The Year of the Child
After Lincolnparkconnect.com was up and running, a new community-wide forum steering committee was formed. Over a few months, the steering committee met and discussed issues relevant to the Lincoln Park community. There were several great ideas offered and discussed over the course of these meetings, and at an event attended by nearly fifty community members at St. Clement School in May, “The Year of the Child” was created. The goal of this project was to increase community involvement and investment in the well-being of Lincoln Park through the promotion of child-focused education and activities. This goal was met through a series of family-friendly events that will be held at local schools. Several Lincoln Park institutions and organizations generously offered their expertise to help create these events.
The first “Year of the Child” event was Celebrate Nature! Butterflies were launched at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, on Saturday, September 30, 2006, with the help of their partner institution the Notebaert Nature Museum. Besides the butterfly launch, children learned about various insects, and ways to clean sinks and clogged drains by using eco-friendly products such as vinegar and baking soda. The school also used the event to unveil plans to create a green roof and garden, which was completed in August 2007.
More than 300 Lincoln Park children and parents participated in Celebrate Healthy Living, the second community wide forum “Year of the Child” event held Sunday, January 21, 2007, at Alcott Elementary. Families toured the school visiting classrooms where they could practice yoga, visit a health spa with hand waxing and hand massages, eat some healthy snacks and recipes, learn about vitamins and how they help you and many others. The grand finale after the Bears had won the NFC Championship game was a raffle of a pair of tickets to the Superbowl, along with hotel and airfare to use as a raffle prize for the school.
“Celebrate the Arts!” hosted by Oscar Mayer Elementary School in partnership with the Chicago History Museum and Victory Gardens Theater, was held on Wednesday, February 28, and featured “A Night at the Cotton Club.” More than 100 parents and Oscar Mayer neighbors were treated to live jazz performances, jitterbug dance lessons, student-created art inspired by poems written by Langston Hughes and much more about the Harlem Renaissance.
On Saturday, May 19, 2007 DePaul student-athletes and staff hosted Celebrate Athletics! a basketball clinic at DePaul’s Sullivan Athletics Center, the fourth event of the Lincoln Park community-wide forums, “Year of the Child.” Forty-seven students from four Lincoln Park elementary schools (St. Clements’s, Oscar Mayer, Lincoln and Alcott) joined Blue Demon student-athletes including the men’s and women’s basketball teams and selected coaches, including a special appearance by DePaul men’s basketball coach Jerry Wainwright, in a basketball clinic. The clinic featured presentations from DePaul’s strength and conditioning and sports medicine staffs on the value of proper nutrition and exercise before the coaches and student-athletes took over and lead the Lincoln Park students in basketball drills, skill work and half-court games. Each camp participant received a DePaul T-shirt and lunch to conclude the morning’s activities.
If you are interested in becoming a member or have any questions for the community-wide forum, please contact Ken Labok at 773.880.6851 or email him at klabok@childrensmemorial.org.