scholarship program is led by the Harper College Educational Foundation’s HOPE Giving Circle, a group of influential women dedicated to empowering students to reach their full potential and achieve their educational goals. Since its inception in 2016, the HOPE Giving Circle has awarded more than $320,000 in scholarships.
To celebrate its upcoming 10th anniversary, the HOPE Giving Circle is seeking to increase its collective impact by launching the 10 for 10 initiative: awarding $10,000 scholarships to 10 deserving Harper students in the 2025-26 academic year.
Since its inception in 2016, the HOPE Giving Circle has awarded more than $320,000 in scholarships. Its members include many leaders in the community and at Harper.
“HOPE was founded by a small group of women from the community and members of our foundation board with the idea and the mission to come together for a collective giving effort,” said Shannon Hynes, director of alumni and affinity groups at Harper. “We have a lot of individual donors, but what makes this unique is that it’s almost like that crowdfunding model where it is funding scholarships through collective giving.”
Donations come from women in the community who tap into their networks to fundraise. HOPE Executive Committee Chair Kathy Gilmer said individuals who want to become members make an annual pledge of $1,000, and nonmembers can contribute $250 or less. Contributions of more than $1,000 are also welcome.
Each year, the HOPE Giving Circle hosts four free and open-to-the-public social, networking and educational events, where HOPE members and scholarship recipients past and present come together to learn, connect and have fun. Community members are also invited to attend. Because sponsors underwrite these events, all of the funds raised go directly to students. The group’s next event is its Women at the Table breakfast and panel discussion on “Women in Corporate Leadership” at 8 a.m. Friday, April 4, at Bridges of Poplar Creek Country Club in Hoffman Estates.
“Anyone is welcome to join. We talk to women who are interested in working together and making a difference, and it’s basically word of mouth,” Kathy said. “We have invited our friends who have a capacity to give, but more importantly, who have an interest in education and a desire to give back.”
Kathy Gilmer, the chair of the HOPE Giving Circle Executive Committee, said the group is always looking for new members: “Anyone is welcome to join. We talk to women who are interested in working together and making a difference.”
To be eligible for the HOPE scholarship, students must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, demonstrate current or past community service, have clearly defined educational goals and show a commitment to empowering women through their extracurricular or leadership activities.
Rachel Kereszturi received the scholarship in 2017 and said HOPE has provided her with valuable guidance and support: “I received a secondary family through HOPE. I first met everyone when I was 19, and now I’m 27, engaged and living the life I dreamed of while I was a student at Harper.”
Rachel used her HOPE scholarship to pay for housing when she transferred to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science. Now the Rolling Meadows resident works as a health actuary at Aon in Chicago, where she acts as a liaison between clients and health vendors, helping them design medical plans for their employees.
“During my time at the University of Illinois, [HOPE mentors] connected me with people who work in the same industry as me or close to what I wanted to pursue,” she said. “My mentors were there for me during my transition from community college to my four-year university. It was a hard adjustment. They would reach out to see how I was doing. They are always my cheerleaders. My mentors from HOPE inspire me to become a mentor myself.”
Yosephine plans to use her HOPE scholarship to fund her first year at the University of Illinois Chicago.
“My mom is the main breadwinner of the family. She is a computer engineer, but she’s told me she’s always wanted to pursue something more artistic or go into health care,” she said. “I know that she sacrificed that passion in order to provide for her family. I guess for me, I just want to take that weight off of her in a way. Since she is a little older, I especially want to help out with money and just alleviate that kind of stress.”
