Chicago Center for Urban Life & Culture

Study Off Campus in Chicago: Experience Theater in Chicago

If you think of Chicago as a sports town with its many professional teams, or as a great place to tour famous museums, or as a city of incredible architecture, you would be right! But one thing you shouldn’t overlook during your Chicago internship experience is the theater scene of Chicago. In variety and quality, it rivals New York and London — in fact, the character of Chicago theater is so representative of the city and its neighborhoods that experiencing it is integral for our students who are studying off campus in Chicago.

The Second City and Improv in Chicago
Chicago is primarily known for its comedy and improv. Like Hollywood calls to aspiring movie stars, our beautiful city hosts the best up-and-coming improv and sketch comedians in the nation at The Second City theater in the Old Town neighborhood. Read More

Chicago Education Programs: Learning from Nature, Even in the City

When you come to the city for a Chicago education program, your first thought may not be that you will be able to experience nature in the country’s third largest urban center. But even in the “city of big shoulders,” known for its manufacturing and industry, you can explore and learn about nature and the outdoors.

Because of Mayor Richard Daley’s persistent steps to make the city more green, the learning institutions within the city and the park districts throughout the state, Chicago education programs can teach you as much about nature as they do about urban living.

Chicago Education Programs: Experiencing Nature Within the City Limits

Lake Michigan: One of the best amenities of Chicago is its location on the “third coast,” meaning Lake Michigan. While you are with the Chicago Center, you can take advantage of the Lake and all of its natural glory by participating in a variety of beach and water sports.

Promontory Point in Hyde Park, Chicago

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Our Chicago Internship Program in the Press: Josh LeGreve in the Herald Times Reporter

Out of His Comfort Zone

TR native gets taste of big city life by student teaching in Chicago
By Cindy Hodgson • Herald Times Reporter • March 2, 2010

Josh LeGreve, back right, long-term substitute Spanish teacher in the Mishicot School District, helps students set up their personal accounts on the Edmodo Web site so they can converse with Justin Gerlach's English students in Argentina. LeGreve is filling in for Gerlach, who took a leave of absence from teaching in Mishicot to teach English to Spanish-speaking students in Argentina. He is helping, from left, sophomores Jacob LeFleur, Nathan Krcma and Andrew Schwerma. In the background is senior Kiyanna Faulks. (Sue Pischke/HTR)

MISHICOT — When it came time to do his student teaching, Two Rivers native Josh LeGreve decided not to go the usual route.

LeGreve, 23, said most of his fellow students at Ripon College choose to student teach at a nearby school, such as in Ripon, Oshkosh or Fond du Lac.

“I wanted to move out of my comfort zone,” he said. “I wanted to push myself as a teacher.”

LeGreve decided to do his student teaching in Chicago through a partnership Ripon College has with the Chicago Center for Urban Life & Culture. Read More

Chicago Internships: Skills You Can Learn On the Job and With Us!

At the Chicago Center, you get to work in an internship in Chicago while being supported by peers who are doing the same thing and a staff who is ready to help you make the most of your internship experience and your time in Chicago. That is the great part of being in a Chicago internship program rather than simply finding an internship on your own.

We’ll help you take your work experience and understand it in the context of the city and its unique cultural and economic background. Meanwhile, you’ll be in charge of your own career education while you are on the job. There are many things you can learn from an internship, whether it’s your first one or one of many you’ve worked in. Here are just a few of the skills you can expect to pick up in an internship in Chicago.

Multitasking and Time Management

In high school and college, you have to balance many time commitments, classes and jobs, but when you work in an internship or job, you realize how different multitasking on the job can be. Rather than being able to dedicate your full attention to one task for an extended period of time or until it’s finished, you often have to juggle projects and finish them all quickly and efficiently. Read More

Community Education Chicago: Cultural Experiences with the Chicago Center

While you will definitely learn career skills and other practical knowledge during your time in your internship at the Chicago Center, you will also learn directly from being immersed in our home city: Chicago. As you study off campus in Chicago, you will learn directly from the rich diversity of Chicago neighborhoods; the opportunities that come along and teach you the most might not be the ones you are expecting!

