The Official ACM Chicago Program Blog

I don't want to leave Chicago!

2013-05-20T01:01:00.002-05:00

This was wrote on Friday, May 17th.

Well, the program is officially over! We had our last activities yesterday, ending with an internship workshop and a boat ride in the afternoon. There are no words for how great of an opportunity and experience this semester was. I developed close relationships with many of the students, and it was very tough saying goodbye. We really helped each other grow as individuals throughout the program, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people.

I am currently writing this from my apartment, which I am not quite ready to leave yet. I am leaving later this evening. My apartment and the apartment below us had such a great time living together. There was always something going on, so there was never a dull moment! It’s going to be weird not staying up to the middle of the night procrastinating on homework with some of them or not having our weekly apartment meetings on Monday night. I have definitely valued my experience here and will miss 1447 E 52^nd St. L Some of the girls are staying through the summer, so I will be able to come back and visit, which makes saying goodbye a little easier!

I am so glad I chose to do the Chicago semester. I was a little apprehensive at first and really missed my home school, Valparaiso University. While I do still miss Valpo, I am so thankful I did decide to have an experience off campus. These experiences are ones I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life. If you are debating on whether or not you should study off campus, DO IT!!!! You will learn so much about yourself and have a great time in the process.

Here is a picture of all of us!

Thank you so much for letting me share my experiences with all of you! I hope you enjoyed reading about everything we did this semester :) The ACM Chicago Program is AWESOME. :)

Author: Maria W.

This is it!!

2013-05-17T06:40:00.001-05:00

Boat tour to top it all off!!

Hello everyone,

This is it!!!

Yesterday was

the last of the program and I feel like time just flew by. I am sad to leave Chicago and the friends that I have made here. But I want to reflect back on this semester and share some of the highlights that I had in each class that I took.

Core Course – through this class I was able to really become a Chicagoan, the various topics (education, transportation, small businesses etc…) that we covered in this class are things that I wouldn’t have even pay attention to if not because of this class.

Seminar, Entrepreneurship – this class was interesting for me personally because the students in this class became really good friends and so united. I really enjoyed visiting companies like Groupon, Red Frog, and Threadless. And although it wasn’t an easy process, I also enjoyed writing a business plan for my final project.

Internship, Teen Living Programs – Mary, my supervisor and the rest of the administrative staff at TLP were the best people I could have worked with. This organization is doing great work with youth and homelessness in Chicago and I am glad I was a part of it even if it was just for a couple of months.

ISP, Entrepreneurship – Robyne is the best professor, friend, counselor anybody can have!! This woman has a way of helping you think through your ideas and provide great advice. I am very thankful to have had this Independent Study experience with her. I ended up interviewing a lot of people who were involved with social enterprises in Chicago and I have gained so many connections. I have also gained skills that I can apply as I move to Minneapolis and entre the social enterprise scene over there. I am so thankful for this experience.

I really, really, really enjoyed my time here in Chicago and I am sad that it is over already but I know that someday I will be back so this is not goodbye for me, it is see you later Chicago!!

Author: Tsiry R.

Cease Fire Charity Team!

2013-05-14T00:51:00.003-05:00

Well, we have officially completed all the work for our Seminar classes! For my Seminar class, we had to create a human rights campaign. My group decided to do something with the violence in Chicago, after watching the film, The Interrupters. The film is about the organization Cease Fire, who go out to some of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods to fight the violence going on there. My group contacted Cease Fire and asked about how we could get involved. They said that they would need the most help in the fundraising aspect of their organization. So my group put our heads together to try and come up with ideas that could fit Cease Fire’s needs and what we needed to do for our project. We ended up coming up with the idea of creating a charity team in Cease Fire’s name for the marathon this coming October. We were able to get in touch with the marathon and create a page online where people can go to donate to a specific runner in Cease Fire’s behalf. Currently, I am the only runner for the team because I am the only one in the group that is registered for the marathon. We are searching for more team members through the connections I have made by running with different running clubs. We have also sent out emails to the individual donor list at Cease Fire to inform them of our project and show them how they can help out. We have also put the information on a flyer to send out. So far we have raised $75! And the page had only been up for about 48 hours! So coooooool. Here is a link to the site if you wanted to take a look at it and maybe donate…. J

www.crowdrise.com/ceasefirechicago

Cubs Game!

