First EJP Student Admitted into University of Illinois
by Brian Dolinar, Education Justice Project / Oct 20, 2025
For the first time, a former Education Justice Project (EJP) student has been accepted and enrolled in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Mike Pierce is working on a master's degree in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis on Trauma-Informed Practice and Pedagogy in the College of Education.
After being transferred to Danville prison in 2018, Mike started taking courses through EJP and became interested in pursuing his education. In 2023, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Eastern Illinois University. (While EJP students earn college credits in our program, the University of Illinois does not award degrees, so many of our students will get a bachelor’s through EIU.)
In June 2024, Mike was transferred from Danville to the Adult Transition Center in Peoria where he will live until he gets out in a year. For now, he takes his graduate-level classes entirely online from a desk station at the transition center. He enjoys preparing for classes at his favorite coffee shops in Peoria.
He has already taken three classes and earned all As.
Straight A Student
“School’s going well,” Mike says. “I’m making straight As. I wouldn’t expect anything less. To be honest with you, my teachers say I do way too much work. I told them that will not change because I want an A. I am a guy who just loves the grades.”
Mike grew up in southern Illinois, “way out in the country,” he says. His mother struggled to survive with four children. Mike was partially raised by a friend’s family. He says he first took college classes in prison with family members who were also incarcerated, “because that was our place to hang out.”
When he was transferred to Danville, he expressed interest in EJP, started taking courses, and immediately noticed a difference.
“If you’re going for an associate degree,” he observed, “it’s normally lecture style — pass these texts, memorize this information. It’s the banking method. When I went to EJP courses, there was open dialogue and discussion. You have the freedom to have an opinion and defend that opinion. That was something I really embraced.”
“At EJP,” he continued, “you have teachers who are very passionate about what they’re teaching and about the mission of coming in and helping us gain higher education. There is just a different quality to the college classroom.”
In addition to taking classes, Mike tutored English as a second language in EJP’s Language Partners program. He served as library worker in our community library at Danville Correctional Center and contributed to the student newsletter, The Amplifier. He was also a tutor in the York high school program.
A Happy Space
Since being released to the transition center, Mike has been able to get involved with EJP on the outside. He recently joined the 2025-27 cohort of EJP Alumni Fellows.
Mike attended an EJP lunch in September where he saw other EJP alumni and members. It was the first time in 15 months that he got to see his former classmate Anthony “Milo” Olivieri, who was released just a few months ago. “I came up from behind him. I was like, ‘Is that Milo?’ Milo said, ‘I know that voice.’” The two of them embraced. “All the people in the office got to see the joyous hugs and reunion there,” said Mike.
Another person there was Calen Gutwein, co-coordinator for Language Partners. They didn’t expect to see one another at the lunch. “She was very surprised,” said Mike. “It was funny to see her reaction to seeing me there.”
“It was a very happy space to be in that day.”
Now that he gets passes to travel, Mike stays with a friend in Galesburg a couple days a week. He helped his friend build a hearth for a wood stove, cut down a tree with a chainsaw, and maintain a garden.
“I cooked my first breakfast since I got out,” Mike said. He made eggs with onions and bell peppers from the garden, and fried potatoes on the side also from the garden. Mike calls himself a “coffee afficionado” and likes to make pour over coffee. “I got good beans, a scale, and a nice kettle,” he said. “I love coffee.”
Deep Thinker
Mike is sailing through his classes and is expected to graduate in May 2026. He is now preparing applications to pursue a doctorate degree. “I have a long-term goal of going back into the prison system to teach,” he says.
Emma Mercier, Director of Graduate Programs in Curriculum & Instruction, reviewed Mike’s application for the graduate program and has since become an advocate for him. Mike has a commitment, she said, “to his own education, and then using it to provide educational opportunities to those who are incarcerated.” She has recognized that he is a “deep thinker” who will go on to make a “significant impact in the lives of many.”
Stay tuned for more, in a future blog post we will talk about how Mike overcame obstacles to get into graduate school.