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By Bob Sutter, Class of 2019, Education Guide, Exhibit Host

As we celebrate the contributions of our volunteers, let’s chronicle the story of the team founded five years ago in 2016 … the CAC’s Education Guides.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation’s involvement in student education began as a docent-led program in the early 1980s when Jane Lucas (Class of 1975 and staff member) created the “Put Your Arms Around a Building” walking tour, with docents leading student groups around the Loop. Then, in the 1990s, the CAF added the “Structures: The Secrets of Skyscrapers”, created by docent Evie Goltz (Class of 1997) and CAF staff, and “Student Loop” field trips to its portfolio of tours specifically designed for students.

The CAF’s engagement with education further expanded with the 1994 launch of the Newhouse Architecture + Design competition for high school students, which was developed in collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools.  Complementing this are a number of books that the CAF/CAC have authored over the past 20 years which speak to the growing interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curricular materials.  These books have included “Building Your Future” (1996), “Schoolyards to Skylines: Teaching with Chicago’s Amazing Architecture” (2002), “The Architecture Handbook: A Student’s Guide to Understanding Buildings” (2007) and our current offering, “No Small Plans”, distributed in collaboration with CPS and the Chicago Public Library.

The popularity of student field trips steadily increased such that by 2016 the number of docents trained to host class outings was not sufficient to keep up with demand. Thanks to a joint efforts of Hallie Rosen, Gabe Lyon, Caroline Duda, and Angela Esposito (the CAC’s current Director of Education & Experience), the Education Guide program was born.  This new team would not only supplement the number of guides available to lead the field trips but would also be trained to respond to the needs of students and teachers and align with the approaches utilized by competitive organizations.

Thirty-five candidates applied, and 17 former and current educators and professionals were accepted to the inaugural Education Guide training program in fall 2016.  The classroom and field instruction included three weeks of lectures on Chicago architecture history, exercises in storytelling and questioning skills, lessons on safety and emergency protocols, and on-the-street practice for the three field trips departing from the Railway Exchange Building: Student Loop, Science of Architecture, and Art in Architecture.  Following the model of the docent adult walking tours, the Education Guides were certified by Education team staff before engaging with student groups.

The new volunteer team was complemented by members of the docent community who had previously led the student field trips.  This select group was given a condensed course on their evolved responsibilities and included Evie Goltz, Jeff Zurlinden, Chris Montanari, Linda Thompson, Roy Slowinski, Enid Chesler, Kevin Grebenow, Bob Michaelson and others.

Over the past five years, the inaugural Education Guide team has been joined by members of four subsequent training classes.  Today, the Education Guide team stands at 35 active members.

The activities of the Education Guides have expanded well beyond leading student field trips.  The team assists CAC staff in hosting and facilitating a range of ongoing events including Engineering Fest and Family Festivals inside the CAC and in Millennium Park, the Girls Build! camp, and the design and build activities inside the Arcelor Mittel Design Studio.  The majority of the Guides also volunteered for additional training, enabling them to lead student tours of the 2017 and 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennials inside the Cultural Center.

In concert with our move to 111 E. Wacker in 2018, the three primary student walking tours were revamped not only to match our new geography but also to respond to curricular feedback from the education community.  The Education Guide team was re-trained to host our current three primary field trips:

• Chicago: City of Architecture (the successor to Student Loop): a walking conversation with 4^th-8^th graders providing them with skills in reading a building, appreciating the history of the city, and interpreting different architectural styles.
• Science of Architecture (successor to Structures): 45 minutes of classroom time with 4^th-8^th graders as they learn about seven key engineering structures (column, column and beam, cantilever, truss, arch, vault and dome) followed by a 45-minute scavenger hunt for examples of those structures highlighted by viewing the Marshall Field’s vault and the Cultural Center Dome.
• Building Blocks of Architecture (successor to Art in Architecture): an hour-long hands-on experience outside the CAC and in Pioneer Court helping Kindergartners through 3^rd graders understand shapes, materials, and ornamentation and culminating with the students designing their own building.

What’s next for the Education Guide program?

Education Guides have always collaborated with CAC staff in creating and facilitating student and family programs.  Great examples have been set by Roy Slowinski and Kevin Grebenow in helping design the “Science” field trip; Laurie Hammel’s active role in curating the Girls Build! program; and John Perrecone for serving as a judge for the Newhouse Competition. More recently, Guides Lisa Ciota, Susan Mann, Chuck Pierret, Carol Muskin and Karen Bohr teamed up to create the current “Great Fire Family Walking Tour.” As the CAC organizational headcount has been reduced during pandemic times, we expect this active involvement will continue.

The CAC potentially anticipates welcoming another new class of Education Guides for training in Spring 2022.  If you’re interested, notification of the plan will be posted on The Bridge.

As the CAC works with educators and school administrators to meet their evolving needs in the post-COVID environment, development and fine-tuning of the programs that will re-engage the Education Guides with their student guests in the coming weeks and months is in progress.

To quote Angela Esposito, “Stay on the lookout as the Fall CAC Educational Portfolio is about to be released.”

Happy fifth anniversary to the Education Guide team and thanks for your wonderful work and persistence.