Community Service Events 2011-2012

Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center – October 1, 2011

Five BLSA members visited the CC JTDC to do team-building exercises with eleven students (ages 11 to 14). The students seemed hesitant at first, but as the day went on, they really warmed up to us. We were particularly proud during the last activity, when the students took the initiative to create new rules and instruct each other. After each activity, we would debrief with them, and they would tell us the leadership skills (listening skills, communication, etc.) that were required for that particular activity. We also had a healthy snack (apples, cheese sticks, granola bars, and bottled water) and chatted with the students about their life goals.

Our activities included:

• Introductions, where the students were asked to tell us something interesting about themselves, one thing that they would like to accomplish in the next year, and one thing that they would like to accomplish in their lives;
  
• Birthday Roundup, where the students had to line themselves in birthday order without speaking;
  
• Let the Beat Build, where the students created different beats and songs using handclaps, finger snaps, and beat boxing; 
  
• Silent Opera, where the group must instruct one blindfolded person (“the collector”) to perform a certain task (pick up all the orange cones, pick up the Nerf ball under the bucket, etc.). Only one non-blindfolded person (“the informer”) could talk, and he could not see the activity field. The rest of the students were allowed to see the activity field and communicate with the informer, but they could not talk.
  

Law Student for a Day Program – October 21, 2011

We hosted 20 eighth students from Skinner Classical School for our annual “Law Student for a Day” program (hosted with Boys Speak Out, Inc., a not-for-profit organization founded by a University of Chicago Law School alumnus). The purpose of the program is to introduce younger students to the law and to show them how exciting law school can be. We also want to show the students that people of color are successful in this field, and that this educational path is definitely attainable. 

Our activities included:

• A discussion with Jayme McKellop, the Associate Director for Admissions at the Law School, on what students can do in high school and college to prepare themselves for law school and careers in the law;
  
• A case briefing exercise, where the students learned about City of Chicago v. Morales and about the different, important parts of a case; 
  
• A Socratic-style lecture from Professor Randolph Stone (Director of the Law School’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Clinic) on the social justice principles and legal lessons of Chicago v. Morales (Professor Stone wrote amicus briefs to the Supreme Court in support of the case’s defendants);  
  
• A tour of the law campus, including the library and student lounge; 
• Lunch with law students, where BLSA members discussed their backgrounds and answered the students’ questions about law school and legal careers. 

Gates Millennium Scholarship Essay Editing at Kenwood Academy – Tuesday afternoons in Fall Quarter 

10 BLSA members have attended at least one of the essay editing/tutoring sessions at Kenwood Academy, a high-achieving public high school on the South Side of Chicago. BLSA partners with Neighbors, a Law School student group that provides tutoring to elementary and high school students on the South Side, to help seniors from 10 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) high schools with their Gates Millennium Scholarship applications, which include eight essay questions. 60 high school students attended the kickoff session, and about 10 different students attend each weekly tutoring session. 

Community Service Week – October 24 to 29, 2011 

We hosted three events for Community Service Week:

• Canned Food Drive for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois: we placed a collection box in the Green Lounge (student lounge) of the Law School and encouraged students, faculty and staff to donate healthy, seasonal canned and pre-packaged food. We also collected monetary donations, and BLSA members used that money to purchase bulk goods for donation. We were able to collect and donate over 300 food items for donation. 
• Lunch Talk with Professor Timothy Knowles: Professor Knowles is the director of the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute (UEI), a think tank, research center, and charter school system serving children from the South Side of Chicago. Knowles’ talk was titled “Reforming Urban Schools. He provided an engaging, empirically based talk on the challenges facing urban schools and how UEI is working to produce reliably excellent schooling for children growing up in Chicago and schools nationwide. 60 law students attended this lunch talk, and BLSA provided lunch to attendants. 
• Voter Registration Drive (for Founders Day of Service): on Saturday, October 29, 11 BLSA members visited a grocery store and a drugstore to encourage members of the Hyde Park and South Side communities to register to vote. Happily, we found that most people were already registered to vote. We helped 3 people update their addresses, and 2 people used our information to apply for voter registration cards. We spoke to approximately 50 people during the voter registration drive. 

World AIDS Day – December 1, 2011

We hosted a lunch talk to recognize World AIDS Day. Dr. Charlotte Walker-Said, a lecturer in the University of Chicago’s Human Rights Program, spoke to the student body on "The HIV/AIDS Crisis in Africa and the Creation of 'Diseased Minorities.'" Dr. Walker-Said presented on the politics of HIV-AIDS in Africa, and how women, homosexuals, migrants, prostitutes and other kinds of minorities are blamed for spreading AIDS. These structures of blame distance HIV-AIDS activism from mainstream African society and allow the state to use minorities politically to scapegoat HIV-AIDS.

We also provided red ribbons for students, faculty, and staff to wear in recognition of World AIDS Day.