Psychology major provides college opportunities as assistant head for Latin School of Chicago

The College of Wooster alumnus Ryan Allen ’99 looked for a secondary education that allowed him to be within a close radius to his hometown in the south side of Chicago while also providing opportunities to play basketball and study further the possibility of having a future within athletic training, and he found Wooster to be an appropriate fit. “When I got on campus and got the chance to meet everybody, it felt more like home, so that was my biggest choice,” Allen shared. 

As an employee of The Underground bar on-campus, leader of the Lewis volunteer house, and the director of multicultural recruitment at Wooster post-graduation, Allen participated in numerous programs and events to build retention for the College, which he benefitted from when he started as a student. “What Wooster does is give students the baseline to be able to do a lot of different things,” Allen said. 

Allen now focuses on providing access to monetary resources and wider accessibility for education—a focus that Allen directly works on as the assistant head of the Latin School of Chicago and previous occupation as a resident and program director for the Youngstown Early Intervention Program, helping Youngstown students discover and connect with the College.  

Having graduated high school from the Latin School of Chicago, Allen applies his skills to the environment that helped him reach his secondary education goals and assists those in similar situations to him when he attended. “Going to college and having that background of living in the South side of Chicago, my main focus is for students to have access to things they wouldn’t normally have,” Allen shared. “Working in non-profits is really about thinking about folks that have not had the access or sense of comfort and belonging and trying to bring those things forward in terms of their experiences and the impact that it has on them.” 

To hear more about Allen’s career trajectory and his current position in the Latin School of Chicago, watch this video.

Posted in Alumni on May 9, 2025.