Hittin’ the Books | Friday Report from the Field

This week, Blaine Alvarez of the CSX Team serving at the Dulles School of Excellence shares a story of his team going into overdrive to help get students prepared to excel on the Ilinois Standards Achievement Text.

Starting on March 6^th and continuing through March 16^th, students at Dulles School of Excellence will be taking the ISAT (Illinois Standards Achievement Test) and throughout this process the CSX Team serving at Dulles will be there to support their students with a little extra help in school and after school.  Students in third through eighth grade will take exams in reading and math; 4^th and 7^th grade students additionally will take an additional science exam.  The  CSX team will be focusing mainly on giving the students the tools they need to succeed, with a variety of study and relaxation tips.

The CSX team will have its after school Homework Help morph into ISAT prep over the next six weeks.  Each day Academic Coordinator Ramya Kumaran will be teaching the kids the CSX Study Tip (based off of the popular City Year culture piece the CSX Safety Tip) of the week, which will range from reading the entire question to eliminating wrong answers.  Says Ramya about the test taking tips “I think these tips will really help out the students who aren’t as strong as test taking, and reassure the ones who are strong.”  Because the entire test taking event can be stressful, the rest of the team will provide the students with several relaxation tips as well to make sure the students are calm when they take the test.

With such smart students and City Year’s help, the Dulles Tigers are sure to roar at this year’s ISAT!

Blaine Alvarez is a first-year corps member serving on the CSX Team at the Dulles School of Excellence. Blaine is orginally from Aloha, Oregon and is a graduate of the University of Oregon.

Past Meets Present with Bianca Verma

Our semi-regular alumni spotlight feature Past Meets Present is back this week with an all new interview featuring City Year Chicago alumna, Bianca Verma!  While we weren’t able to swing our usual alumni video interview, Bianca was kind enough to answer some of our questions via email from the University of Michigan Medical School!

Mind introducing yourself?
Hi! I’m Bianca Verma, and I hail from Manlius, New York (a suburb of Syracuse, NY… Go Orange!). I graduated from Harvard in 2010, and decided I wanted a change from the east coast for my gap year. I moved to the great city of Chicago for my City Year corps year at Howe Elementary (’10-’11).

Now that your City Year is over, what are you doing now?
I currently live in Ann Arbor, Michigan and am a first-year medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Did City Year help you achieve your career goals?
City Year definitely helped clarify my career goals. Trying to inspire kids to love learning made me realize I love learning, and was excited to return to school. Even though medical school is busy, I have prioritized doing service and advocacy in my free time, and primarily focus on urban children. I hope to pursue a career in pediatrics, and wouldn’t have known how much I love working with kids if I hadn’t done City Year!

What was the best part of your City Year?
The relationships I built were the best part of my City Year because they can continue after my corps year! I was very lucky to have an incredibly supportive and open team, and several close friends from other school teams, and I still keep in touch with them… I am actually going to a wedding for one of my former teammates this coming summer! On top of my friendships with fellow corps members, the relationships I have with my students have continued to grow too. I visited Howe on a recent trip back to Chicago and was so excited to see my 6th graders scream with delight upon seeing me. They told me extensive updates on their life and I heard about what they’re learning about in 7th grade. Some of them have emailed me for advice on applying to high school, too. It really affirmed to me that my City Year was worth it.

Any advice for the current corps as they start the second half of their year?
City Year is one of the most challenging things you’ll ever do, but keep in the front of your mind that it will also be one of the most powerful and meaningful things you’ll ever do if you put 100% into it. Be there for your kids despite the push-back, be a shining light of idealism in your schools, and be okay leaning on your teammates and corps members for support when you need it. You are doing amazing work, and though the kids you work with may not realize it now, they will be touched by your passion and commitment. Be strong! You can do it!

Bianca was also the winner of our special City Year J Brand Jeans contest held last year. The above photo of Bianca was taken at her alma mater, the Howe School of Excellence, with her rockin’ her new pair of stylish J Brand Jeans!

MLK Day of Service Recap! | Monday Montage

One week ago today marks City Year Chicago’s MLK Day of Service in the North Lawndale community on Chicago’s westside! In case you weren’t one of the over six hundred volunteers who joined us in painting 50 classrooms, 72 murals, 79 inspirational quotes, 19 murals, two hallways and 44 construction projects, we’ve got all the coverage of the amazing day here on today’s Monday Montage!

