When 19-year Isabel Hernandez climbed the stairs to the podium at Chicago’s Union League Club on May 5 to deliver a keynote address, she marked a milestone in her journey from the implausible to the indubitable. The former was the result of growing up in tough circumstances in Pilsen. The latter has been driven largely a by the mentoring and tutoring Isabel received at the Metro Achievement Center for girls.

“I was shy and kept to myself,” Isabel, a second year student at Arrupe College of Loyola University, told the crowd of nearly 300 mostly women business leaders at the Metro Advancement Council’s 20th Annual Luncheon. “My culture surrounded me,” Isabel said. It was a safe zone that kept me from the dreams and dignity I now have.” Add to those challenges the fact that Isabel was an under performing student.

“My mother and my grandmother told me I could be better, but I thought, ‘that’s what mothers and grandmothers are supposed to say’.”

Isabel’s mother, Cecelia, enrolled Isabel in Metro as a fifth-grader. “Soon,” said Cecelia, “Isabel began believing in herself. She began dreaming bigger things, things beyond our community.”

Like most meaningful change, that took time—time for Isabel to feel safe and trusting at Metro, time for her confidence to grow and time for setting goals that continue to broaden her reach.

“My relationship with Isabel has progressed slowly, but surely,” said Erin Aldrich, director of Metro. We became a big part of each other’s lives. We had many conversations about acknowledging things that are ordered and disordered in our lives. We talked a lot about God and his unconditional love for each of us. Today, Isabel sees herself as a leader, someone who can make the world better for all around her.”

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