Community Education Chicago: A Definition

Community education means exactly what it sounds like– learning directly from Chicago’s neighborhoods by participating in activities and events important to the community itself.

Chicago Center calls this educational philosophy First Voice pedagogy.  We engage students with urban resources, realities, and issues through a First Voice pedagogy which utilizes the city directly as a teaching resource. First Voice pedagogy integrates community based resources and experiential education into more traditional ways of learning; seminars are designed to extend the text into the dynamics of the city. Read More

Chicago Summer Internships: How to Start Looking Now!

Although it’s still winter here in Chicago, you may want to start making your summer plans … even if it’s just so you can think about warm weather and classes being out! If your summer might include working in a Chicago summer internship, here are some ways to start looking and prepare yourself.

What kind of Chicago summer internships are there?

Chicago, being the 3rd largest urban center and having the 2nd largest job market in the country, hosts many industries and offers various types of employment. Some college students know exactly what kind of internship they want and which industry they want to work in; those students can get started right away on their Chicago Center application and look through examples of internships on our internships page. We have networked with hundreds of agencies, corporate organizations, arts groups and more to find internship sites that will give you great guidance, experience and let you contribute to the community  in significant and meaningful ways.

However, if you aren’t exactly sure what career you may want get started in, here’s how you can start your research on Chicago summer internships: Read More

Chicago Internships: Answers to your potential questions, from Chicago Center!

Chicago internships can teach you a lot about yourself and your chosen career, and while you are working in one, there are probably tons of questions you may want to have answered. Luckily, Chicago Center provides a built-in support system to help you find answers to your own questions. From working in an office, to communicating with coworkers, to meeting deadlines, you may run into challenges in your Chicago internship program, but we’ll be there to help you address them, while also learning from them!

But you might have heard the saying, “Nothing worthwhile ever comes easily.” The amazing experiences you have as an intern and a student in Chicago are so great because they teach you that you can rise to meet the challenges you face! Chicago Center assists you in learning from your internship and succeeding in it.

Working an internship in Chicago, IL can provide challenges that help you learn about yourself.

The great thing about the Chicago Center internship programs is that we’ll be there the whole way to help you deal with any challenges you might meet. Whether challenges should rise in your Chicago internship, in your studies, or in your experience living in the city, you have an entire staff at your disposal, who have been through the Chicago Center experience themselves, to support you and help you learn and grow! It is a truly a unique community experience that helps you face any problem you meet.

And we’ll start helping you right here, by outlining some preliminary challenges and questions that our students meet and how to deal with them. With the help of our staff, you can navigate through challenges, and learn from the ones you must face! Read More

Chicago Internships: How An Internship Can Help You Get A Job

Chicago internships can assist you in facing one of the biggest life transitions: Starting a career. Getting a job right out of college these days is harder than ever. With a lagging economy and a job market saturated with entry-level employees, finding employment can be difficult no matter how qualified you are.

What are employers looking for more than anything? Real experience. And a great way to get real on-the-job experience is through choosing a Chicago internship in your field.

How can a college internship help you get a job?

Well, there are skills that you learn and tools you acquire that make the Chicago internship experience completely irreplaceable on your way to your chosen career. Here are the things a college internship can teach that make you a better candidate for employment. Read More

Summer 2009 Internship Summaries

Here are a few of the summer students descriptions of their placements:

Jen Maddux- Hastings College: “I am interning at Rainbow PUSH Coalition. It is Jesse Jackson’s civil rights organization. I am shadowing Marshette Turner, the executive director of the International Trade Bureau. The focus of the department is to assist minority- and women-owned businesses trying to do business with large corporations.”

