One powerful measure of an educational program is what participants carry with them long after the final class. At High Jump’s 2026 Spring of Opportunity Benefit, alumna and Illinois Court of Claims Judge Sonia Antolec offered a moving illustration. Her story linked a middle-school experience to a legal career, a commitment to service, and a belief that the benefits of opportunity can extend across generations.
Opportunity at a pivotal age
Antolec joined High Jump as a young student from Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. In her remarks, she described the difference that challenging coursework, new peers, and the chance to feel at home in unfamiliar academic spaces made for her. The experience did more than add to a résumé; it helped build the confidence to pursue a demanding high-school path and later higher education.
That distinction is important. Academic enrichment creates value not only through the subjects taught but also through the message students receive: their ideas belong in serious conversations, their ambition is worth supporting, and they can navigate rooms that may once have seemed closed to them.
A career rooted in service
Antolec went on to graduate from college and law school, build a legal practice, and serve on the Illinois Court of Claims. Her professional life has also centered on helping people who face difficult systems or limited access to assistance. The point of sharing that record is not to suggest a single prescribed outcome for every student. It is to show how sustained encouragement at an early moment can widen a young person’s sense of what they can contribute.
Her story also emphasizes the role of families. The support and sacrifices that make opportunity usable are part of the picture, as are the educators and organizations that recognize potential before a student has a polished plan for the future.
Thinking beyond one cohort
High Jump’s benefit framed opportunity as an investment with a long horizon. When a student gains stronger academic tools, a network, and a sense of belonging, the effects can touch siblings, parents, future children, and neighborhoods. That is not a guarantee, but it is a powerful reason to make high-quality learning experiences accessible during middle school, when students are actively forming ideas about themselves and their futures.
Antolec’s journey is a reminder that a program’s deepest impact may not be fully visible on the day a student completes it. It unfolds over time in choices, relationships, leadership, and the ways former scholars use their experiences to make room for others. Read the full High Jump story and Judge Antolec’s remarks.
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