2013-05-05T17:43:00.001-05:00

Hello! This week we went to the Cubs game as a group! It was a lot of fun, and the Cubs won! What are the chances we caught a winning game?! Small joke! I’m so glad we got a chance to go to Wrigley and see them play! Here is a picture of Becca and me reacting to a call. (Okay…maybe we weren’t actually upset)

View from out seats!

Author: Maria W.

Busking Out!

2013-05-04T12:21:00.003-05:00

Chicago is very well known for it's very vibrant street musicians, some who have even gone on to become nationally and internationally known. Some famous Chicago buskers include Crystal Bowersox (Winner of American Idol) and R. Kelly (RnB legend, if i say so myself). But first of all, what exactly is busking? Busking means to play or perform entertainment in a public place, usually while soliciting money.

Last week Saturday, my team and I set out to find and meet street performers and listeners for a project we are doing for our business and entrepreneurship class. We started off on south Michigan street, hopped on the red line where we met Mrs Kanye Resa West, a singer who has been doing it for a couple years now. She had a lovely voice and she did a couple song covers that kept her audience (people riding the red line train) entertained and willing to stick around for more.

On our way to Logan Square while riding the red line again train, we found Martial, who was currently being filmed for a TV show. The show was documenting his life as a busker, and we even got to make an appearance. He was very friendly and willing to talk, he played the guitar like he knew it at the back of his head, very talented man he was.

Our last encounter was totally unexpected. We were on State and Lake ready to head back home to Hyde Park when we heard loud pounding noise coming from down the street. We quickly rushed down to see where the noise was coming from and surprisingly found two young men hitting buckets and pans like drum sets. I'm sure you're thinking, "What a racket" but this was the opposite. The two guys in unison entertained the growing crowd with so much energy, I couldn't believe they were just using plastic buckets and old pans to create good music. They were called the Chicago Bucket Brigade and they really were the life of the party.

So as you walk on the streets of Chicago and ride the trains, take a minute or two to appreciate the talented street performers that this great city has to offer, you never know, they just might make it big.

By Ema Bassey

Core Course - ACM Pipeline 3.0

2013-05-03T23:40:00.002-05:00

Another unique and exciting experience with core course today. We went to this event where we helped high school juniors with the brain storming process of a college essay as well as sharing experiences that we have had in college.

I was assigned four high schools students, 3 of which were juniors and 1 was a sophomore, I think this experience was very empowering for me. I felt that being able to help these students have a glimpse of what a liberal arts education is and telling them not just about the pros but also about the cons was very enriching for me. The purpose of the event was to help the student go through the brainstorming process of writing a college application essay and how to go about the writing process eventually.

Many of the students I worked with were very open and willing to share their experiences. I was able to here so many fascinating stories and able to share my own story as well. I really like the small group opportunity that we all had, this made it possible to connect with the students on a more personal level and it was easier for them to share and vice versa.

I really enjoyed today!!!

Author: Tsiry. R

ISP update - social enterprises

2013-05-03T23:13:00.000-05:00

This week I had the chance to meet and talk to a lot of people from different social enterprises in Chicago. And next week will actually be even more exciting as I am putting together this Independent Study Project.

Here are just two of the organizations that I have had the opportunity to learn more about and actually visit this week.

Inspiration Kitchen: this organization is interesting in so many ways, it is a social enterprise under a parent non-profit organization called Inspiration Corporation. What they do is that they provide a cooking training program for people who have been struggling to find a job for different reasons such as having been incarcerated, got kicked out of their home etc.... After my interview with Margaret I actually decided to eat there and try to food and it was delicious. The price was amazing cheap for the food quality that I got and I was very please with the service.

Dinning area at IK

Reception Area

This is the deliciousness that I got to eat!!

Next Door: this is another social enterprise under a bigger corporation, it is listed under State Farm. Next Door is a free space for anyone to come to work at, it is completely free and provide a cafe where you can order drinks or even a light meal. It has a very relaxed and friendly feel about it and I would recommend checking it out. It's a great space!!

Cafe

Working people

Author: Tsiry R.

Empowered Through Us

2013-04-29T13:17:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

Very, very, very busy week for us here at the ACM Chicago Program. There is only three weeks left before the program is over and two of our classes actually end next week, including seminar. For our final project in this class we are supposed to come up with a business plan for an actual company and do all the necessary research to see if it is a valid market or not.

