Alumni Features

It takes a unique individual, passionate about justice and public service, to be both a Chicago Police Officer and a Real Estate Lawyer. But if there is one thing we know, it’s that a Lewis Flyer can get the job done! Gretchen Chavez ’09 is originally from the South Side of Chicago in Beverly. Growing up, Gretchen always knew that she wanted more than the typical 9-5 desk job – which is why the idea of working for a police department seemed like the perfect fit. It wasn’t long after she pursued a bachelor’s degree at Columbia College Chicago and began working for the Chicago Police Department, that she chose to earn an advanced degree at Lewis. Gretchen continued to work full time as she dove into her schoolwork, and two short years later, she earned her master’s degree in Criminal Justice. For the past 16 years, Gretchen has served as a Chicago Police Officer assigned to the Marine Unit. Her specialization is in rescue diving, but she also assists the department with evidence re...

Originally from Lockport, Harold Ebenroth ’95 grew up fascinated by the planes he would see flying into the Chicagoland airports. As a teenager, the father of one of Harold’s friends was an active member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and worked at the Lewis airport, where he also had his own plane based. Spending time with his friend’s father is what helped Harold realize that being a pilot was something he wanted to – and could – do. Years later, he enrolled at Lewis University where he officially set out on his journey to pursue his calling as a pilot. Harold was chosen to serve as a flight instructor intern during his senior year at Lewis before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Aviation Maintenance. For the next few years, Harold worked as a full-time flight instructor to pay it forward and teach the next generation of Flyers. He then accepted a new position as an assistant chief pilot in which he served as a liaison between the flight and maintenance depa...

When you look at all that Cierra Pulliam ’19 has achieved, there is no doubt that she is destined for greatness. In fact, her success as a collegiate athlete on the Lewis University Track & Field team motivated her to pursue one of her biggest dreams – the Olympics. Cierra has been training to qualify in the upcoming Olympic Track & Field Trials, where athletes will be selected as the United States representatives for the Olympic Games. After being canceled last year due to COVID-19, the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials will kick off on June 18 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. This is something that Cierra has always dreamed of, and now, her numbers are very close to the Olympic qualifying level. Last year, Cierra was gearing up for what she thought would be a great season just before the pandemic began. As the virus spread, it became more and more difficult to continue training and produce the best results. “For so long, I trained to maintain what I already had and also ...

  John Szatkowski ’00 Oftentimes, when students prepare to go to college, they find it difficult to decide what they want to do for the rest of their life. This was no different for John Szatkowski ’00 who enrolled at Lewis with an undeclared major his freshman year. He was able to dabble in all the things he enjoyed and stayed quite busy playing club volleyball, performing in a few bands, participated, working in the theatre and more. Later that year, John got the unique opportunity to work for UPS at O’Hare International Airport and says, “the smell of jet-fuel in the morning got him hooked!” John received his flight dispatcher license in his last semester before graduating from Lewis with a bachelor’s degree in Aviation Administration. Afterwards, he moved to Seattle to work for a small startup airline. Less than a year later, he moved back to Chicago and began working at Chicago Express Airlines. He stayed there for about 5 years, through the downturn of September 11, as we...