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Scouting America Brings Future Architects to CAC

By Brent Brotine, Education Guide
Most photos courtesy of Scouting America’s Pathways to Adventure Council

On Sunday September 22nd, over one hundred Scouts and their families visited CAC for a special day of educational workshops. All Scouts — both boys and girls — were members of Scouting America’s Pathway to Adventure Council, the nation’s foremost youth program for character development serving over 13,600 youth in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana.

Older youth from the traditional Scouts BSA program were here to complete their requirements for the Merit Badge in Architecture. Their day began with a 90-minute Chicago: City of Architecture walking tour led by a CAC Education Guide. Beginning at our own Illinois Center patio with an introduction to Chicago’s architecture history, the Scouts continued on to the Michigan Avenue Bridge, London Guarantee Building, Marina City, Carbide and Carbon Building, and Aqua Tower.

For many of the Scouts, this was their first time viewing these important landmarks. Austin Baillie from Troop 12 in New Lenox thought the Carbide and Carbon Building was “really cool”; he liked figuring out what each building was made of and what they were used for. Ryan Folkers from Troop 23 in Mount Prospect “learned a lot about how things go down” and chose Aqua Tower as his favorite. Caleb Plagman from Troop 101 in Darien found the tour “really fun” with Marina City his standout choice, commenting on how “weird the parking is with no walls” (when he’s older he can watch The Hunter.)

After a lunch break, the Scouts headed into the Lecture Hall for a 90-minute Merit Badge Workshop. Scouting counselors helped them finish their last necessary tasks, including an exercise in how to draw floor plans and a presentation on career opportunities in architecture. Everyone received their badges, as well as a new understanding of the importance of architecture and the role Chicago has played.

Younger Cub Scouts, and siblings of Scout attendees, had concurrent activities just for them. All took part in CAC’s 90-minute LEGO® Inspiration workshops, led by CAC’s Education staff and Education Guides, that introduce design principles through a series of building exercises using monochromatic LEGO Architecture Studio bricks. 

Everyone had fun building such unusual creations as an underwater hotel, a skyscraper, a space station, and a theme park.

In addition, those who attended the morning workshop were able to follow it up with our 90-minute Loop As Lab guided field trip through CAC, including both the upstairs exhibit and the Chicago Gallery.

The program proved so popular with area Scouts that the available slots quickly filled, and families that were on the long waiting list will have to look forward to the next time. Which is certainly now being considered. The Scouts in attendance were absolutely friendly, courteous, obedient and cheerful in keeping with Scout Law, and CAC staff and Education Guides were all delighted at their enthusiasm for architecture and commitment to continue learning more.


Author Brent Brotine

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Anonymous

    Thanks for the update, Brent. Interesting that you can get an architecture badge in such a short time; It took me weeks to learn all that stuff, if not years. But it would be fun to find out how many of these kids — and most look to be boys — become architects in the future due to their visit to CAC.

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