• Check out all the photos from the day captured by City Year Chicago’s own Admissions Coordinator extraordinaire, Tiger Rahman.
• The Civic Engagement team’s Adrian Kierulf talked with WGN9 News on a live broadcast from the Bethune School of Excellence.
• City Year Chicago’s Executive Director, Lisa Morrison Butler, speaks about the MLK Day of Service on Politics Tonight.
• Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his family even made an appearance at the North Lawndale YMCA.
• And lastly, a huge thank you to all of the groups, organizations, and associations that joined us for the day!
  Active Transportation Alliance
  Alluring Essence Social Club
  Association House of Chicago
  buildOn
  Camp of Dreams
  Chicago Health Corps
  Deloitte Mentor Program Participants
  DeVry University, Addison Campus – Chicago Metro Leadership Program (CMLP)
  Dominican University
  Evergreen Park Chicago Top Teens of America
  For Example
  Gay for Good
  Johnson College Prep
  Joseph Sears School
  Ladies of Virtue Mentoring Program
  LISC Chicago AmeriCorps
  Loyola University Chicago School of Law – Black Law Students Association
  Miami University Student Delegation
  Omicron Xi
  One Good Deed Chicago
  PCC Community Wellness Center AmeriCorps
  Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity
  Skadden
  SLDVS – UIC
  SNC Trips
  Star Quality SC
  Starbucks
  Teach for America
  The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
  The iProject
  Top Ladies of Distinction – EPCC
  White Sox Volunteer Corps
  Whitney Young High School National Honor Society
  National University Sorority

Johnson’s Got Talent! | Friday Report From the Field

On this Friday’s Report From the Field, Meg Healy from is back from the Johnson School of Excellence with the story of her team’s recent star-studded talent show put on for their students as part of City Year’s aim to foster a positive school climate. 

From the moment the UWMC Impact Fund, A McCormick Foundation Fund Team arrived at Johnson this year, the students had one thing on their mind: a talent show. Our predecessors had clearly set the bar high for family engagement night, and not wanting to disappoint, we set to work creating Johnson’s third bi-annual talent show.

Starting in October, student performers began coming to our room an hour before school started every morning. All through the middle school floor on any given morning you could find rappers, singers and dancers practicing tirelessly and excitedly — they started arriving earlier than we did just to get a head start on practicing!

When the time came for the show on Wednesday, December 7, there was an air of excitement at school. Performers nervously rehearsed and changed into flashy outfits while they waited for their classmates and parents to arrive. Meanwhile, Panda Express was downstairs graciously setting up a huge feast for the school to enjoy.

While all was hectic as show time approached, as soon as it began it was clear that our months of hard work had paid off. The gym was packed and the middle schoolers proved to be a fabulous audience, cheering and clapping raucously for every act. City Year wowed the crowd with a Johnson version of the “Cat Daddy” (one of the students’ favorite songs) called “Wildcat Daddy.”

At the end of the show, the teachers surprised us all by getting on stage to dance to “The Wobble.” It was a moment that truly solidified Johnson’s strong school community — students, parents, teachers, staff and City Year all sharing in a fun and exciting experience. It was the best possible note to leave 2011 on, and we hope to hold on to that momentum in 2012!

Margaret Healy is a first-year corps member serving at the Johnson School of Excellence in the North Lawndale community on Chicago’s west side. Margaret is originally from Buffalo, NY and graduated from University of Rochester.

Lights, Camera, CAN TV!

It’s the the new year, at that means it’s time for the cameras to start rolling on a new season of City Year Chicago’s public access television series on CAN TV Channel 21!

Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) gives every Chicagoan a voice on cable television by providing video training, equipment, facilities and channel time for Chicago residents and nonprofit groups and City Year Chicago takes full advantage of this fact with a 25-minute live, call-in show part of the Hotline block of programming on channel 21.

Every Wednesday at 6PM CT, City Year Chicago corps members, staff, and other guests are live, on-air talking about our service and answering questions from our viewers. And we want your questions! So, call-in and ask us anything about City Year at 312-226-5463. You can watch the very first episode of the season above (filmed last Wednesday) and be sure to stay tuned for 11 more weeks of episodes coming your way!

Gone Serving!

The big event is finally here! The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service is today and all of City Year Chicago is out leading over 800 volunteers in a transformative day of service! Volunteers are working on over 40 projects spread out across three service sites in the North Lawndale community on Chicago’s west side: The North Lawndale YMCA, Powerhouse High School, and the Bethune School of Excellence.

The City Year Chicago Blog will return to it’s normal schedule Wednesday and till then, here’s wishing you all a wonderful day of service in honor of an American icon!