My company is called Empowered Through Us, it is a for profit social enterprise that is based on the idea of crowd sourcing. ETU is a platform for people from all over the world (but more specifically for women), to help empower one another hence the name of the organization. As part of my project I have developed a website that gives you an overview of the organization, why it exists and how you can help.

Please feel free to visit my website and send me some feed back if you want.
Here is the link to the website: http://empoweredthroughus.weebly.com/

Cheers!!

Author: Tsiry R.

How is it almost May already?

2013-04-29T01:25:00.000-05:00

Wow, these past few weeks have been super busy! With the end of the program in three weeks, we have been working hard on our final projects for each of our classes. Here are a few updates on my classes:

For seminar, we are currently working on our human rights campaign. My group is working together with Cease Fire (also known as Cure Violence) to create some kind of fundraising project. In the recent events with the Boston marathon, we came up with the idea of creating a Cease Fire charity team for the Chicago marathon to help prevent violence in Chicago. We sat down with Cease Fire and discussed the possibility and they loved the idea! So we are going to spend the next week researching how to become a charity team and organize all the different components of it. It may be too short of notice to get it all figured out for this coming marathon, but hopefully we can kick start it for next year!

For Core class, we are working on our asset mapping projects. Throughout the entire semester, we have been exploring our neighborhoods (Hyde Park and Logan Square) and looking at all the different assets they have to offer. Such assests include restaurants, business, cultural events, influential people, etc. We are now working on combining all the different assets into a presentation to present to the class! This coming Friday, we are working with high school juniors on their essay component of their applications to college. It should be fun! This past week, we had to pretend we were had children in the Chicago Public Schools and had to decide where they would go to high school. It was a very time consuming and stressful process! My "son" was a talented dancer who did not receive very good grades at school. I had to take all that into consideration when looking at all the different schools. I ended up deciding to have him audition for a charter school that focused on the arts. Unfortunately through a random drawing, he was not accepted into the school. Even though it was all fake, I still felt really upset at the whole process! I cannot even imagine how it would feel to actually be in that situation.

My independent study project is....getting there. I really just need to focus and sit down to write out my paper. I have ran with four different running clubs and sat down with the president of Girls on the Run, a super awesome after school running program for girls in the city. Now I just need to compile everything I have learned and create a final product out of it! That is my goal this week :)

We only have two more weeks left of our internships. I have really been enjoying my time at Girls in the Game. I have two after school sites that I coach at, and I absolutely love the girls. They are so great, and I have such a fun time with them! I have also been working on reaching out to community organization about promoting our Super Saturday event. I have spent the last three months researching all the community organizations in our eight target communities. It has been such a long process, but I love seeing the finished product being put to use! I think I ended up with around 200 different organizations.

I think that is all the updates I have for now! I will definitely post later in the week! Hopefully with pictures after our Cubs game on Wednesday!

Author: Maria W.

ISP - Social Enterprises

2013-04-20T21:19:00.000-05:00

Hey again,

This is at the point of the program when things get really busy and kind of crazy. Specially with ISP. I have decided with the help of my lovely professor Robyne that profiling several social enterprises (both for profit and non for profit organizations) in Chicago would help me in my own personal entrepreneurial endeavors to one day start my own social enterprise.

This week, our expert interview is due and I have been having a hard time hearing back from the people that I have contacted. So my advice is that, start early on your ISP and use your connections to help you find the right people. This is an independent study, so even though your professors will help you, you got to do it yourself but again use your resources and connections to help you out.

I will be updating on here about my ISP for the next couple of weeks until the end of the program.

Cheers!!

Author: Tsiry R.

Teen Living Programs - Internship Update!

2013-04-20T21:01:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

Been awhile. Well this past week was an interesting week at my internship. On Monday I got to visit their new walk-in center, they found a really great place in the south side. Then we went to lunch at Chicago's Home of Chicken and Waffle, I would recommend trying it (they have two location in Chicago) if you are going to be in town. This was great for me because I got to interact with my co-workers over lunch outside of work.
So far I have been doing a lot of things for their spring gala event and I have been learning a lot about event planning and what after the event. I really enjoy the work atmosphere and relax work environment at the office and everyone there is just so nice. I would really recommended you pick TLP as an internship site if you are interested in the works that a non-profit does.

Author: Tsiry R.

