Alexandria “Allie” Quigley

“When you get older, you talk about your education growing up and people ask, ‘Did you go to Catholic School your whole life?’ And I think, ‘I did.’ It’s really cool. It’s kind of rare.”

“I literally went to Catholic school from third grade even through college. I went to DePaul. So, I think growing up, I took it for granted. I didn’t realize how special it was, the family atmosphere and the lifelong friendships I got from going to a Catholic school. And I think a lot of people, you know, they don’t get to experience that.”

“I feel like we were lucky. My brothers and sister and I were able to get scholarships to have a Catholic education. We lost our dad when we were young and my mom, a young mom herself, took care of us four kids. I think we were all under 7 years old at that time.”

“It was really important for her and my dad for us to go to a Catholic school. He was from a family of faith and all of them went to the same Catholic schools. I think it was just really special that we were able to still do that with the help of these donations. I think it’s just something that I took for granted, and maybe I didn’t even realize that we had help.”

“When you’re young, you don’t ask these kinds of questions. You just think, ‘This is life. I get to do this and have this opportunity.’ So, being older, it just makes me appreciate that we had generous people that were able to help us get through those tough times and give me these memories that I will cherish forever.”

“When thinking about my childhood and my experience at St. Pat’s and Joliet Catholic, and even DePaul, I have so many great memories. And I think that’s really centered around the traits of a Catholic school, whether it’s a smaller atmosphere or that it’s more family-oriented.”

“I think it’s really important to have that opportunity for families that may have the same kind of struggles that we had whether it’s a single-parent household or maybe one of the parents lost a job or just be it the fact that wherever you grew up economically, I think it’s important that everyone has that opportunity to have an amazing education.”

“I started learning about [the Invest in Kids Scholarship Tax Credit Program] maybe a year or two ago. Once I learned what it was about, it kind of made me think back to my childhood, realizing how much scholarships helped me. So, the Empower Illinois tax credit program is something that really hits home for me, personally, and for my family and my brothers and sister.”

“To be able to know that someone helped us, even if they gave just a little bit, giving however much you can give, I feel like it’s so important to be able to help other families the way we were always helped. And it just feels really good to be able to give back in that way.”

Alexandria “Allie” Quigley
Professional basketball player, Chicago Sky
Deerfield, Illinois