Blair has just had an important meeting with ceo of marv sol and the guy cleaning the floor and Isiaih. The gang has deciced to come up with an idea to extend our knowledge and make a better place. We have good news and bad news. The bad news is we'll be getting rid of the vending machine. The good news is we'll have a stand selling more and better snacks. For a better price. We do not have rights to mention were the money is going. In the mean time say tuned for more updates at hpnc.

We Are starting the blogging again

Today September 21st, 2012 we will be starting to go out and interview more people. We will be going out interviewing more people and posting what they said. Reviewing their stores and more. So check back later to see our reviews on the stores in Hyde Park.

Kenyon

Watch our movie!

The campers have been working on a movie all summer. Our friends at Music Works came by once a week to help us shoot this film. The youth wrote their own scripts, designed their own costumes and assembled their own props as well. Each week they worked diligently on their project; I must say I was very proud of their professionalism, work-ethic, and teamwork mentality! Since today is our last day of summer camp, we thought it would be the perfect time to premiere our feature film, "The Candy Bar Killer"! We hope you enjoy it!

*NOTE: Unfortunately we had some technical difficulties uploading our video. The link below is only 1/2 of our entire production. Please feel free to watch the first half at the link below until our movie is uploaded in its entirety.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm91vyAkXlY&feature=plcp

Fishing at the lagoon!

 Yesterday we went fishing at a lagoon behind the Museum of Science and Industry. All of the teen group went fishing together, and I fished with Shirah. Fishing at the lagoon was fun, although not many fish were out that day. To catch a good fish you should have proper items like bait(wax worms), a fishing pole with a hook,and a place to fish. A good way to fish is to cast your line and wait until you can't see the bead at the end of your line. The key is to be patient, or you wont catch anything. The last thing to remember is to have fun!

-Natalie, 7th grade

The Money Museum and Marina City Rooftop

Yesterday the Club took a trip to the Money Museum at Chicago's Federal Reserve Bank, and we made a stop at the Marina City Rooftop. The money Museum was an amazing experience. We even got to  take a picture with a million dollars (see the picture above)!!!!!! We also learned how to manage money. Going to the city  rooftop was a mind blowing experience, see the picture of us all jumping for joy.

-Kenny, 7th grade

Chicago Pizza Tour!

Yesterday we went on a pizza tour with Chicago Pizza Tours!

We took the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club bus to a pizza place called Pizano's near Millenium Park That is where our journey began. At Pizano's we met our tour guide. He told us how the owner of Pizano's father brought pizza to Chicago. After he explained that to us he told us about the three pizza places we were going to visit. Once he finished with that we just hung out until our pizza arrived. When the pizza finally arrived our faces lit up! There were three kinds of pizza and they were pepperoni, deep dish sausage and the bar special. Every one had at least two pieces of pizza. After everyone was finished the guide told us how the owner of Pizano's father once delivered pizza to the former President of the United States, Bill Clinton.

Then we took the HPNC bus to another pizza place called CoalFire. When we were all settled in at CoalFire our guide showed us what they cooked the pizza in. It was cooked in a stone oven that reached 1300 degrees. Then we had some of their Margarita pizza. It was named Margarita after the former Queen of Italy, who tried peasant pizza and the pizza was named that in her honor. A Margarita pizza is a pizza with a tomato and a basil leaf on top of the pizza.

After that was finished we rode the HPNC bus to another pizza place called Gino's East. Gino's East was founded by two taxi drivers. The only problem was they didn't know how to make pizza. So they offered the head chef at Uno's a job and she accepted it and brought her sister and cousins with her.  She didn't like how hard the crust of deep dish pizza was, so she added corn meal to the recipe. What that did was make the outside of the crust hard and the inside soft.

 In the 60's people would wait in line for an hour to get a table so in the mean time they wrote on the walls. Instead of banning it, Gino's East  embraced it, and made it a tradition. So what we did was write Hyde park Neighborhood Club and all the rest of the campers write their names around it. When the pizzas arrived there were two choices: pepperoni or spinach. Most of the people chose pepperoni. After we all finished our food we took a group picture. Then we took the guide home and came back to HPNC.

-Nathan, 7th grade

Cooking for the 4th of July

On Tuesday we did a cooking project to celebrate the 4th of July. I made some strawberries that were dipped in white chocolate. We sprinkled them with blue sprinkles and when we were done  they were red white and blue. We followed a recipe to make the strawberries. We also made a drink that was supposed to be red, white, and blue. There was an extra addition added on accident so the drink turned  purple.  Then we made a firework hot dog on a stick with red white, and blue ribbons on them. I tasted a hot dog and it was good. I like cooking with people because its easier when you have help.

-Riane, 7th grade

Today we are going to have fun fun fun! Today we went to the the greatest movie ever. It was called

MARVINS ROOM.