My Internship: Fun, But Lots To Learn

2013-04-18T14:22:00.002-05:00

I'm currently interning as a project assistant at Jeanius Booking. Jeanius It's a management and booking firm for bands and musicians. Some of the perks from working with Jeanius is: I get to attend shows, help on set and meet a wide variety of people. The picture above is from the first show I attended which was at Double Door. It was a new and exciting experience for me, it was also very fun. Apart from the perks, I also learn a lot about contracts, press releases, finding venues to perform and searching for bands who can also fit the bill. I am learning a lot of things that will serve as a good foundation to break into the music industry and i'm glad I chose this wonderful opportunity.

By Ema Bassey

ISP Update!

2013-04-14T22:19:00.002-05:00

So it’s getting to the point in the semester where we are getting to crunch time with our Independent Study Projects. I figured I will update you on my project JI am doing a project on the Chicago Marathon and the different running clubs in the city. I plan to research the marathon and then run with different clubs in the city to learn about how running affects them and how the marathon influences why they run or why their club was formed. I also hope to learn how a running club can really influence one’s desire and goal to run a marathon, which seems to be the ultimate aspiration of many runners. I also signed up to run the Chicago marathon. Call me crazy! I am extremely nervous, but it has been a huge goal of mine, so I cannot wait to complete it.

I have already run with two different clubs and had a blast with them! Both groups were super friendly and welcoming. I ran three miles with one group and 10 miles with the other! I thought I wasn’t going to make it through the second run, but I survived J I ran at a much faster pace than I usually do! It was also very cold and windy for the second run. I dressed in a lot of layers and ended up getting pretty overheated, which did not help. But completely that run felt GREAT. The second group had pizza and Gatorade for us after the run, so that was a great community gesture. I learned about the history about both clubs and of different member’s desire to run the marathon or other races in the city. I hope to run with at least three other clubs in the city.

Lastly, I hope to use my findings with my research and involvement with the clubs to develop a proposal to start my own running club back home, hopefully with the goal of running the Chicago marathon for the runners. I also hope to get youth more involved in running because that is also a huge angle my ISP could take.

Here is a picture of the Warriors Running Club, the first club I ran with. You can barely see me in the very very back.J

Personally, I chose this ISP topic because I have recently become more involved with running and wanted to research something I was passionate about. I also hope to learn more about how running can affect mental health, as sort of a therapy technique. I think the unique thing about a large city is that is has so many running opportunities for its residents, so I wanted to take advantage of that while I was here in Chicago J

Author: Maria WChicago

Trimester Session: Catching Up!

2013-04-09T18:04:00.003-05:00

Being a Trimester Student, I started the program about a month after the semester students started and it took me a while to get the hang of things. Chicago being such a busy city, I had to get accustomed to the fast pace and how to get around to the places I needed to be. Surprisingly, it didn't take me too long to figure out the gift of google maps and how things work with the CTA buses and trains. So far, my experience has been wonderful and every single day I'm convinced that Chicago is one of the most beautiful cities in America. Chicago is filled with so many innovative and creative places that you might not find anywhere else. Every neighborhood is different and tells it's own story either through historical artifacts or even murals.

Sometimes I wish I could actually spend a whole day discovering Chicago. Unfortunately/fortunately the program keeps us busy doing lots of work and site visits so we only have a few moments to take it all in... unless you have time to go back and visit. Looking forward to the rest of the journey ahead!

Author: Ema Bassey

Witnessing History

2013-04-07T00:02:00.002-05:00

As you probably have heard, the hot topic in Chicago lately is surrounding the issue of the school closings. Mayor Emmanuel released the list of schools that are planned to be closed next year, and it has not been received well. Last week, a protest took place downtown, and I was able to see it take place on my way home from my internship.

Here are a few pictures:

Author: Maria

Update!

2013-04-07T00:00:00.003-05:00

Things have really started to pick up in the program, so I apologize for my limited posts! Here are some updates on what I’ve been doing:

For seminar, we have been discussing youth who give false confessions often because they do not know their rights and are pressured by police to confess, although they did not commit the crime. We met with the Northwestern Center for the Wrongful Conviction of Youth, which fights for justice for these youth and to get them out of the prisons. Many youth have been given life sentences for crimes they did not commit, so it is great to know that they are getting a chance to be released and receive justice. However, it is heartbreaking to know that there still remains many wrongfully convicted youth serving life sentences. We have also been discussing the issue around sentencing youth to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Many people are fighting to get rid of life sentences for youth because they are not fully developed yet and still have their whole life in front of them. We met with Emmanuel Andre from Precious Blood Ministry of the Reconciliation, an organization that deals specifically with these issues.

