South Chicago YMCA

Chris Castaneda

       On Tuesday this week, we visited the South Chicago YMCA. From the outside, it looks like a small inconspicuous building. From the inside, it's an amazing facility, complete with gym, swimming pool, and numerous rooms for activities. Here we met with Tiffany Vargas, the Program Coordinator for After School programs and Summer Camp. We walked in, and the atmosphere seemed frantic by the number of children running around, working on crafts. It looked somewhat like a battlefield, but somehow it was completely under control.

       Tiffany walked us through the variety of activities they have for their children. She told us they mainly worked with younger children during the summer, but she hoped to expand the program with more high school youth. We chatted for a while about the various programs in South Chicago, and the options that youth have. She the mentioned that she has time that our group can come and volunteer by leading workshops in nutrition and fitness.

                 

       Our students jumped at the opportunity, already thinking of ideas for the workshops. Some of our students wanted to go through basketball drills, to give the children a nice workout. Another student thought it would be good to do a dance routine for those who may not want to do basketball. It's still a work in a progress, but we are all excited to work in the community with the children. I'm particularly curious to see the interactions between the high school students, and the kids in the camp, especially considering the leadership skills they currently show.

      This was an exciting week because it was the first time our entire group was able to meet. It was wonderful to finally see the group dynamic completed, and we hit the ground running trying to brainstorm project ideas. At first, we came up with a long list of different topics and ideas. The high school students have a tremendous background working in a variety of topics, and they were passionate about many different things. As we continued the discussion, the list narrowed more and more with each day. By Thursday, we had just about settled on a few topics, but we still weren't satisfied with our topic.

                  

      On Friday, we made a tremendous leap, coming up with topic ideas and potential projects. We settled on an overarching theme of self-esteem. Under this theme, we included three topics: teen pregnancy, bullying, and drug abuse. The high school students were excited about the three projects, and they agreed that they would each like to focus on a specific one. It was amazing to see how quickly and resilient the students were about choosing a topic. They knew we were a little behind, and they certainly were able to make up for the time that we weren't able to have the entire group. Moving forward, it will be awesome to see what project ideas and strategies the high school students create.