Foreman Students Serve at Historic Northwestern Settlement House

The Northwestern Settlement House, in existence since 1891, hosted Foreman High school students on Friday, December 9, 2011. Students participated in activities with the "Golden Agers", a group of senior citizens from the community who come to the settlement house regularly for activities and services.

In the tradition of Jane Addams and the settlement house movement, the Northwestern Settlement House seeks to be a community center that provides opportunities and services for neighbors of all ages.

Foreman students led a rousing game of bingo then socialized with the seniors, many of whom access the settlement house as one of their few social opportunities of the week. The Golden Agers were thrilled to see the Foreman students and have them join in the activities.

Following the activities, Foreman students were able to tour the facility and learn about the important, and uniquely Chicago, history of the settlement house. For the past 120 years neighbors have been accessing the unique blend of opportunities. For our Foreman students it was a great opportunity to literally step into history and learn more about how individuals and organizations are civically engaged in the city.

Harris Fellows Host 7th Annual Leadership Conference

More than 350 CPS high school students came to DePaul University on Saturday, December 3, for the 7th Annual Harris Fellows Leadership Conference. The conference theme - Education: Shape Your Future; Shape Our Future - encouraged students to take control of their own education and use it to collaborate with others to build a better world.

Students found that the messages about college education are too frequently about winning the ability to make more money. Harris Fellows student leaders wanted to explore in more detail how post secondary education could lead to a different kind of fulfillment that creates a more just world and a deeper sense of personal fulfillment.

Throughout the conference, students participated in student-facilitated workshops that enabled them to identify and build on their own skills, passions, and fires, and then work together to create a different kind of a future based on the issues they cared most about.

Students were excited to attend the conference and were enthused about the workshops, opportunities to meet other student leaders, and the chance to have some fun during the lunch session which featured great music and dancing. One student reported she learned that "social networks are important and you have to feel comfortable in your own skin." Another said: "I built my confidence." Another said: "This [conference} should keep going on cause it's a good thing to inspire people."

The Harris Fellows Student Leadership Conference is unique in that it is conceived, planned, and implemented by student leaders. The adults take the back seat for the day. It was amazing to see the students plan out and facilitate their workshops and witness how favorably other students responded.

At the conference, four student leadership groups were recognized as members of the Harris Fellows Network: Phoenix Brotherhood, Foreman Peer Jury, Phoenix Sisterhood, and John Hope HS Brotherhood. Each of these organizations enables student leaders to make a real difference in the lives of fellow students at their schools.

Vaughn Students Serve in Tradition of Jane Addams

20 wonderful Vaughn High School students served in the tradition of Jane Addams today by preparing lunch and socializing with seniors citizens at The Kenmore Apartments as part of the CPS Jane Addams Week of Service.

During the week of December 5, students from across Chicago Public Schools learn about the important work of Jane Addams, a turn-of-the century reformer and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, then serve at various settlement house and community locations throughout the city. Addams built settlement houses as a strategy to develop community among and support the aspirations of newly arriving immigrants. But Addams also advocated for justice in those communities.

CPS teachers attended a professional development workshop at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum in November in order to prepare for the week of service which culminates on Saturday, December 10, with Addams' birthday celebration. Teachers help students learn about the progressive movement at the turn of the century and the work of Jane Addams and other reformers then accompany their students as they serve in communities across Chicago - just as Jane Addams herself did. On Jane Addams' birthday students from Curie, Hancock, Foreman, and Dyett will be working with immigrants, serving and getting to know seniors, and learning community organizing skills.

Today, Vaughn students displayed great teamwork, positive energy, and a wonderful spirit of community as they prepared lunch for 30 senior citizens then settled into play games with a very diverse group of Uptown senior citizens.

Recyclers Set to Smash Target Goals

20 CPS teachers gathered at the Center for Green Technology on Thursday, October 6 to get ready for the new recycling season at CPS. Teachers in attendance learned about great new curriculum from Facing the Future called "Buy, Use, Toss." Ten lessons and a bounty of extra online and video resources will enable students to dive deep and explore the social and environmental problems when we consume without thinking about the aftermath (particulary to the environment) of our choices.