We are starting to work more on our independent study projects. I am doing my project on running in the city. I am hoping to research the Chicago marathon and the path it takes throughout the city and then research the effect the path the marathon has on the neighborhoods it goes through. Specifically, I plan to run with different running clubs around the marathon route and learn why the club was formed and what running does for the members of the club. I am not for sure what direction this project will take, but I think I will enjoy getting to experience the running firsthand! OH and did I mention that I will be running the Chicago Marathon for the first time in October?!!? I am SO excited! And nervous J

I will try and post more this week!

Author: Maria W

Morning Star...

2013-04-04T02:10:00.002-05:00

Last week for our last field visit in my ISP class we went to Morning Start. This was no regular tour because we actually got to sit and watch one of their videos being filmed, it was such an exciting experience. We also got to sit in one of their weekly training sessions. I was a really interesting and unique visit, a good way to end our field visits for the semester.

Lobby

Computer room where training took place

Author: Tsiry R.

Easter Break!!

2013-04-04T02:03:00.000-05:00

So unlike most people that went home for Easter break, I was here. But lucky for me my sister was able to visit so we did some site seeing and a lot of eating :)

Here are some pictures from my Spring Break!!

Author: Tsiry R.

Innovation in play

2013-04-04T01:41:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone,

It is so nice to finally see the sun shine every morning on the way to class or work. The past couple of days have been a little chilly compared to last weekend but apparently we will reach the 60 degrees this weekend. I can't wait to take a walk on the beach and finally file my coat away until November :)

Mailbox located at the lobby

The seminar class that I am taking in this program is focused in entrepreneurial innovation and we got first row sit to two amazing site visits these past couple of weeks. Last week we went to Red Frog Events, which I think is just the coolest company to work for. The company only (most of the time) hire from within so usually you have to intern there for several months then apply for a position. Many of my classmates are really considering working here someday, including myself, I think that their laid back work environment and fun events is such a magnet. I haven't been to any of their events but after our tour I feel like signing up for some of the stuff they have going on this summer.

Break room with 3 microwaves and 4 fridges and picnic tables

Conference/meeting room

This week, we went to Threadless, another very fun and innovative company. We got to see their warehouse and some of their products, the different departments and the lobby area which I think was the best part for me. Threadless is a fairly new company but has done remarkably well and is growing everyday. If you like designs and all of that you should check them out. Their T-shirts, along with other products are really cool and unique.

Computer area at the lobby

T-shirts hanging right above you when you are standing in the lobby area

More T-shirts :)

Author: Tsiry R.

Restaurants

2013-03-24T12:32:00.001-05:00

Hello all,

So over the course of my stay here I have been going to a lot of restaurants that I would recommend to anyone who comes visit.
Restaurant #1: Mellow Yellow
- This place has a lot of comfort food and a student discount (10%) on week days.

Restaurant #2: Ja's Grill
- This is a Jamaican restaurant with a lounge in the basement. The food is great here!!

Restaurant #3: Joy Yee's Noodles
- Asian food with the best smoothies ever!!

Hope you can get a chance to explore Chicago's amazing restaurants when you are here!!

Author: Tsiry

Busy Busy Busy!

2013-03-24T01:30:00.002-05:00

Hello again! It has been such a busy couple of weeks! The trimester students from Knox College moved in this week, so we had a fun night Monday night after our internships. Then we had an internship workshop Wednesday night, so it made for two very long days! But I am finally caught up on sleep and ready to share some experiences!

