Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the Construction Leadership Institute (CLI) Advisory Board presented a plaque honoring the contributions to the St. Louis community by late CLI graduate Tyrone Thompson at the 10th anniversary celebration of the CLI program on May 8. Thompson’s mother, former state Rep. Betty Thompson, accepted the award.
Tyrone Thompson was a member of the Kwame Building Group and graduated from the inaugural program of the CLI in 2004. He was a fierce education advocate who mentored hundreds of at-risk youth.
Thompson was tragically shot by two teenagers in an attempted robbery in 2010. At the time, he was developing a mentorship program through University City High School.
The Kwame Building Group continued his work by creating the Tyrone Thompson Institute for Nonviolence, which offers an innovative approach to school suspensions. Through the foundation, college students are trained to provide one-on-one mentoring in a student’s own school setting, and support skills workshops are made available to parents.
CLI was created 10 years ago when building industry leaders approached SIUE to help create a program to accelerate the leadership development of high potential employees. It resulted in collaboration between the SIUE Schools of Business and Engineering to offer an annual program of nine weekly, day-long sessions from mid-January through mid-March.