Each teacher will lead a team of students that will develop and implement a recycling strategy at their school. Teams will be able to track their progress at www.cps.edu/gogreen and seeh how they are fairing on their recycling goals. We believe that each team will help its school smash the 100% goal of targeted recycling volume.

As recycling teams meet to strategize and implement their plans, they will also be able to participate in field trips to several locations to learn more about environmental issues and recycling processes. These experiences will help students build 21st century skills as they will be forced to think critically and creatively, collaborate with their peers, and solve problems that inevitably arise as the school works to get adults and students on board with recycling.

CPS is lucky to have such great teachers and students who are dedicated to the environment and engaging young people in such important work. Kudos in particular to Whitney Young High School which was represented by two student leaders who are anxious to implement plans at their school.

100 students and teachers from the southeast side of Chicago celebrated National Public Lands Day on September 24, by helping to restore wetland ecosystems at the Indiana Dunes National Park.

Students from Washington, Morgan Park, Harlan, Bowen, and Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences boarded buses early in the morning in order to learn more about intact ecosystems at the Indiana Dunes, the importance of biodiversity, and then pitched in by planting native plant species in a wetland bog, cutting back invasive species, and learning the craft of environmental interpretation.

Following a morning of hard work, students were rewarded for their labors with a picnic lunch and trip to Mt. Baldy, a immense sand dune with views of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. The dunes provided a good respite in nature for our high school students and the breath-taking views of Lake Michigan and its lake shore were memorable.

These students will now return to the Lake Calumet region of Chicago to restore and maintain their own more natural areas through the Calumet Is My BackYard program. Each high school group will continue to learn about environmental science in the classroom then put their knowledge to work restoring prairie and wetland areas throughout the southeast side of Chicago.

Communities Welcome Teachers for Immersion Institute

Teachers from schools in Logan Square, Kenwood/Oakland, and North Lawndale spent a full week during July participating in a Community Immersion Institute sponsored by the Service-Learning Initiative and the Office of Social Sciences.

The Institute is designed ngage teachers in the organizations, issues, and history of their communities and seek ways to connect these perspectives and opportunities with their own classroom curriculum.

Logan Square Neighborhood Association, the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization and the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation played active roles in facilitating the Institute throughout the week.

Teachers began the week by participating in community building activities and learning about the history of their neighborhoods. The next two days were spent in communities learning about current issues, organizations, and strategies. In Logan Square, teachers were able to have lunch in the homes of families.

Following a day of reflection and learning about three community-based pedagogies - service-learning, place-based learning and social justice education - teachers spent the final day of the Institute developing projects for their own classrooms. Many of the projects will enable students to learn more about the history and development of their communities and become active citizens in their own communities.

On August 25, teacher participants will gather again to share their projects and plan next steps in the process of connecting classroom to communities. For a full story of the Community Immersion Institute go to: http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/index.php/entry/1225/Summer_institutes_get_teachers_into_neighborhoods.

Summer of Service and Leadership Kicks Off in 21 Schools

50 teachers and college students gathered on June 4, 2011, for a professional development seminar to prepare them to launch the 4th Summer of Service and Leadership - a four-week leadership and service-learning experience for rising ninth graders.

Summer of Service and Leadership (SOSL) engages students in 21 high schools around the city in team building and leadership development experiences that prepare them to serve their communities. Students are currently examining the issues of aging, poverty and environment and then serving at locations throughout the city by working side-by-side with senior citizens, assisting and food pantries and restoring natural habitats.

In addition to the great service work students do through the program, SOSL is also a great transition program for 8th graders as they embark upon their high school careers. With the help of teachers, college mentors, and community partners, students are able to build new relationships with teachers, fellow students, and leaders in the community. They also have opportunities to explore college with the support of the college mentors.

The following high schools are participating in SOSL this summer: Amundsen, Chicago Academy, Clemente, Gage Park, Harlan, Kelvyn Park, Kennedy, King College Prep, Kinzie, Richards, Roosevelt, School of Social Justice, Solario, Steinmetz, Taft, Upflit, Von Steuben, Washington, and Whitney Young.

SOSL will culminate on Friday, July 22, 2011, at the UIC Forum. 500 students will come together to share their fantastic summer experiences. Look for a rainbow sea of colors as students report on out on their great work this summer.