Will County Board member Ragan Freitag (R-Wilmington) shares her career experiences with Joliet Catholic Academy students during Alumni Career Day on April 22, 2015.

Will County Board member Ragan Freitag, R-Wilmington, will join an elite group of emerging leaders next week to participate in a forward-thinking public policy program led by former Gov. Jim Edgar. In its fourth year, the Edgar Fellows initiative seeks to inspire bipartisan, inter-regional cooperation in addressing major challenges for the state in the years and decades ahead.

Freitag, a 1999 graduate of Joliet Catholic Academy, recently returned to school in April for Alumni Career Day, informing the students about her journey from graduation to today, including key choices she made, people that influenced her, and offered information about her career as an attorney. She discussed her unique experience at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and then law school in Jackson, MS. She now practices criminal defense and family law for Kavanagh Grumley & Gorbold LLC in Joliet.

“It’s an honor to join the 2015 Edgar Fellows class that features a broad range of leaders from throughout Illinois,” said Freitag. “I look forward to meeting and engaging with them next week and in the months and years to come. By forming these relationships, working together and finding common ground, I believe strongly we can help solve our state’s problems and move it forward.”

The women and men, chosen from more than 140 nominees, reflect the regional, political, racial and ethnic diversity of Illinois. They include elected and appointed officials from all levels of government as well as individuals who have made their mark in the business world and civic engagement.

-Excerpts taken from Scott Viau’s July 31, 2015 article in the Joliet Patch. Click Here to read the complete story.