           For my seminar class a few weeks ago, Darrell Cannon, a survivor of the John Burge tortures, came and spoke to us. If you are not familiar with the John Burge torture case, it involves police commander, John Burge, torturing murder suspects until they confess to the crime, even though they did not do it. He tortured them until they would have done anything to make it stop. As a result of them signing the confessions, they were put in prison for decades for a crime they did not commit. Darrell told us his life story, about his time in prison, and what he is doing today. I was very touched and inspired by his optimism about everything. It was something I did not expect from someone that has been so wronged for so many years. He is now currently working for Cease Fire, a local organization that is fighting to stop the violence in Chicago.
            This week in our seminar, we went to Northwestern Law to hear about youth giving false confessions and being put in jail because of it. Chicago is the capital of false confessions in the United States. Many youth are being wrongfully accussed of crimes and then questioned for hours and hours about it. After so much time sitting and being lied to about the police, many youth are led to believe that if they just sign a paper, they will be able to go home. However, that is not the case because essentially, the police just tricked them. We learned about the case of Daniel Taylor, who has been in prison for two decades for a crime he did not commit but gave a false confession to. The crazy part about is story is that he was actually in police custody when the murders he was found guility of occurred. There is no way he could have been at the scene of the crime. However, he is still in prison today. I never wold have thought things like this still happen today in the United States. Hearing all about this made me so angry! I hope to definitely get involved somehow in fixing this situation and other similar ones. It was definitely an eye opening experience.

             I finally figured out my independent study project topic, so that has taken a huge relief off my shoulders. I plan to research the correlation between mental health and running, specially how it might affect your self esteem and why people run. I plan to join a few running clubs and interview members about why they run. I also will do some research on the side about the correlation and hopefully be able to fit everything into a conclusion by the end of the semester. I am very excited to start running with the clubs and see for myself how they affect my well being :)

            On a social note, St. Patricks's Day in the city is CRAZY. I was on a train into the city from one of the suburbs on Saturday morning and it was completely jam packed with people dressed in green. When I got into the city, I could not believe how many people were downtown. It was just completely wild. Even though it was extremely windy and FREEZING! I cant even imagine what it was like last year when the weather was actually warm. But here is a picture of the green river :)

Author: Maria W.

Louder Than a Bomb Finals!

2013-03-10T21:29:00.002-05:00

This past Saturday, the entire program went to the Louder Than a Bomb finals! Louder Than a Bomb (LTAB) is a poetry slam competition for the Chicago high schools. It is the largest youth poetry slam competition in the country. It was awesome! There were so many talented students up there speaking about some really deep issues. The crowd went CRAZY for all the speakers. There were chants for the judges if the score was too low and different chants for the different high schools. Such a unique atmosphere! I especially loved how everyone supported each other, regardless of where they went to school. Because its all about the poems not the points :)

Here is the view from where we were sitting on the balcony :) I had an awesome video of Lamar Jorden, but it wouldn't upload for some reason...so just use your imagination! :)

-Maria W.

Fun, fun, fun!

2013-03-10T15:53:00.000-05:00

Fun, fun, fun! So on Friday our core course went to visit a lady from Little Village who was doing so much for her community. It was a really inspiring talk. At the end of the tour we went to an amazing ice cream place (home made ice cream) and it was delicious. This friday I decided to go hang out with the other girls from Logan Square apartments and we decided make some Churros, which turned out to be delicious as well.

Author: Tsiry R.

Internship

2013-03-10T15:31:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

Another interesting week here at the ACM Chicago Program, I know I have been posting a lot about my classes and the field trips the past several weeks. So this post will be about my internship. I am currently the General Development Intern at Teen Living Programs (TLP). TLP is a non-profit organizations that provides a home and a support system for homeless youths in the Chicago area. As a GDI, my job is to help with social media, communication, event planning and fundraising materials. These past couple of weeks I have been helping with their Spring Gala, which is their major fundraising event, and I have been enjoying it a lot. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the gala as their was another show the program had as go to. But nevertheless, I really enjoyed being part of the planning process for the gala and lending a hand to the development team.

Here is a link to their website if you would like to read more about the work they are doing:
http://www.teenliving.org/3.0/home.html

Teen Living Programs Logo

Internship!

2013-03-05T23:32:00.000-06:00

Greetings! I meant to fill you in on last week sometime this past weekend, but I got really sick! So I am now finally caught up on sleep and homework :) But I really want to share a little bit about my internship!

I intern at Girls in the Game, which is an afterschool program for girls that teach them all about health, wellness, leadership, and self esteem. I work there every Monday and Wednesday for roughly around 15 hours a week. It is going really well so far! I have started a research project where I look up all the different organizations in the target communities they hope to expand the program to. It is really interesting to find out everything going on in all the different neighborhoods! I also was able to go to some programming and interact with the girls. I get to go to another program tomorrow :) I am very happy with my internship!

Here is a picture of everyone in the program with alderman, Joe Moore! We met with him two Fridays ago :)

Author: Maria