Thank You Big Shoulders and Prof. Hank Perritt's Kent Law Students!

Kent Law Professor Hank Perritt,* a wildly accomplished gentleman, brought a score or more Kent Law Students to help gussy-up the grounds of Leo High School.

The Big Shoulders Fund's Amy Drozda and the venerable Tom Zbierski ( The Polish Lion!) reached out to these fine folks and Leo added a thick coat of black enamel to its parking lot fence and had two class-rooms painted as well while the Leo Student Body cut alley weeds, hauled out trash and gave the athletic weight rooms and locker-rooms a thorough going over.

The young law students  came from all over Chicago and from Kansas, Missouri and California. One young lady boarded the 79th Street Westbound at the end of the day.  There were five beautiful young ladies who had no problem getting right to work and knew the working end of rollers and brushes.  All of the students, Law and Leo, enjoyed themselves - they shot hoops in our iconic gym, hit the speed bag in the boxing room with Leo Man James Davis and learned Leo Lore from President Dan McGrath, who sent two Kent students to check in on me and inquire about my 'night terrors' and screaming, as I slumbered in my cubicle.

The He-Bull ramrod-ing these charitable exertions was Professor Hank Perritt.  The Leo Family thanks its pals from the Big Shoulders Fund and Kent Law School!  Hank can paint a fence.

Henry H. Perritt Jr.

Professor of Law and Director of the Graduate Program in Financial Services Law

Henry H. Perritt, Jr., is a professor of law at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. He served as Chicago-Kent's dean from 1997 to 2002 and was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Tenth District of Illinois in 2002. Throughout his academic career, Professor Perritt has made it possible for groups of law and engineering students to work together to build a rule of law, promote the free press, assist in economic development, and provide refugee aid through "Project Bosnia," "Operation Kosovo" and "Destination Democracy."

Professor Perritt is the author of more than 75 law review articles and 17 books on international relations and law, technology and law, employment law, and entertainment law, including Digital Communications Law, one of the leading treatises on Internet law; Employee Dismissal Law and Practice, one of the leading treatises on employment-at-will; and two books on Kosovo:Kosovo Liberation Army: The Inside Story of an Insurgency, published by the University of Illinois Press, and The Road to Independence for Kosovo: A Chronicle of the Ahtisaari Plan, published by Cambridge University Press.

He is active in the entertainment field, as well, writing several law review articles on the future of the popular music industry and of video entertainment. He also wrote a 50-song musical about Kosovo, You Took Away My Flag, which was performed in Chicago in 2009 and 2010. A screenplay for a movie about the same story and characters has a trailer online and is being shopped to filmmakers. His two new plays, Airline Miles and Giving Ground, are scheduled for performances in Chicago in 2012. His novel, Arian, was published by Amazon.com in 2012. He has two other novels in the works.

He served on President Clinton's Transition Team, working on telecommunications issues, and drafted principles for electronic dissemination of public information, which formed the core of the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments adopted by Congress in 1996. During the Ford administration, he served on the White House staff and as deputy under secretary of labor.

Professor Perritt served on the Computer Science and Telecommunications Policy Board of the National Research Council, and on a National Research Council committee on "Global Networks and Local Values." He was a member of the interprofessional team that evaluated the FBI's Carnivore system. He is a member of the bars of Virginia (inactive), Pennsylvania (inactive), the District of Columbia, Maryland, Illinois and the United States Supreme Court.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, on the Lifetime Membership Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations, and as secretary of the Section on Labor and Employment Law of the American Bar Association. He is vice-president and a member of the board of directors of The Artistic Home theatre company, and is president of Mass. Iota-Tau Association, the alumni corporation for the SAE fraternity chapter at MIT.

