After Her Chicago Internship Program: Amy’s Apprentice Highlights
Amy VanBecelaere, Housing 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 Amy VanBecelaere, Housing Coordinator talks about her experience with Chicago Center:
“My name is Amy VanBecelaere, and I am the current Housing Coordinator for The Chicago Center. I am a graduate of Adrian College where I received my B.A. in Psychology with minors in both Women’s Studies and Theatre (with a dance emphasis). Growing up in Metro Detroit (St. Clair Shores) with a lifelong interest in the performing arts, I had always known that I wanted to be connected to and a part of a big city, but I had little idea of how my heart would get there.
Through my undergraduate work at Adrian, I began to discover my own unique interests and life goals. I realized there that I had both a deep internal passion for dance and psychology; however I was having some trouble figuring out how to combine these interests in a concrete way. Soon enough, I was focusing my energy into the field of Dance Movement Therapy but still had little direction on how to gain any kind of experience in the field due to lack of resources of this kind in Michigan.
The Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture entered my life at exactly the right time. Just looking through the brochure and seeing pictures of incredible mural work, African women dancing with such a glowing energy, and the general idea of living in a major city and center for culture; I knew I could find what I was looking for there. I saved all of my money for two summers and finally became a Chicago Center student in the Summer of 2008.
As I expected, Chicago as a city was bursting with possibilities. I ended up choosing an internship placement with Chicago’s only African-American modern dance company; Deeply Rooted Productions. Unlike most professional dance companies I had worked with before, Deeply Rooted had a unique focus on self-actualization through movement. Dancers (including myself) engaged in a continuum process where they grew not only as performers but as fully-functioning self-aware people as well. The Chicago Center helped me find a place where I could really develop and combine my interests in Dance and Psychology. However, my learning certainly was not limited to my internship.
The Chicago Center exposed me to so many different communities and cultures that I had never considered before. I grew immensely by interacting with community leaders, residents, performers and active citizens of Chicago. The Center really opened my mind and heart to new experiences and voices. I had always considered myself a culturally-aware, educated and open-minded person but I can say that I never truly understood what that was until I became a student at Chicago Center. I don’t know that I would have ever imagined myself, as a suburban grown white woman on stage dancing traditional African dance in full Kente cloth singing a West African Call entitled “Reza Agambani” (Feast of the Strong One), but that is where my experience took me. I returned to my campus with an experience unlike any of my classmates, I had a new found confidence in my opinions and knowledge of what it was to live in an urban environment. My professors and colleagues recognized a change in the way I interacted in the classroom and beyond. I now knew what I believed about city life because I had lived it but most importantly, I had a clear understanding of who I was as a person.
I knew that after my summer in Chicago, I would undoubtedly return to the city that became my new home and love. I also knew that only the Chicago Center could really help me truly understand what it was to be a Chicagoan. I wanted to be a part of future student’s experiences and help them find their way in the city the way I did!
As an apprentice for the Chicago Center, I am at forefront of encouraging and supporting each students own unique and fantastic experience in the city. I am grateful for the opportunity to hear stories and experiences from the students each week in my housing meetings. It is there that I also address concerns and maintenance issues. I love being able to provide support and make things easier for students as they are being challenged to grow and think in new ways in the City; it is what makes my job at the center so incredibly rewarding.
This year, my position as the housing coordinator has changed a lot. We now own our own building for student housing which we fondly call “The Boulevard”. I have been at the forefront of the transition between our old housing (renting at different units in Hyde Park) to a new building where we have really been in control and responsible for everything that happens within our own housing. After scheduling a tremendous amount of movers, cleaners and workers in all different ways (lots of support from Chicago Center staff) the building is finally finished! My crew and I were in charge of setting up the flats for students to live in for the first time in January and it appears to be a huge success. The students love our new facility and I am so proud to have played such a major role in putting things together. The whole center has spent so much time, effort and work into our new building and I think that it definitely shows.
Now that the biggest job is done, I am responsible for the maintenance and order of the building. I also prepare housing for incoming students each semester as well as our short term LC! Programs. I try to be a resource for students in any way I can, and I am extremely blessed to be part of such an incredible program that is working to expand the minds of students and faculty across the country. I only have a few short months left with the Chicago Center, and I will cherish them forever I am sure. I am currently interested in looking for a job in a social service setting and am actively looking for opportunities to use my dance/theatre experience to help people in any way I can. Come August, I will be attending graduate school at Columbia College Chicago and will earn my masters degree in Dance/Movement Therapy and Mental Health Counseling in the next few years. I know that my time and experiences here at The Chicago Center have without doubt helped me accomplish that goal and will continue to influence and inspire any goals I set for the future!”
We’d like to thank Amy for telling us about her experience and letting us share it with our potential students and alumni!
