Blog

By Lisa Ciota, Education Guide

“Thanks so much for spending your morning with us last Friday. The kids learned so much and I did too!
Your volunteer work is important, and touches lives in ways you’ll never know!”
– Science of Architecture Tour, Teacher feedback

You’ve probably seen them around the CAC – kids, lots of kids. In fact, there were more of them this year than last – about 1,400 more, to be precise. That’s a 28% increase compared to 2018, bringing the total number of students served by the CAC’s ongoing educational programs in 2019 to approximately 6,400. In total, we conducted about 75 educational walking tours and 30 workshops in 2019. Importantly, this does not include Chicago Architecture Biennial student tours, which adds nearly 2,500 students on some 60 tours to these counts.

“I used to think architecture was a study of building and designing. Now I think architecture is designing buildings and blueprints to different people who play a part in making a building. When you make a building, you look at the environment and other details.” 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial Tour, Student feedback, Grade 9

The CAC’s robust educational programs include walking tours and workshops, all of which explore fundamental architectural concepts, emphasize critical thinking skills, and develop an understanding of how the built environment affects how we live, work, and play. Complementing the walking tours and workshops are spring- and summer-break day camps, the Teen Fellows, and Girls Build programs as well as festivals like the upcoming Engineering Fest on February 22 and 23, 2020.

“Best thing about the trip is that it made students aware that architecture is not only about designing buildings. Students think art is just drawing but the trip provided knowledge of aspects they never considered in the development of countries or building of communities.” 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial Tour, Teacher feedback

As these teacher and student quotes demonstrate, our education programs have an impact. Students and their teachers often come away with a greater appreciation of the city and world around them … of the stories and meaning behind the places visited … and of how much more you can see when you just take a moment to look.

“I liked learning about the seven architecture structures and loved seeing the dome at the Cultural Center and vault at Marshall Fields. I had a great time at the Chicago Architecture Center and will remember it for the rest of my life.” Science of Architecture Tour, Student feedback, Grade 5

Leading the student walking tours is a team of approximately 50 specially-trained education guides. And, “team” is the right word to describe our education guides. This is because typically 3 to 5 guides are required for any given school field trip, necessitating that guides communicate, collaborate, and coordinate with each other to deliver consistently great experiences for our students while building a sense of camaraderie among guides.

If you are interested in having an impact on kids and their interest in architecture and the city, contact Caroline Duda or Michele Kuhn about signing up for the next round of education guide training later this year. We’d love to have you join the education guide team.