Ah, Chicago. Growing up in the south suburbs, I always dreamed of calling Chicago home. I remember visiting the Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry, eating at Giordano’s or Gino’s East, and thinking to myself, “Man, what must it be like to be here every day?” Well, now that I know, I can tell you all about it. 

I live at Infinite Chicago on Jackson Blvd. in the South Loop, the heart of the city. Every day I walk about half an hour to work at Ingenuity in River North. I love my job. Ingenuity is a non-profit focused on increasing arts education equity for all children in Chicago Public Schools. The work they do here is exciting, and there is never a dull moment in the office. Integrating into the team has been nothing short of amazing. Because Ingenuity is centered around arts education, it makes for some fun and creative people in the office (it’s not uncommon for my supervisors Karla and Nicole to break out into song and dance). Since I arrived, I have worked primarily with two Ingenuity departments, Public Affairs, and Data and Research. For Public Affairs, I have started drafting social media posts and email newsletters, hoping to engage a broader audience on all of our communications streams. On the Data and Research team, I have helped them with reaching out to Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to fill out the Creative Schools Survey, an annual survey that informs Ingenuity on the state of the arts in CPS. The work is not only fun, but in many ways, rewarding because Ingenuity’s mission is so admirable. I am very grateful to be a part of such a strong team that works very hard. I am looking forward to the rest of my time here. 

Working at Ingenuity has been nice because after 5 PM (and 3 PM on Fridays!) I have the rest of the time to explore and engage with the city of Chicago. My first week here I went to the Vampire Weekend concert at Huntington Pavilion park, an outdoor venue at Northerly Island. I got to go with my best friends from high school who first introduced me to the band which has since become my favorite band of all time. The concert was something special – VW puts on an amazing show. I also have had the chance of seeing stand-up at the Annoyance Theatre, a place where many talented comedians have gotten their start. My friend and I have been interested in trying to do stand up for quite some time and decided to go to an open mic to test out the waters. There were about ten comedians, each at different levels of expertise. Some made us laugh, some made us cringe, but they all entertained. My favorite joke of the night was about a guy playing wingman for a friend in sweatpants at a bar. It was hilarious. 

All-in-all my first few weeks in Chicago have been very special. I have very much enjoyed my time here and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the summer goes. I’d like to give a quick shout out to the Institute of Leadership and Service at Valparaiso University for giving me this amazing opportunity. I am eager for the rest of my summer in Chicago and I will make sure to keep you all in the loop on the fun adventures I’ll have in the city.