Through North Park’s new Catalyst 606__ schedule, classes are given the opportunity to engage with the city on Wednesday afternoons when no class periods take place. 和他们的班级, 学生走出教室, serving and learning within their local community and gaining a closer understanding and appreciation of the increasingly urban world they will live and work in.
克里斯托弗Lempa, Aseel侯赛因, and Emilie Peterson are three students who participated in the first semester of Catalyst 606__ this past fall. During the semester they shared how their first-hand experiences gave them the opportunity to identify vocational interests, 受到所在领域的领导者的启发, and establish relationships with professional contacts.
艾米丽·彼得森，2021届毕业生:
“I am more of a visual and hands-on learner, and (Catalyst) has helped me retain the information we learn in class. 我们的第一次旅行, we went to the 芝加哥 Botanic gardens; for the second trip, we took a hip-hop and human percussion class.
在课堂上, we’re reading a book on how to continue face-to-face interaction and communication rather than just over cellphones and technology. 这意味着两次旅行, we weren’t allowed to bring our cell phones; we had to leave them at home. Our professor wanted us to interact with our classmates and get to know each other. Without our phones, we were able to notice other things without the distraction of a screen. It has brought me a lot of self-awareness regarding my phone and making sure that I’m not pulling it out when I’m talking to people and keeping it away whenever I can.”
2019届毕业生阿赛尔·侯赛因:
“I like the Catalyst courses I’m in because (the excursions) relate so well to the class. It is especially nice in my 芝加哥 politics class to go out in 芝加哥 and get to see the city. 第一次旅行，我们参观了39号公路th 沃德，北公园所在的区域.
We learned about what keeps a ward running, what kinds of establishments would be beneficial to the ward. We saw the alderman’s office and learned about the different kinds of groups that provide support to aldermen. 在同一天, 顺便说一下，我们去了市政厅, 我看到了拉姆·伊曼纽尔的背影, so that was pretty cool—and to the 芝加哥 History Museum. These classes have exposed me to things a normal classroom cannot.”
克里斯托弗·伦帕，2018届毕业生:
“I have enjoyed the shift in schedule because of Catalyst 606__. We have still been in the class a lot, so I haven’t felt any loss of that time. This has given me the opportunity to see how I can relate my two majors (business and Spanish) more to the real world. I know that there are businesses in 芝加哥 where Spanish is needed. Relating the work world to what we’re learning has been helpful for me, and given me more interest in working for businesses like these in the future.
We went to two different non-profit organizations: Centro Romero in Rogers Park and the 芝加哥 Religious Leadership Network (CRLN).
The conversation we had with the director of Centro Romero was entirely in Spanish. We were also reading a book in our class about Salvadorian Literature during the time of the revolution in the 80’s. The director and her family were part of the revolution, and she was able to tell us a lot about their activism and their philosophy at the time. Essentially, she gave us her testimony which has led her to serving as director of this nonprofit.
I think that this was the better way to learn all of this information. It dealt with current topics and gave us a local (as well as) global perspective.”
