Week 2:
Back in the City

July 24, 2016

After training with Project Rousseau in New York last week, I returned to Chicago earlier than expected. Although I was due to start work at Hyde Park Academy within the next week, due to a staff member leaving, they no longer had a site supervisor in place for me and unfortunately were not able to assign me a replacement. This was obviously unexpected for me and my contacts at Project Rousseau. They assured me, however, that although I may not be working directly at the site with a member of Hyde Park Academy’s staff,  I could still proceed with putting together documents, site visits, and programming for their students to use in the fall but that I would need to do so by working from home day to day. So this week I started out working “remotely” and received some new assignments from my contacts at the Project Rousseau office in New York in addition to working on some of the projects I already expected.

Since my site visit list had not been finalized yet, I was assigned some side work to do while I waited for a response. I was given the task of organizing a document that listed colleges who provide campus visits for underprivileged students, most of which are 100% paid for. Students get to stay overnight and experience a university to the fullest extent. I was also tasked with organizing a document that listed schools with summer programs for high school students. These tasks will likely take me all week to complete, with there being a lot of research involved.

When I was given the go ahead to begin my site visits, I was happy to be moving forward. There are many things I need to do for each site visit. I start by driving to Hyde Park Academy, which is where the students will be departing from for Broadening Horizons trips. Broadening Horizons is one of the “four pillars” of Project Rousseau, and is about getting the students to experience different parts of Chicago they might otherwise not experience, while learning along the way.  Once I arrive at Hyde Park Academy, I take public transportation to each site, and time myself. Once at the site, I take notes about how the visit went and what there was to do at each location. Once the visit was complete, I write a detailed final report summarizing everything I had taken notes on, and the experience as a whole as well as a rating, on a scale from 1-5, how beneficial the visit would be for the students. Once completed, I would send the final report to the individuals in charge.

This past week, I went on a site visit to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was very impressive. I had not been there since I was three years old, and it was highly modernized, user friendly and full of energy. I had an amazing time there, and learned much more than I expected to. My favorite part was on the third floor, where there was an exhibit called the “You! Experience.” It was all about the human body, and combined education with entertainment–a great combination.

I have come to realize, through all this experience, that I am not a huge fan of taking public transportation. I prefer driving my own car. I believe this comes from the fear I have of getting lost. When I take public transportation, it is more difficult for me to find my way back rather, than if I was in my own vehicle.

I am excited to go on more visits and continue moving forward!