Archive for the ‘Apprentice Staff Highlights’ Category
December 14th, 2009
Emilie Lewandowski, Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator
The Urban Apprenticeship is an exciting opportunity we offer Chicago Center alumni that have just graduated college. More than a job it offers opportunities for learning and skill development in a supportive urban learning community.
The apprenticeship started in 1990 and grew out of the mutual interests of Chicago Center alums to prolong their contact with Chicago Center and the Center’s interest in strengthening its staff and program. It has exceeded expectations in both arenas and has become a great strength of Chicago Center. The Urban Apprentice usually spends one full year in residence at Chicago Center. This month Emilie Lewandowski, Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator talks about her experience with Chicago Center.
“Hi! I’m Emilie, one of the current apprentices at Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture. I graduated in May from Eastern Michigan University, with an undergraduate degree in Psychology. I am originally from Lexington, Michigan, a very small town on Lake Huron. It has been an exciting road that has led me to where I am today – Chicago!
In the summer of 2008, I attended Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture as an Urban Academic Student. During that time, I had an internship at Apna Ghar Inc., a domestic violence agency focused on serving the South Asian population in Chicago. I chose this internship because it offered me an experience I could not get in my home town. In my time at Apna Ghar, I learned how non-profit organizations operate and the obstacles that they face. I learned how to work and communicate effectively as minority. I also realized a lot about the injustices in our society, and how much I wanted to be a part of fixing that. Working at Apna Ghar provided me with invaluable experiences for my future, and it also helped me focus on finding direction in my own life. Read More
August 6th, 2008
Tiffanie Beatty, our LearnChicago! Coordinator has been hired full time as our Program Associate. She sent this via email the other evening after attending Lollapalooza (with former staffer Shane Peterson).
Tiffanie writes:
“Everyone, I have a confession!
As you know, I have been here a year and up until last night, I LIKED Chicago a lot!
I have even said I “loved” Chicago. But I have been lying.
Last night though, surrounded by over a 100,000 musty, screaming, white suburbanites,
I fell hard.
At first I was mostly excited for Shane. Somewhere in the middle of “Homecoming” I screamed “Shane, you are home!” Right after I said it, I realized so was I.
Standing there, with my diamond in the sky, some of my favorite South Siders (Hyde Parkers to be specific) by my side, Mr. West on the stage goin nuts, and the magnificent skyline behind it all,
I became one of the many.”
June 5th, 2008
May Term Staff, 2008
photo by student Mehvash Shahzada
May 1st, 2008
The office staff gathered to toast Becky for all her contributions to the Center this year. Thanks Becky!
October 24th, 2007
Becky Stueve, Administrative & Special Projects Apprentice, shares her experience watching the academic students’ mural presentations:
“I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to sit in on the Fall 07 student mural presentations. Students group up and pick a Chicago mural to research as a method of learning field research in Chicago, before they pick their final individual topics. They study the mural and the neighborhood the mural is in.
Since I am a relatively new Apprentice to the Chicago Center, I was very excited to be able to hear what the students have been learning all semester and actually meet the students. Friday morning I walked to Scott Chesebro’s house, finding it only after knocking on the wrong door and a thousand apologies to the elderly gentleman who answered.
Seated and sipping my much-needed cup of coffee, I waited for the presentations to start. The students who were already there, and those arriving shortly after, were all of good spirits and ready for the promised breakfast and presentations to begin. Sadly, I was only able to stay for two presentations. But I thought all the students seemed well prepared and very focused. The groups I was able to learn from confirmed that thought.
Kevin and Ashley gave their presentation on a mural in Marquette Park. They called it Youth Liberation. Youth from the community did all of the work on the mural, and it was completed in less than 6 months. Some of the themes found in the mural were youth liberation, struggle against criminalization, jobs for youth, anti violence, age base discrimination, and immigration/racial profiling. One of the interesting facts about the neighborhood that this group helpfully pointed out was that it had the biggest baker in the world….that is enough to convince me to visit!
The second group consisted of Jen, Michelle and Meg. Their mural was located in Lawndale and was entitled I Dare To Dream. It was painted by Paul Thomas Monahan and featured African American heroes such as Michael Jordan, Ida Wells, and Martin Luther King, to name a few. The property is run by the library in that neighborhood and is fenced in the Storybook Garden. It also had pictures of The Wizard of Oz. The group talked about how because the mural is fenced in, it can hardly be seen from outside the garden. Sadly, this is due to vandalism in the neighborhood. Also, due to poor planning on the city of Chicago’s part, the mural will eventually be blocked in because of housing development.
As mentioned before, a scheduling conflict called me to leave the presentations early. From what I saw both during and in between the presentations, the students in the Fall ’07 semester are doing great things in Chicago!”
April 3rd, 2007
Suzanne Switzer, Program Facilitator, describes the experience below:
Mary Patillo is an acclaimed author, as well as a sociologist and professor at Northwestern University. It was such a pleasure to be able to meet with her and discuss her experience in her research, the motives that went along with that research and why/how “Black on the Block” came about.
It was so interesting to hear what she had to say about the neighborhoods in which she studied juxtaposed to Arvis’ South Side Tour or the book students commonly read, “Our America.” Ms. Patillo is very professional in her speaking and was willing to answer any question the students had. She was very open to the discussion and really focused on providing the students with insight they may not have had.
She really brought her book, “Black on the Block” to life and it helped for her to explain her viewpoints and opitions/thoughts regarding the changes taking place in certain neighborhoods of the southside of Chicago. It was a fantastic, one-of-a-kind experience that I was so grateful to be a part of.
January 16th, 2007
Shane Peterson, Chicago Center Apprentice, discusses his experience at St. Sabina Church.
Today in church I witnessed one of the most amazing things ever. I went to a spirit-filled Catholic church and was in awe as I saw the white Catholic priest ask an African American Methodist pastor, who was the guest speaker, to pray for Louis Farrakhan’s health, who is the leader of the Nation of Islam.
As I sat there I couldn’t help but to think about the whole situation. As I sat in this church service dedicated to honor Martin Luther King Junior, I began to think of how more moments like this could take place. What would it take? First and foremost, it would take a very passionate leader like Martin Luther King Junior to live a life dedicated to fighting for something they passionately believed in. This man’s life was spent fighting for the rights of other’s and he died before he could truly benefit from his own work, however he did not die in vain. He did so much in the 39 years of his life that his life may have been cut short in time, but not in value. This man deserves to be honored and remembered for many years to come. We need more people like him that will fight for what they believe in. Through this, the world could be changed.
Second, we need to look past the outer layer of every single person. There should be no reason for people to be judged and treated differently because of their race or ethnicity. Every person should be viewed as a human being no matter what they look like. I never realized how far we are from this goal, until I had moved to Chicago. Segregation is so evident in this city. I know that Chicago is not the only place that racism exists, although it is the place with the most visible racism. We need to fight against the many ethical issues in this country. I hope that people would not want to continue to live their lives knowing that we live in such an unfair world and not be willing to do something about it.
The third thing that needs to happen for this to take place is called respect. We need to be able to respect other people’s beliefs. We need to be able to look past our different ways of thinking and begin to find ways that we can work together, no matter how we may differ in beliefs.
Finally I am going to quote Rev. Joseph Lowery, who spoke in church today. “We need to move from Charity to Love. For Charity is seasonal, but love lasts forever and charity is selectional, but love is inclusive.”