                                                                                                 Marvin ( going to 8th grade)

Gardening at the Club...

Lately we have been gardening with the younger kids at the club on Thursdays.  Thursday was fun for every one because every one was helping pull out weeds and water flowers. I think the best person to pull out weeds was Seth. He was the best worker there. He didn't  go play, he just keep working and didn't stop at all!

-Keiara, 6th grade

Chinatown!

Last week we took a trip on the train to Chinatown! It was so fun. We learned about the male and female lions who guard Chinatown. The female lion has a heart on her collar and the male lion has a circle on his collar, thats how we could tell the difference. Chinatown has twenty grocery stores in total. We also took a tour around Chinatown with a tour guide. We learned Chinese astrology facts about our birth year. After all of that we dived into some very tasty Chinese food at a resturant in a mall area. The food had alot of flavor and my favorate was the teriyaki chicken.

-Shiran 7th grade

The National Museum of Mexican Art

My name is Nelson and I am going into the 7th grade. I want to tell you about a field trip we took to the National Museum of Mexican Art which is located in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago.

I thought it was a little too much. It mostly had alot of dead stuff  like skeletons getting married  and there were a lot of skulls around. I saw some different outfits of their history.  One had like a big hat with feathers sticking out. I liked one horse painting that had mostly all my favorite horses, like the Black Stallion, the White Stallion, and the Spanish Mustang.

It took a long time getting there. We took one bus and two trains. It was hard keeping up with your CTA cards. When we tried to get back on our train the lady told us the kids over 11 had to use full fair cards. The train  kept stopping  trying to find a signal 2 times and we all got scared, but we made it back. We stopped at Starbucks and I got on the tree swing. It was a busy day.

A Visit From a Judge

Today Judge Stanley Hill came to our site to talk to us about the the law and tell us his personal story. Judge Hill is an Associate Judge in the Fourth Municipal District of the State of Illinois's Circuit Court of Cook County. I would like to tell you what I learned from and thought about his visit.

I learned that there are many ways that we incorporate the judicial system into our everyday lives. Yes, we know that if someone does something wrong or illegal, or if someone needs a defendant that you call on a lawyer; but there is more to it than that. Lawers have to extrapolate the evidence given to them and have to make sure they are making the right decision. There are many different levels of power incorporated with the judicial system and those levels might not always agree. Athough they have to somehow work together to seek justice using reasonable evidence.

Judge Hill recited a very important quote at the end of his presentation, stating "I am convinced life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I respond to it", which I think is what really stuck with all of us.

-Jenna

Water Tower Scavenger Hunt

My name is Mark and I'm a camper at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club. I am in the 6th grade. These are pictures that I took of our scavenger hunt last week at the Water Tower in downtown Chicago.

One thing we had to do was take a picture with a tourist. There is a picture of me and a tourist below. I had alot of fun trying to find what we needed to find on the list! As a matter of fact, my group found everything on the list!

I took the last picture below because of the clouds above and the blue sky which make me happy because they are bright. I might go back to the Water Tower area to go shopping and to see more sights!



Gospel Music Festival & Morbid Curiosity

We finished up our FIRST WEEK of summer camp by attending a gospel concert at the Chicago Cultural Center! We watched two acts perform in the beautiful building designed by Tiffany and Company! One of our campers, Tre, enjoyed the first group of performers because of their simplicity. Jada enjoyed the second group, pictured below, because of their vibrant color schemes, passion, and amazing voices.

The building was so large and filled with staircases leading all over the place, so it was easy to explore. We ended up in an exhibit which showcased mash up photographs of Brazilian locals, the rainforest, and animals. Nelson enjoyed this exhibit the most because there was no violence, and Jenna enjoyed the exhibit's colorful uniqueness. Check out our group picture in front of a row of these vibrant pieces of art.

Next, we went to see an exhibit called "Morbid Curiosity", although we were a bit nervous about how gruesome it seemed! Tre said this exhibit made him think that people do many things we shouldn't do, Keiara thought it was cool and creepy. Jenna informed us that there were many hidden messages within the art work that she was able to recognize because of her history classes at school. Jada liked the skull pictures, Riane was particularly fond of a red statue with a skull face, and Mark learned many new things. See one of the skulls from the exhibit below?

Finally, we took a walk and enjoyed the sunshine along State Street, and ended up at State and Adams for "Color Jam", where all four corners of the intersection were painted in hues of blue, green, pink, and red. Of course, we had to take a picture!

Today was a lovely day and a terrific end to our first week of summer camp! We have tons of activities and field trips planned so keep checking our blog to see what we're up to!

Our Future Homes (OFH)

For the past 10 weeks we have been participating in an Architecture in Education program with the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust.

