Click here to listen to the story: They both laughed and Garcia countered with the sort of question everyone approaching graduation wants answered: “Can you actually help me pay for school?” A few minutes later, she realized he wasn’t joking. He thought Garcia would be a great candidate for their PLEDGE program with Northern Illinois University. Now Garcia is graduating college and back in the Rochelle School District, where she grew up. She’s got a degree in elementary education with an English as a Second Language and Bilingual endorsement. And Rochelle picked up a large amount of her college tuition tab in exchange for teaching five years back in her hometown.