Salma Campos

Sometimes life gets in the way.

For 19 year old Salma Campos, that’s exactly what happened, though it all worked out for her. This fall, for the first time in her life, Salma will not live in her Gage Park home – she’ll reside in Evanston as a Northwestern University sophomore.

Salma graduated from Solorio Academy High School in 2016. She was accepted at UIC and planned to start there that fall, but things changed. She started to think that a year off after graduating was what she needed. Plus, she realized that UIC or any four year institution wasn’t the right choice for her at the time, because first and foremost, she needed a school that was flexible and fit with her schedule.

That’s when she found City Colleges of Chicago.

Salma started as a Star Scholar at Daley College in the fall of 2017, and in only two semesters earned close to 30 credit hours, preparing her to transfer to Northwestern. She came in with AP credit and even some familiarity with Daley, thanks to a dual enrollment-dual credit precalculus class she took there during her junior year in high school. She focused on taking care of her daughter, working at a law firm, and on transferring to a four-year university.

Salma credits her professors with not only keeping her engaged in class, but also with helping her navigate the transfer process. It was the Star Scholarship, however, that made the most difference. “Being a Star Scholar, I was able to get my time at Daley fully paid for, go at my pace, and get huge financial support as I head to Northwestern,” she said.

Now it’s on to Evanston, where she’ll study economics and statistics and plans to graduate in 2021. Salma ultimately has her eye on working in data analysis.