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!