A Spring of 

Opportunity

Friday May 1st 2026 • 6:00 pm
Hilton Towers Chicago

Tickets & Sponsorships will be on sale soon!

If you're interested in sponsoring or attending, please reach out to Molly Gilbride at mgilbride@highjumpchicago.org

Hilton Towers Chicago

720 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60605

For over 35 years, High Jump has reshaped the educational landscape of Chicago, providing pathways of opportunity for nearly 3,000 scholars to confidently actualize their potential as learners and as leaders who go on to thrive in high school, college, and beyond. 


Join us to empower Chicago middle schoolers with the transformative power of a High Jump education which profoundly impacts the lives of each and every one of our students, their families, their communities, and our city today and for years to come. 


We look forward to celebrating with you! 


2026 Benefit Co-Chairs:
Farah Adhi
Kristina Ehrhart
Eleni Griesemer
Rachel Martell
Julia Rosebush

Thank you to our 2025 Sponsors!


Anniversary Sponsors


Elisa and Chris Cartwright

Jymme and Steve Chaouki

Michael and Pamela Gordon Family

 Foundation

Jill and John Levi

Diane Saltoun and Bruce Braun







Access Sponsors

Meg and Karl Frey

Paula and Tim Friedman

Brian and Christina Greviskes

Eleni and Steve Griesemer

Kerrie Maloney Laytin

Cindy and Mike O'Connor

Georgy Ann and Bill Peluchiwski

Abby and Mason Phelps






Scholarship Sponsors

Jenny and Jerry Bekkerman

Erica and Krishnan Chandrasekhar

David Chazen

Sarah and John Cobb

Vince Cozzi

Margaret Egan Lawler and Mike Lawler

Jenny Farver and Matt Notowidigdo

Mary and Christopher Fifield

Arla and Joel Gomberg

Krissan and John Jennings

Lena and Andrew Jessen

Sarah Levine

Nichole Lopez-Tackett

Kim Lynch

Matthew D. Means

Thomas Meyers and Suzanne Lynch

Anna Meytina-Lurye and Alexander Lurye

Kathleen and Michael O'Connor

Kim and Manny Picciola

Daisie and Michael Siska

Laura and Charlie Tribbett













Opportunity Sponsors

Farah and Praveen Adhi

Sandra Barreto and Tem Horwitz

Susan and Scott Brown

Isabel and Austin Carpenter

Elizabeth and Matt Denison

Karen and Arne Duncan

Kristina and Tom Ehrhart

Mary and Charlie Gofen

Helen Han and Dan Pan

Nat and Ellen Kellogg

Adrienne and Erik King

Ami and Eric Liu

Elaine and Art Margulis

Rachel and Aaron Martell

Dara and Ross Milner

Kristina and John Mulhall

Irene and Rich Parisi

Catherine and Michael Rosenberg

Deanna Ryan

Ramya and Ajay Shah

Ruchika and Vik Sohoni











Enrichment Sponsors

Nidhi Agrawal and Noah Weiss

Sonia Antolec

Katie and Chris Barber

Leslie and Bill Barker

Dennis Daughtridge and Dale Meyer

Gabriel Fontes de Faria and Grant Gochnauer

Emily and Daniel Hoffman

Mariana and Paul Ingersoll

Cathy and Mike Lee

Heidi Ortolaza-Alvear and Andres Alvear

Janet and Jon Rauschenberger

Dr. Stephanie Ross

Sindhura and Vivek Sadanand


Auctioneer Sponsor

Brad Karsh


Auction Package Sponsors

Jymme and Steve Chaouki

Meredith and Joe Jemsek


Video Sponsor

Gigi and Andrew Schwertfeger


Wine Sponsor


Thank you to the 2025 Benefit Committee

Farah and Praveen Adhi

Nidhi Agrawal and Noah Weiss

Fariel Ali

Nirav and Keerthy Batavia

Susan and Scott Brown

Jennifer and Brandon Bush

Isabel and Austin Carpenter

Andrea and Brian Chadwick

Sami Chaouki and Scott Hendrickson

Stephanie Cohen

Alexia Corti

Dennis Daughtridge and Dale Meyer

Margaret Egan Lawler and Michael R Lawler

Kristina Ehrhart

Gabriel Fontes de Faria and Grant Gochnauer

Helen Han

Libby Holdren

Julie and Deji Jimoh

Cathy Lee

Sarah Levine

Rachel and Aaron Martell

Molly McEvoy

Matthew D. Means

Amelia and Alejandro Medina

Kristina and John Mulhall

Elizabeth Olsen

Julia Rosebush, DO and Raheel Patel

Deanna Ryan

Sindhura and Vivek Sadanand

Donna and Mike Sims

Ariele Scodro

Daisie and Mike Siska

Ruchika Sohoni

Christina Tu


High Jump Board of Directors


Chair
Lena Jessen 


Vice President
Nick Shields, Cohort 6


Treasurer
Cindy O'Connor

Sophia Ladouceur


Secretary
Shelley Greenwood


Board Chair-Elect
Mary Fifield


Directors

John Akalaonu, Cohort 4

Omid Bañuelos, Cohort 10

Katie Barber

Jenny Bekkerman

Erica Chandrasekhar

Jymme Chaouki

Prab Chawla

David Chazen

Yeny Ciborowski

Gina Chen, Cohort 13

Sarah Cobb

Sarah Cogswell

Vincent Cozzi

Karen Duncan

Mary Fifield

Meg Frey

Tim Friedman

Arla Gomberg

Pam Gordon

Christina Greviskes

Mariana Ingersoll

Krissan Jennings

Erik King

Kerrie Maloney Laytin 

John G. Levi

Nichole Lopez-Tackett

Kim Lynch

Nicole Mann

Thomas Meyers

Dara Milner

Philip Nevels, Cohort 5

Heidi Ortolaza-Alvear, Cohort 10

Georgy Ann Peluchiwski

Abby Phelps

Stephanie Ross

Diane Saltoun

Errett Van Nice

Ramon Villalpando, Cohort 5


Directors Emeriti

Diana Aixalá

Richard J. Almeida

Bill Barker

Sally Carton

Paula H. Crown

Charles S. Gofen

Priscilla Kersten

Langdon D. Neal

Annmarie Neumeier

Eleanor Nicholson

Richard Rothkopf

Todd A. Smith

Tina Wardrop


Our Partner Schools