Evan Boyle

Evan Boyle was 15 when he dropped out of his North Carolina high school and earned his GED. Soon after, he entered the workforce full-time. He moved to Chicago and spent many years in the restaurant and bar industry.

“When COVID hit, my job hours were massively reduced, so I decided to go back to school to give me something to do,” he recalled.

Evan enrolled at Harold Washington College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago.

“I found out that I really enjoyed school, which was entirely new for me, since school used to give me a lot of anxiety.”

Things went so well that Evan decided to stay in school even after his old job opened back up. He enrolled in liberal arts classes, taking an interest in political science. Then, a class with a particular philosophy professor changed his area of focus.

“I attribute what I study today to Dave Richardson,” Evan said. “The way he structured the courses I took with him really piqued my interest. For me, philosophy is so intellectually stimulating,” he said.

As soon as in-person classes were offered at Harold Washington College, Evan came to campus. His involvement in college life grew from there. He interned for Chicago’s 44^th Ward alderman, Tom Tunney, and Evan himself was elected vice president of scholarship in Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society Mu Pi chapter and treasurer of the college’s Student Government Association (SGA).

He benefitted from the tuition program available to SGA board members that covered his tuition and books, and he was happy to pay it forward to other Harold Washington students when he had the opportunity.

“We created a book accessibility scholarship in SGA, distributing $10,000 in aid to students who needed that financial support. I was so glad that our SGA budget was large enough that we could spread the resources,” Evan said.

Once he realized that he enjoyed the college atmosphere, Evan knew transferring to a four-year college would be a natural progression. He began to research liberal arts colleges and enrolled in the Transfer Leadership Class with Harold Washington College’s Transfer Center director, Ellen Goldberg. There, Evan learned the fine art of financial aid negotiation, which came in handy when college acceptance letters began to roll in from competitive schools all over the country.

“It came down to a decision between Stanford University and Williams College,” Evan said. “I got a full ride to Williams, and it was all because I learned how to talk to schools about what I could afford. If I didn’t know to do that, I probably would have ended up paying a lot more.”

Evan transferred to Williams College, a small school in Massachusetts with a student population of just over 2,000. He wanted a small college experience like the close-knit community he had found at Harold Washington. Evan encourages community college students to explore smaller liberal arts colleges when they’re planning to transfer, stressing how supportive the schools can be both in the classroom and in their generous financial aid packages.

“Moving away from my support networks and going to a big school would have been overwhelming for me,” Evan said. “It is amazing to go to class every day with some of the best professors in the world here at Williams. It is great to see how far I’ve come.”

Soon, Evan’s journey will take him to Greece for a fully-funded, immersive learning experience during his upcoming four-week winter term. He credits City Colleges of Chicago with being an accessible and affordable launchpad for his academic journey.

“Sometimes, I think about how I was bartending three years ago, school far from my mind, and can’t believe I’m going to Greece to study ancient Greek tragedies this winter. It blows my mind what kinds of opportunities I have now. City Colleges gave me options for what I could do next. They helped me get to where I am today, and I’m grateful,” he said.