One Night Only at the Dulles House of Blues! | Friday Report from the Field

Team Leader, Mark Pierce, of the CSX team at the Dulles School of Excellence brings us a story this week of his team’s rockin’ VIP Lounge to celebrate student attendance. 

On their second stop of the Taste of Chicago Tour (following the well received Navy Pier themed VIP Lounge) our team transformed our City Year room into a real live blues den. 6th – 8th graders enjoyed some chicken from Sharks Fish and Chicken and snacks and drinks provided by Walgreens. The students received tickets to a very limited engagment, a performance from the acclaimed blues act The Seven Generations comprised of Dylan Nelson and myself. As they enjoyed their food, Dylan and I played a live set of blues improvisation. An 8th grader even raved that it was “the best VIP lounge ever” because “we had hot chips, hot sauce, and hot tunes!” We also had a drop in from the music teacher, Ms. Grevengoed, who provided the band’s instruments, and she said that we “did a great job recreating an authentic House of Blues experience.”

Check out more photos from the House here!

Mark Pierce is a Senior Corps Member serving as Team Leader of the CSX team at the Dulles School of Excellence in the West Woodlawn community of Chicago. Mark is originally from Essex, Vermont and is a graduate of St. Michael’s College. 

Prepping for Success

Live from the Bethune School of Excellence, one of City Year Chicago’s three sites for the MLK Day of Service, an update on our progress preparing an excellent day of service in the North Lawndale community.

It was Alexander Graham Bell who said, “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” We here at City Year Chicago, and more specifically the Civic Engagement team, could agree more as we’re currently knee-deep in preparations for Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

For the volunteers who arrive on Monday, it may be hard to tell the amount of work that goes in beforehand preparing and organizing the sites for their arrival but they’d be surprised! Since Monday of this week, the team has been hard at work tracing murals, organizing and distributing materials such as paint brushes and paint, and “kitting” our wood construction projects. In total, the day will feature over 40 unique projects being carried out by over 800 volunteers. Those are some big numbers but City Year Chicago’s Civic Engagement team has been taking care of business so no one’s worried!

When the big day finally arrives, Monday, January 14, the City Year Chicago Blog will be taking a day off in order to be on site and serving with the best of them so be sure to tune back in soon after that for an update on what’s sure to be a terrific day of community service!

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service is Coming!

Next Monday, January 16, the nation and City Year Chicago will celebrate the life and work of the venerable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by joining together for a day of service honoring Dr. King’s legacy.

As you know, City Year Chicago’s Civic Engagement team has been hard at work planning an event that will pair our corps of 145 with over 800 volunteers from the city for a powerful day of service in Chicago’s North Lawndale community. With over 40 projects in three of the neighborhood’s community institutions, the day looks to be one of our greatest yet.

Celebrating this momentous holiday with service has been one of City Year, and the country’s, most honored acts since the holiday’s inception. Eleven years after legislation was signed in 1983 creating a federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Congress designated the holiday a national day of service, a ”day on, not a day off” and charged the Corporation for National and Community Service in leading the effort. Ever since, the MLK Day of Service has been a way to transform Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and teachings into community action that helps solve social problems. That service may meet a tangible need, or it may meet a need of the spirit. On the day, Americans of every age and background celebrate Dr. King through service projects that strengthen communities, empower individuals, bridge barriers, and create solutions.¹

Check out photos from last year’s MLK Day of Service here and be sure to tune in Wednesday for a sneak-peek behind the scenes of the preparation that goes into creating a powerful and transformative day of service for our volunteers!

¹ _{Adapted from the MLK Day of Service website by the Corporation for National and Community Service. 2011.}

Live from Advanced Training Retreat!

For the second time this service year, City Year Chicago has hit the road and is coming at you live from our Advanced Training Retreat at Camp Duncan!

With five of our ten months of service already under our black belts (the uniform standard of course) we’re not resting on our laurels for a minute as we engage all in learning and developement sessions to enhance the quality of service in schools for Chicago’s students.

For the past two days of our mid-year Advanced Training, we’ve made the trip out of Chicago to beautiful YMCA Camp Duncan for a continuation of our cultural competency discussion from our Basic Training Retreat in August. Bea Young and Associates led the corps through a terrific series of exerises and discussions pointed at challenging our assumptions of others, identifying inclusive behaviors, and sharing out stories of culural misunderstandings with one another.  With such a a diverse corps, it’s important we always work to improve our understanding and expand our competancies in dealing with all peoples.

Our experience at Advanced Training Retreat serves as major milemarker of the City Year experience and is the perfect launch pad from which to start the second half of a transformative year of service.