CME Group and Mayor Lightfoot Award Scholarships to 25 Star Scholars Moving Up to Four-Year Colleges and Universities

CHICAGO, June 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot have awarded 25 associate graduates from City Colleges of Chicago with a $5,000 scholarship towards their four-year degree. For the sixth consecutive year, CME Group is recognizing the academic achievements of Star Scholars at City Colleges of Chicago, in step with its mission to advance equitable opportunities for talented students in Chicago.

"I'm proud of the hard work and dedication the students at City Colleges of Chicago have demonstrated through their academic achievements," said Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. "The Star Scholarship has helped them achieve their goals, and has enabled thousands of other students to succeed by giving them the opportunity to receive their associate's degrees without debt. I'm thrilled to see these young people excel in their careers and life."

"We are pleased to invest in a diverse group of Chicago's students as they work hard to achieve success through higher education," said CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy. "Each year, the Star Scholarship program helps future industry leaders access learning opportunities that can provide a foundation for many rewarding careers."

All award recipients must be recent graduates from the City Colleges of Chicago with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. The scholarship from CME Group will support these students in achieving a bachelor's degree in accounting, business management, math, computer science (IT), finance or economics at one of the Chicago Star Partner colleges and universities.

"CME Group is an amazing corporate citizen and we commend them for supporting our Star Scholar students with these generous scholarships to four-year institutions," said Chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago Juan Salgado. "With CME Group's generous support, our students are better able to pursue their education goals and dreams. We are grateful for their partnership and shared mission that is transforming lives through education."

"I'm grateful to receive this scholarship, because it will help me pay for things that federal aid didn't cover," said Marion Thomas, Richard J. Daley College, Class of 2022. "It's an honor to be selected as a Star Scholar, and now I can focus more on school and not have to worry about student debt."

The Star Scholarship program at City Colleges of Chicago has helped more than 12,500 CPS graduates pursue their associate degree debt-free. More than 360 Star Scholars have completed their associate degree in Spring 2022 with a GPA of 3.0 or higher, with 56% of the graduates looking to transfer to a four-year university or college within the Fall 2022 semester. 

CME Group joined the Star Scholars movement in 2017 after a long partnership with the City of Chicago on initiatives designed to help make college more affordable and attainable for CPS graduates. Dating back to 1986 when CME Group and the City of Chicago launched the CME Group Mayoral Award for Student Achievement, CME Group has supported high-achieving CPS students in pursuit of college degrees, resulting in thousands of annual scholarships and a cumulative level of financial support exceeding $2.5 million.

This year's award recipients will be recognized at a celebratory luncheon event on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, at CME Group headquarters in Chicago.

For more information on the Star Scholarship at City Colleges of Chicago, visit www.ccc.edu/starscholarship.

As the world's leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals.  The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex® platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform.  In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing. 

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and, E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.  CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc.  NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.  COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec and EBS are trademarks of BrokerTec Europe LTD and EBS Group LTD, respectively. Dow Jones, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and S&P are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC, as the case may be, and have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

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SOURCE CME Group