Brittany Camerino Illinois College: “I am working with the West Lawn – Archer Heights Chamber of Commerce. The mission of the West Lawn Chamber of Commerce is to advance the economic, industrial, professional, cultural and civic welfare of the West Lawn area. To encourage and give assistance to any new individuals that are seeking to locate in the West Lawn Chamber of Commerce area. To support all those activities believed to be beneficial to the community and oppose those, which might be detrimental. To promote the welfare of all area citizens, following the policies intended to accomplish the greatest good for the greatest number. My specific duties include creating a blog for the Archer Heights Chamber, writing articles for the monthly newsletter (these articles are also posted on the blog), communicating with members regarding events (both from the past and upcoming), and answering the phone throughout the day. Some of the more specific tasks I have taken on since I started include contacting the Secretary of State regarding the West Lawn Chamber of Commerce being in not good standing and then printing out and filling out the forms so that my supervisor just needed to sign the forms; keeping contact with a business owner who was interested in working to receive a grant in order to make improvements within his business. I had to collect the forms and contact him to let him know that we had the forms and he would be able to pick them up during our business hours; writing invoices for the next years membership; writing a cover letter to be sent with the invoices, which listed the chambers accomplishments over the past year; write an email to the Hyde Park Chamber requesting the donation of a computer since we only have 3 computers with about 20 staff members; work on placing an ad in Journal News; Email members and local businesses to see if they would like to go into the ad as well in order to save the chamber from paying for the full amount of the ad; and the biggest event I am working on is the upcoming Health Fair that will take place at Ford City mall – I had to search our member list as well as the internet for possible health services that may want to participate in the event.”

Kristina Carlson Nebraska Wesleyan University: “The Children’s Place Association is a non-profit association aimed to provide services to children with aids related issues such as having AIDS or HIV themselves or having a family member with one of these illnesses as well. Over the years, the association has opened their doors to those with other disorders as well such as autism, down syndrom, etc. The association has a Family Center which provides preschool type services for these children since many go without a preschool education otherwise and are then not prepared for kindergarten. Wellness checks are taken daily along with counseling services and many other services for other family members, foster parents, etc. There is a residence where some of the children live as well that is fully staffed. The administrative offices is where the legislative, paperwork, and overall running of the association is done. The children and families can also gain bus services and counseling services that they may take advantage of over the course of their lifetime (for foster parent families that become foster parents through the association).”

Lauren Deutscher- Alma College: “I’m interning at Danielle Ashley Commnuications, a Public Relations and Advertising agency. So far I am mainly answering the phone, and doing simple tasks around the office. They are just about to start a new project, so I am hoping to be a part of that.”

Sarah Caverley- Alma College: “I’m at Holsten Management. They are a real estate company that provides both public housing and higher income level housing. My job is in the accounting department and I enter a lot of data into their computer system such as rents and bills owed and paid.”

Molli Templin- Albion College: “I am working at DoriWilson Public Relations. They provide promotional services for avariety of organizations in the Chicago area. I’m helping out withdifferent aspects of projects and looking into developing a blog forDori’s website.”
Rebecca Herington- Whitworth University: “I am working at the Pilsen Wellness Center, with the Intensive Case Management program. The participants all have mental illnesses and are living on their own. The case workers check up on them according to their needs. They are taught how to manage their finances, trained/supervised taking medications, go grocery shopping, take care of themselves, etc. I am shadowing the case workers, going with them from place to place. When we are in the offices, I am going through the cases, making sure forms are properly updated.”

Alumni Update

Here at the Chicago Center, we love hearing feedback from alumni! Chicago Center Alumni Shava Jamerson writes:

“The Chicago Center was such a great experience for me and if it was not for your program I would not have accomplished as much as I did. After I interned for the Legion Records thanks to the Chicago Center, that gave me the confidence to move forward and I ended up interning at one of the largest records labels in the country SONYBMG in New York City. I can say that it was only because of my persistence that I got from your program and Wilberforce of course that landed me the position. I worked in the Human Resources department at SONY but still I learned a lot about the business of music. I did paper work, event planning, and I also helped conduct orientations for new hires.
I am 100% sure that Chicago is where I want to be!”