Campus Celebrity Ken Thomas

 
As I sat down with Ken Thomas, a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he fully exuded confidence.   He was sharply dressed, wearing a sweater with a polo tucked underneath.  He explained that he also enjoys suits and is obsessed with ties.  He tells me that he likes to dress professionally when the occasion calls for it because of the classiness and tells others that he desires to make a good impression.
 
 
Coming from a single parent home, his parents’ divorce drove him to have the desire to help others.  At that time in his life, he never felt more helpless, and he did not want others to be in the same position that he grew up in.  He found that he enjoyed politics, even at a young age, and decided that he wanted to become a lawyer.  In this way, he made some of the negative childhood events into a positive.
 
 
In order to become a lawyer, Ken sets various goals in his life.  His first goal was to become accepted into a college.  Being the first in his family to achieve this, he chose to attend UIC because it “is the closest university to the center of Chicago while still maintaining a campus feel”.  Further, it is affordable and a prime place to study political science. 
 
Already, Ken Thomas has been apart of many organizations to help students.  He currently serves in undergraduate Student Government, and the coalition of Chicago Colleges.  In the coalition, he went to Springfield to lobby for MAP grants.  He felt this was an important cause because countless students at UIC require financial aid, and if the map grants were taken away, many students would not be able to attend college.
 
One of Ken’s goals at UIC is to provide a Metra pass to students.  This would allow students to go home to the suburbs as well as those who commute at a reduced cost. He thinks it’s a big deal as he explains, “there are lots of Metra commuters and if I can find and implement a way to save them money I’ve done a good thing”.