Second Week

We are in our second week of SSP 2011 and things are getting real, fast. First let me introduce myself, I am Amara, and will be working with Alan (who posted the welcome below) as a coordinator for SSP 2011. Now back to the program.

During the first week (last week) of SSP we decided that this summer we would focus on abuse in the Greater Grand Crossing community. At first we weren't sure what type and aspect of abuse we would focus on- while many people we spoke to thought we were referring to drug abuse. However after having discussed some goals for this week, including talking with a social worker at Gary Comer Youth Center, we are thinking about narrowing down our area of interest. Perhaps we will focus on physical and verbal abuse as it relates to mental health in teenagers. However, that is a mouthful and nothing has been set in stone. Hopefully by Friday we will have a better idea of what we will be focusing on.

First Post

Welcome to the Blog of Dave Pitts Jr! I am a Gary Comer College Preparatory student, and I am working with the Summer Service Partnership at the University of Chicago to find ways to enrich the Greater Grand Crossing community. Last week on Monday, June 20 2011, my team and I met for the first time at the University of Chicago's bookstore. The first day was a great deal of fun I must say. We all got to know each other by playing icebreaker games such as: Human Knot, Two truth and a lie, and talking about our lives. It took us approximately forty-five minutes to untangle ourselves. We brought a whole new meaning to working closely with each other as we maneuvered around each other. After lunch, my team went to Theater Gates' home where we met a young lady by the name of Hallie. She explained what their mission in the community was, what they were doing to help the community, and what problems they faced with trying to help the community as an outsider. She was very helpful. Finally, we came back to the bookstore and headed home for the day. I have a feeling that this is definitely going to be an interesting summer. I'm looking forward to completing our project! Stay tuned for more post.

First week at the ssp program

Hey my name is Cache' Wallace and I am a current high school student working in a program called Summer Partnership Program and this program is designed to rise awareness and help the community with the things that it is lacking. On Friday my team and I got our health screening to start voluteering at the University of Chicago Hospital. What type of tests did we take? We got TB testing, blood was drawn, and we also took a color blind test--it was so cool! We had to bring in TB and shot records and of course I was super prepared with my records. Lucky for me I didn't have to take a TB shot. Also on that day we just hung out and watched the Woodlawn Team present powerpoints about their lives which were interesting. I'm looking forward to getting started on our project about "abuse". We will be focusing on mental and physical "abuse". Can't wait to get started! I know it will be lots of fun.

Urban Health Initiative Summit

Hi, my name is Kishonna Hall and this past Thursday I attended the Urban Health Initiative summit at the Apostolic Church Of God, on 6320 S. Dorchester. The purpose of the summit was to try to find ways to improve the health of the communities on the South Side of Chicago. There were many people there trying to help increase health access in the community. At the summit there was a breakout session where they split up all the people and put us in different groups and in random rooms. The session was very interesting because everyone brought up some very interesting points about how we should start working in the community by interacting with the citizens and just basically trying to get involved and used to the community. I had never experienced anything like the summit in my life and i actually enjoyed it. The people were very friendly and the food was delicious! I am very grateful for experiencing something so important that is trying to change my community.

Welcome to the 2011 Summer Service Partnership!

Hi everyone! It's sunny, occasionally stormy, and heating up in Chicago, meaning only one thing: summer! And with all of our glorious time away from our respective schools, it's once again time to couple Gary Comer College Prep, University of Chicago, and Pritzker Medical School students to forge an alliance in community health project creation.

My name is Alan Schurle, and I represent the medical school on our team. I'm joined by my University of Chicago colleague Amara Ugwu, a rising third year majoring in Policy with an abiding interest in healthcare. Our high school partners are Kishonna Hall; Dave Pitts, Jr.; and Caché Wallace--all of whom are rising Juniors at Gary Comer College Prep.

We look forward to blogging on our exploits in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood as we create an asset map, choose an area of health concern, and move towards completing our project by the end of this summer.

We know it will go fast--time always does when you're having fun!