EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Grace Kuikman, Class Of 1971

The Far South Side of Chicago neighborhoods of Beverly and Morgan Park have long been collaborative neighbors to bordering Evergreen Park. And a community leader in these city neighborhoods is proud to call Evergreen Park Community High School her alma mater.

Grace Kuikman, now the assistant director of the Beverly Area Planning Association, grew up in Evergreen Park and graduated from EPCHS in 1971.

“My time at EPCHS was the incubation of my lifelong commitment to community activism,” Kuikman said. “Our class was big and I got to know a lot of kids, and I love that so many of us stay in touch on social media and through reunion communications.”

Growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Kuikman said it was “an interesting and motivating four years” at EPCHS and in the world, “with so much cultural and creative change.”

“I embraced those changes and the challenge to be a more engaged and committed person,” Kuikman said.

“I was so lucky to have EPCHS teachers who were like mentors – especially Dorothy Brown and Ruth Knudsen for creative writing, and Robert Zwieg for journalism,” she said. “They set high bars and really challenged me to be a better writer.”

Kuikman made writing her career after she was introduced to the craft while working on the literary magazine and as editor of the Mustang Monitor student newspaper at EPCHS.

“The work I did developing my writing skills in high school opened doors for me to work on publications in college and I was still in college when I got my first job as a reporter on a daily newspaper,” she said.

When Kuikman moved to Beverly/Morgan Park, she got involved with a group of South Side writers and artists, and helped to found a literary magazine called Midway Review. She worked for the Southtown newspapers for a while, then started freelancing, and landed the job of editing The Villager for BAPA.

“It was perfect timing,” she said. “My oldest child was an infant, and I was able to work from home until my youngest went to kindergarten.”

Kuikman has since expanded her role at BAPA, working on communications and press information before she was named the assistant director. She’s also the coordinator for the popular BAPA Home Tour that showcases some of the neighborhood's many iconic homes every May.

Kuikman still edits The Villager, calling it “the best job ever.”

“I’ve never had to struggle to find great stories to tell about local people, businesses, organizations and events every month,” she said.