By Lisa Ciota, Education Guide, Class of 2020
Kids. Students. They’re back. After a nearly two-year hiatus live, in-person, outdoor educational field trips are back! It’s quite the welcome change.
Except for conducting private family tours, the CAC’s student and youth programming has largely been virtual since the pandemic began. Now, virtual programming is good – we’ve reached students across the Unites States and around the world using Zoom and a combination of video, slides, worksheets and guided discussions. Virtual educational programming for students will be an ongoing and growing part of the CAC’s strategic plan and complement our existing portfolio of student walking tours, workshops and camps.
Still, there’s something to be said for being together in-person. There’s an energy and enthusiasm that’s sometimes missing in a virtual event as evident in the teacher thank you notes below:
“I just wanted to say thank you for everything you did for us and for our students today. The tour guides were fantastic – great storytellers and wonderful teachers. They also modeled what it’s like to be passionate and excited about architecture. And I also appreciate how flexible you were in letting us come in early and letting our crew check out the model city and the video. Thank you so much!” – Teacher, Francis Parker School
“Over the last year, the kids have been so isolated that it’s been difficult to get them to focus and engage. But this tour did that for them. They got to look, see and ask and answer questions about what they see. Thank you” – Teacher, Cameron Elementary School.
With every student and every educational field trip – whether live or virtual, the CAC’s Education Guides embrace the CAC’s purpose to celebrate and leverage Chicago’s rich architectural legacy to educate, inspire and engage people everywhere about the importance of good design.
Each of us, in our own way, reflect the sentiments expressed by Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects when she accepted her Pritzker Prize award in 2020, because we believe:
“We are in a space which holds time, and knowledge, and treasures of the mind. We can feel the presences of all the great people who passed through this great space. We chose this place (sic) so that we could celebrate the power of architecture here in our own city. So that we would feel part of a bigger order, which of course is one of the functions of architecture.”
________________________________________________________________________
CLICK HERE for more posts on The Bridge.
Such glorious news! Kids are our future, of course. So happy that Education Guides are back in action on the streets!
Thanks Lisa for sharing about our work as Education Guides. It is so important to get school groups down to the Loop and to help teach students to “read a building” and to appreciate our Chicago treasures of architecture.