Julien Sims

“He is one of the greatest leaders our school has ever seen,“ said the Chief College Officer at Julien’s school. As the Executive Student Government President, Julien is well known and well loved by his peers and teachers. An ‘A’ student enrolled in the toughest AP classes offered at his school, Julien is someone who is innately curious. His interests are diverse and his achievements are unconventional. A student member of The Academy Group, which unlocks opportunity for young people from the most resilient communities in Chicago, he became founder and CEO of Chill Apparel, his own clothing line. A three-sport athlete in high school, he was a 2019 state qualifier in shot put and discus. He works as the front-end shift lead over customer service employees at Mariano’s grocery store and is a student entrepreneur at The Gray Matter Experience, a platform for African American teens to create their own businesses that positively impact underrepresented neighborhoods across Chicago.

Together with another Laurel Scholar recipient, Julien worked with a University of Chicago professor on an editorial highlighting their insights on youth violence and the work of the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention. The piece was accepted for publication by the American Journal of Public Health. Julien is prone to wonder; he is someone who wants to understand why things are as they are, and how he can make a difference in the lives of others. Noted by one of his teachers, his school has four core values: scholarship, leadership, excellence, and grit. “There has not been one day, not one, that I have not witnessed Julien Sims exhibiting one, multiple, or all of these values in every encounter he has.”