Professor Perritt earned his B.S. in engineering from MIT in 1966, a master's degree in management from MIT's Sloan School in 1970, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1975*

http://www.kentlaw.iit.edu/faculty/full-time-faculty/henry-h-perritt-jr

The Big Shoulders Fund - The Real Deal: Catholic Schools for All

Today, Leo High School will welcome scores of volunteers shepherded by the staff of Chicago's Big Shoulders Fund.  The volunteers are law students from Chicago's Kent School of Law.  The boss shepherd will be Gordon Tech Alumnus and Big Shoulders director Tom Zbierski*.

CPS may very well begin the official school year with Teachers Strike.

Catholic schools, who continue to out perform public schools at every level, have been in session. Leo High School has been at it for the last two weeks.

The Big Shoulders Fund helps inner city families secure a Catholic Education. That education makes success an almost certainty - every graduate of Leo's Class of 2011 is in college.  Not every student wants or should go to college.  Catholic schools prepare young people for good paying careers in the skilled trades.  The skilled trades ( carpenters, electricians, pipe fitters, engineers) want to fill their apprenticeship slots with workers who know the stuff and show up for work.

Today, the volunteers will paint and help the Leo Family spruce up the old place.

The Big Shoulders Fund works 24/7.  Here is a splendid video of its mission and the young people it supports.



Get involved!

*For more than twenty three years, the Big Shoulders Fund has undertaken the responsibility of helping Chicago's inner-city children to achieve their dreams through access to a quality, values-based education.  However, we need your help to make this possible.  There are many ways to make a difference and we hope you will get involved.

• Donate. Make a gift individually, as a family or through your company.

• Participate. Attend our annual Lend a Shoulder Day where friends get a glimpse of what happens at the schools through visits, attending class and networking.

• Mentor. Work directly with students. Mentors are placed whenever possible in the school of their own choosing or, if the mentor is able, where the need is the greatest. If you are interested in learning more about the mentoring opportunities, please contact Tom Zbierski, Director of School Relations at 312-751-8365 / tzbierski@bigshouldersfund.org.

• Build. Join or create a Patron Advisory Board.  The Patrons Program is seeking bright, committed women and men to serve on Patron Advisory Boards.  Our schools are in need of professionals who are interested in contributing a small amount of their time and talent in the areas of marketing, accounting, fundraising, capital improvements, construction and technology. Individuals can be apart of these boards who are working to build a sustainable, vital future for Catholic schools in Chicago. If you are interested in learning more about joining a Patron Advisory Board, please contact John Moran, Director of the Patrons Program at 312-751-3897 / jmoran@bigshouldersfund.org.

• Fundraise. Help plan the annual Big Shoulders Fund Golf Classic which raises essential scholarship funds to enable inner-city children to attend inner-city Catholic schools. We are always seeking new members for the Golf Classic committee. Dedicated volunteers from the civic and business community plan the event and solicit sponsors, auction items, donations and foursomes. For more information, to golf or to join in the committee, please contact Amy Drozda, Associate Director for Events and Publications at 312-751-3850 / adrozda@bigshouldersfund.org.

• Join. Become a part of the Auxiliary Board which is designed to engage active and altruistic young professionals (20s through 40s). Members can be part of three committees: Fundraising, Outreach, and Schools.  Through these committees members are able to help plan fundraisers, volunteer with Big Shoulders schools and children, and work to increase the visibility of the Big Shoulders Fund and the Auxiliary Board, and recruit new members.  For more information or to join please contact Amy Drozda, Associate Director for Events and Publications at 312-751-3850 /adrozda@bigshouldersfund.org.

• Serve. One-Day Opportunities We know that many people who want to lend a hand are very busy between family and work committments.  We have a variety of one day service opportunities including our events and Give Back Days. Not only are these great ways for you to give back, but they are a perfect way to bring a group together.  We extend the opportunity for service days to alumni groups, sharing parishes, companies and other clubs. The Big Shoulders Fund and the Auxiliary Board host Saturday morning service days every other month.  These events are held from 9am till noon at different schools around the city of Chicago.  If you are interested in joining us please contact Amy Drozda at 312-751-3850 or adrozda@bigshouldersfund.org.