Overview: This project integrates lessons on building function with learning about architecture and design. Classes will participate in an 8-10 week interdisciplinary project that focuses on literacy, geometry, social studies, and interpersonal skills. The goal is to enable the students to discuss architecural detail and design, to observe and evaluate their built enviroment, and to design and build models. Students will work individually to design a floorplan to scale and then build individual models.Here are some pictures of us hard working students working on our model homes.

                                          This is Jose cutting some paper for the roof of his house.

                                          Here is another picture of Jose cutting quick,accurate, and neat.  And you can see Justin in the background working diligently as well.

                                           This is Antonio getting some glue for his home so it
                                            can stand up tall and proud!
 

Here is Kenyon with a big smile on his face excited to work on his home. Kenyon is one of the hardest workers on the model homes and is really committed to his job.

                                                                                              Marv

Thanks

Success! We have accompilished our goal! We now have had over 400 people view our site. Our next goal is to get more views and even onto the media! Thank you to all our fans. Currently, we are partyin' - Blair is the host and Jacob is the Dj man playing the music.





                                                                                                                       Marv

Here is the horror movie we decided we put together before spring. Now finally we've got the tape from all the hard work we have done. This movie was directed by Tyler ( I'm not telling you her last name) and a couple of other people.

Basically the horror movie starts from the beginning because we dont have time to make a 1 or 2 hour movie. And it is about a strangler in the area and a group of friends try to find out who the killer is. Watch the flim to see what happens.

                                                                                                               Marv






                                                  

First Aid Comics

Today the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club teen group went to First Aid Comics on 1617 E. 55th street. We interviewed the "president" of the store, Mr. James Nurss. The store opened November 26, 2008, originally as a 500 sq. ft location on 53rd, but in the last year has moved to a much bigger location on 55th. They sell many kinds of comics from Marvel to D.C., as well as trading cards and action figures. Nurss' favorite comics are Marvel (and he calls himself a "Marvel Zombie"), but says the clerks are mainly D.C. fans. Nurss' favorite super hero is Captain America.  He explained their daily routines such as, ordering comics getting them ready and selling them. On Saturdays, Wednesdays, and Mondays they have a game room open where they play Yu Gi Oh and Dungeons & Dragons.  Find new releases at First Aid Comics on Wednesdays!

                                                                  Edgar

                                                                 John Rodgers

                                            James Nurss being interviewed by Antonio

Find new releases at First Aid Comics on Wednesdays!

Fifth Third Bank

Two weeks ago, Kiana Parsons, Antonio Cardona, Joshua Begin, and I (Tyler Daniels) visited Fifth-Third Bank on 53rd St (ironic right!). I had pleasure of interviewing Mr. Antoine Shaw, a licensed banker at the facility. Even though Mr. Shaw went to school for electrical engineering  he switched to banking later in his professional career (maybe because he was a part-time teller during his college days).  He has been in the banking profession for  ten years, previously working at A Wells-Fargo Bank in California  and came across this specific bank one year ago. 

CHA-CHING$$$$$$$

Me, shaking hands with Antoine Shaw, licensed banker :)

     

Canada Pictures and Statements (Authored by Sean and Jose)

 

     
                                            FERRIS WHEEL IN CANADA 

                                                     
                                                           CANADA STRIP              
                                             

                                              UPSIDE INN/HOTEL IN CANADA  
Canada, for us, held vast amounts of chances to learn more about the Underground Railroad and other African American cultural history. There were many churches and areas in which I did not know about that had been visited and some created by well-known African Americans. My time there was well spent and very entertaining and educational. [Written by Sean]


In Canada there is a lot of open land, more then the United States of America. Businesses make roughly same amount of money as in the United States but the buildings are much smaller thanours. Also, houses in Canada are not built to look like the others in the neighborhood like our Chicago suburbs, so the real estate is more or less different.[Written by Jose]


[Pictures taken by Sean]

Jose and Sean go to CANADA!

Yesterday Jose and Sean left to go to Canada for their 8th grade trip. Awesome right?  (I'm a little jealous....)They will be sure to post about their trip when they return to the states - so stay tuned!

Having fun in the kitchen!

 The UChicago Law Students brought all the goodies for us to cook with last week! Above is a picture of one of the pizzas we made, even though we made a lot!  Such as pepperoni, mushroom, onion, and cheese pizza. Marv and Tyler also made 3 batches of cookies. Marv and Tyler made sprinkle cookies and chocolate chip cookies. It was hard making pizzas and baking the cookies but the hard work paid off because we got to EAT THEM!! The sad news is that we had to clean it up, but the good news is that everyone got points for participating! 

Savion makin' that dough with the law students!

Kenyon cuttin the cheese!

Preparing...

HOW SWEET

 Look at the chef - cakin' it!

Classic Marv & Phil.

         This Blog was written by Marv