Meet India: Ambitious musician and future doctor

It is 5:30 p.m. on a Thursday, and 11-year-old India is focused intently on her viola.

It is a little tough, but she needs to pluck the strings on her instrument in the correct order before she can even whip out her bow.

After the second or third attempt, she gives a triumphant grin as she masters the notes.

For the past three years, India has been learning the violin and viola through music programs offered at CYC-Rebecca K. Crown Youth Center in South Shore. Her strong passion for music translates perfectly to her love of the dance club, which she will participate in during the summer.

“It makes me feel like I can do anything, and I can believe in myself,” India said.

India, who has been attending CYC for four years, said she has a lot of fun with all the different activities that are offered at the Center—especially during the summer months.

“It’s important to keep her engaged through the summer because she’s very intelligent,” said Kiana Lewis, CYC Out-of-School Time youth worker. “To provide support year-round, helps kids feel supported.”

When India grows up, she wants to be a doctor to “help homeless people and destroy diseases.”

She plans to implement her music education in a very special way: “If my patients need music, I’ll play it for them,” she said with a soft smile.

The many sides of gardening

CYC kids aren’t afraid of getting their hands a little dirty.

Whether they’re growing their own vegetables, beautifying their neighborhoods, or learning about the environment, CYC’s various gardening programs immerse children in a broad variety of subjects.

While the weather is chillier, the children at CYC-Sidney Epstein Youth Center in North Lawndale are learning about seed viability. Out-of-School Time Manager Kim George said the weekly gardening class uses three simple tools for this: a seed, a damp paper towel, and sunlight.

By wrapping a seed in a damp paper towel within a sandwich bag and taping it to the window, the kids are able to closely monitor if the seed is sprouting.

“They talk about how long it takes for a seed to germinate, then they count out and set up a timeline for when they expect the seeds to grow,” Kim said. “If the seeds are growing, we know they are viable and will work well in a garden.”

By marking how many seeds germinate, the kids are also able to calculate the probability that a plant will successfully grow in their garden.

“Gardening is very academic,” Kim said. “It’s a good hands-on-way of learning different topics. There are simple things like having practice counting, and other parts like monitoring weather.

Aside from the strong math and science components of gardening, youth are also learning good nutrition habits, facts about the environment, skills like patience and persistence, and an appreciation for community engagement.

“I like to learn about plants and how they grow,” said Clayton, 8. “It is important because we need plants to survive.”

Later this month, the children will present about seed viability and youth gardening at the Chicago Community Gardeners Association Conference.

“This will be their third time presenting,” Kim said. “It’s just really encouraging for them.”

Last fall, the garden at CYC-Epstein also received the Chicago Excellence in Gardening Award.

Igniting a love for glass art

Through an ongoing partnership with Ignition Community Glass, youth from CYC’s Centers are participating in a five-week glass art session with the local non-profit.

In the classes, which are held at both CYC Centers and at Ignite Glass Studios, youth are learning cold and hot glass techniques, while creating art pieces like decorative glass squares, night lights, and paper weights.

The partnership is made possible due to funding from the Zakat Foundation of America. CYC Auxiliary Board Co-Chair Paul Morgan, the executive director of Ignition Community Glass, has also helped to nurture this relationship.

CYC Arts and Innovation Coordinator Monica Wizgird said the youth are learning professional skills like collaboration, persistence, discipline, focus, and more through this partnership. The amount of planning and pre-visualization and follow-through involved in glass art creation is great practice for success in all sorts of future projects and endeavors.

“The youth were pretty amazed at the level of teamwork and communication between the artists doing demonstrations in the hot shop,” Monica said. “When it became their turn to collaborate with the glass artists to create their paperweights, they were laser focused and incredibly attentive because they saw how vital teamwork and communication are in that type of environment.”

The children love working with the glass because it is a unique, and new experience for many of them.

“It was fun, exciting, and I've never seen anything like that before,” said Mikayla, 12. “I'd recommend it to other kids because it was awesome!”

Monica said she has seen much joy, wonder, and growth in the youth involved in the partnership.

“Even though we can still accomplish a lot with classes at our Centers, the field trips are the best part of the program because when we're there, our youth can learn how to create amazing things in the hot shop while being in an interesting, state of the art space, surrounded by gorgeous glass artwork and cool people,” Monica said.

CYC kids go ‘off to great places’

CYC children and families went “off to great places” earlier this month!

Forty families gathered at CYC-Elliott Donnelley Youth Center for a Dr. Seuss Family Literacy Day to celebrate both Dr. Seuss’s birthday and a love for reading.

Different stations, themed around various Dr. Seuss books, were set up around the Center. Children were able to play bingo for books, create craft projects like truffula trees, and even make oobleck as a science project. The best part? The Cat in the Hat himself made a special appearance.

CYC staff member Anjel Williams, who organized the event, said the day was one of the best family engagement events of the year. By holding a literacy event, Anjel said parents learn about the importance of reading comprehension and literacy.

“You need the whole family in order for the child to succeed,” Anjel said. “A child needs to see that there is a village invested in their success, and they need to see that they have their parents in their corner.”

Throughout the year, CYC holds various family engagement events to ensure that children develop healthy habits at home and build strong bonds with their families. The event was also an excellent opportunity for parents and kids to take a little break and spend quality time together.

“Parent involvement is important for kids to see that their parents care about what they are doing,” Anjel said.

Generational waves of change

Maurice poses on the Michigan State University campus.

Growing up on Chicago’s West Side, Maurice Walls decided early in his life that he will not be a negative statistic.

“I will be an individual who stands alone and can conquer the world,” he wrote in his winning essay for the Sidney Epstein Believe in Kids Award: a $5,000 college scholarship.

Maurice attended CYC-Epstein in North Lawndale from when he was 3 until he graduated from high school. He is now a freshman at Michigan State University, where he is studying pre-veterinary medicine.

As a first-generation college student, his academic journey began with CYC’s College and Career Readiness program. He started thinking and learning about college when he was still in middle school. Later on, he went on college trips with the Center and remained involved in the various clubs and mentoring programs available. Maurice graduated from high school with a 4.3 GPA.

“CYC’s CCR program played a role in me making the right decision because I had so long to think about college,” Maurice said. “I focused on doing well in high school so I could pick any school and have as many options as possible.”

For Maurice, coming to CYC felt like being with his second family.

“It kept me out of trouble,” he said. “It gave me something to do. It was a safe place for me to go after school. It was a safe place for my parents to know where I was, instead of getting sucked into the streets of Chicago doing the wrong things.”

Marissa gives her presentation about “Speak Your Peace.”

Maurice’s little sister Marissa is still at CYC-Epstein, following her brother’s footsteps. Through the summer and fall, the 9-year-old worked on her project: "Speak Your Peace." She organized a Peace March and a Peace T-shirt design contest through CYC.

"It was about our community and making sure that people don't shoot people," Marissa said. "I learned that you can make a difference when you do one small thing."

Maurice and Marissa epitomize what can happen within a community with consistent support and mentors. We are so proud of their achievements!