By rssfeeds-admin 
Walter Dyett High School on Chicago’s South Side opened Saturday for fun family activities and to celebrate the achievements of 11 hardworking students.
The students are either starting their senior year of high school or their freshman year of college and have participated in “Advancing Young Leaders.”
The program is offered through the non-profit “The Support Group,” led and founded by Bennie Henry and co-founded by former NBA star Tim Hardaway Sr.
More than 30 years ago, Henry reached out to Hardaway about helping him start The Support Group.
“He said do you want to help me out? I said yes, I do,” Hardaway said.
Saturday’s student recognition included $500 and $1,000 scholarships.
Chloe Gadison, who just graduated from Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep, received one of those awards and is headed to Illinois State University with several credits already under her belt.
“I actually graduated with my associates, so I know a lot about college and things like that, so I think I’m prepared,” Gadison said.
Some of that preparation came from the nine month “Advancing Young Leaders” program.
“There’s been events like lunch with a leader, meeting with different leaders and people in the community and I’ve learned a lot about the different skills that you need to be a leader,” Gadison said.
A prominent leader students look up to is Hardaway, who met and took pictures with them.
“Without people like Bennie or The Support Group, I wouldn’t be here today. People opened doors for me to stay out of trouble and keep me off the streets,” Hardaway said.
Hardaway encouraged students to have confidence in themselves, work hard and practice patience.
“I like talking to kids,” Hardaway said. “A lot of kids want to ask me about basketball but today a kid asked me about life. He said, ‘What do you prefer talking about, life or basketball?’ and I said let’s talk about life because after basketball, it is life.”
Over the years, Henry says The Support Group has helped more than 100,000 young people.
Now, during challenging economic times, he’s asking for support from the community and businesses to ensure the organization thrives for decades to come.
“Everything we raise, I’m going to ask my sponsors to match,” Henry said. “It’s about the legacy so I’m trying to make sure whether I’m here or not, The Support Group will continue to go on and how that happens is I’m going to continue to make an impact and continue to raise money.”
For more information on The Support Group, click here.
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