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

After His Chicago Internship Program: Steve’s Apprentice Highlights

Steve Broadwell, Recruitment 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 Steve Broadwell, Recruitment Coordinator talks about his experience with Chicago Center: Read More

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 Internship Program Experiences: Dave Reid’s Student Highlights

Here at Chicago Center, we want to give you the best picture of what a great comprehensive Chicago internship program can be like and what it can teach you. So we plan to regularly bring you descriptions of our student practicums written by the participants themselves!

By understanding former students’ experiences in their Chicago internships, you can also understand the benefit a Chicago Center practicum can bring to your education, career and life. This week, Dave Reid from Willamette University, talks about his time with the Chicago Center.

Dave’s Chicago Internship Experience

Dave participated in the  2009 Fall semester Urban Academic Practicum. He spent three days a week working in his internship at the Austin Polytechnical Academy, where he worked as a teaching assistant to  high school students. One day a week, he took part in our Chicago Communities and Cultures Seminar, and one day a week he took a Directed Studies course.  Students are asked to keep an academic journal while participating in Chicago Center,  here’s what Dave had to say in his journal summarizing his Chicago Center experience:

Dave Reid works with high school students in his Chicago internship.

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

Chicago Summer Internships: More Than Just a Job

Chicago summer internships give you extremely valuable professional skills that can assist you in your search for a job and for the career that will satisfy you. However, being in Chicago teaches you a lot more than just professional skills. Living in one of the country’s urban centers can teach you life lessons and skills that you can’t learn any other way.

Navigating Chicago

If you have never lived in a urban setting, an internship in Chicago can be an eye-opening experience since you’ll be living in the city. First of all, you will have to learn to get around! In our Chicago internship programs, we allow you to get oriented before you start your internship and seminars.

One of the first things you learn is how to get around. The famous “El” train, buses and even trolleys can help you get around in the Windy City, and we’ll help you get accustomed to riding public transportation. Before you know it, it will feel like second nature. Bus and train routes become more than just lines on a map as you get to know the landmarks and attractions of the city. Read More