Center for College Access and Success

Northeastern Illinois University

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Episode II of "Going Places" features Antonio "Tony" Benavides. He's a dynamic facilitator and a luminary in the field of student advocacy for youth in Chicago. Tune in to hear him talk about the Peacekeepers Restorative Justice initiative at Bogan High School and also share some advice on how to relate to students and take care of yourself. And, if you watch long enough, you will hear him freestyle and offer some insight into his favorite produce selections. Thanks for tuning in to learn more about the amazing people who work at the Center for College Access and Success.

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CCAS / Going Places / Episode One

When it comes to supporting high school students and promoting college, Shirley Horton is one the best. Check out our first episode of Going Places, a new interview series with Jeremy Babcock. Ms. Horton is a Parent Advocate for our Chicago GEAR UP program at Uplift Community High School.

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Supporting Post-Secondary Degrees for all Students

Founded in 1978, the Center creates support systems for first-generation students to make their dream of a college education a reality. As an academic educational center of Northeastern Illinois University, we are in a unique position to respond to the needs of the communities we serve.

http://www.centerforcollegeaccessandsuccess.org/

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Our 2017 summer programs benefited over 2500 middle and high school students at twenty-five sites across Chicago, Cicero and Berwyn, IL.

http://www.centerforcollegeaccessandsuccess.org/

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Students from under-resourced schools learn the language of computers

CHICAGO -- The same grants that’ve gone to colleges like Harvard, Brown and University of Chicago are also finding traction at a state school for CPS students as Google grant money goes towards fostering the next generation of tech minds across the country. On the campus of Northeastern Illinois University, high school students are being given the tools to teach and to learn the first steps of language for computers. During the six-week, weekend course students from Roosevelt High School and other young minds from under-represented communities are given a chance to reach into the world of computer programming and coding.

For the past five Saturdays, the TRIO UBMS program has been collaborating with the Computer Science Department on their college student led programming project. The project was funded through a small grant from Google. Our partnership supported Dr. Trana and her students to prepare for the project by securing the space at NEIU, materials, and selection of high school students that had no exposure to CS. We selected Rosevelt high school students in their sophomore year that were not served by any other project. The purpose was to have 1:2 or 1:1 ration. 

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The Assessing Computation Thinking in Making Activities (ACTMA) project aims to create embedded, adaptive, and culturally unbiased activities and formative assessments of computational thinking (CT) in STEM that can be used in informal learning spaces such as makerspaces, but can also be brought into more formal physics classroom experiences. Our 2-week summer program brought 20 students together to pilot our activities and assessments created thus far in the project. Now that the formal teachers have implemented the activities in their classrooms, we will begin iterating on the summer activities and preparing for a second summer academy with formal teachers as the lead facilitators.

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We are honored to host On The Table 2017, with Chicago Community Trust

by Hive Chicago Network Via Flickr: On The Table

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Chicago GEAR UP Leadership Conference 2017

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Chicago GEAR UP Students planning the Leadership Conference

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Introducing the NEIU CCAS Project STEP. Please forward to all of your teacher friends in Chicago and Cicero that need their BIL/ESL Endorsement.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM To meet district and State needs for increasing teacher qualifications, Project STEP will offer cohort and tuition-benefit programs for up to 180 teachers in Summer 2017. Project STEP cohort program will host four cohorts for Bilingual or English as a Second Language (BIL/ESL) SPED Approval (available to SPED teachers and school support personnel), with face-to-face, online and hybrid instruction. Cohorts will be offered in a Cicero-Berwyn based location, and at NEIU or Chicago Public School sites. Project STEP tuition-benefit program will support out-of-cohort participants to complete requirements for bilingual/ESL endorsement or dual credit qualifications for high school teachers.

BECOME A PROJECT STEP PARTICIPANT To become a Project STEP participant, candidates will complete an application demonstrating their educational plan and commitment to meeting endorsement or qualification requirements.

VISIT THE INQUIRY LINK TO SEE IF YOU QUALIFY Inquiry Form - Visit the link below step.c4cas.org

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GEAR UP Stories From The Field, episode 2 "I missed the bus but I didn't want to miss the day, I wanted to be here with my team." Dan Laubacher, Program Coordinator, tells the story about the GEAR UP student who walked 5 miles to the Summer Academy after missing the bus, because he didn't want to miss out on the day.

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GEAR UP Stories From The Field, episode 1 Ma'at El Bey, College Access Coordinator, telling her story about partnering with a local food pantry to organize a Thanksgiving dinner/FAFSA workshop for GEAR UP families at Team Englewood HS, Robeson HS and John Hope College Prep HS.

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CCAS and Chicago GEAR UP are partnering with the Chicago Public Library to support the Teen Ambassadors who are igniting interest among their peers about the Chi Teen Lit Fest, coming to the Harold Washington Library Center and Columbia College Chicago on April 21 and 22, 2017. 

Listen to this podcast interview with noted Chicago poet Nate Marshall conducted by GEAR UP students Harlem West-Hammond and Sandra Swift from Harlan Community Academy High School with Brittany Randle from Lindbloom Math and Science Academy and Savastiana Valle from Oak Park and River Forest High School. Yes, that name is familiar; Savi is Robert Valle's talented daughter. (ChiTeen Lit Fest)

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Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited Curie High School to talk about the Chicago STAR Scholarship program.

Students who graduate from CPS in Spring 2015 or after with a 3.0 GPA who test completion-ready in math and English will be able to pursue a degree or certificate at City Colleges at no cost - free tuition, fees, books.

Chicago Star students who graduate with an Associate Degree from City Colleges with a 3.0 GPA or higher can qualify for 12 Chicago-area universities offering special scholarships.

Scroll down on www.chicagogearup.org for the link to the Chicago Star Scholarship program

or go directly to the Star Scholarship Program http://www.ccc.edu/departments/Pages/chicago-star-scholarship.aspx #gearupworks #rahmemanuel

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Foundation Supports Program Training the Next Generation of Community Health Advocates

We are honored to be a partner in this new program training high school juniors and seniors to be health advocates in their own communities.

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The first of its kind –The Make, Take and Teach Fair will be a space where teachers and participating organizations will have the opportunity to engage in conversations about innovative projects, curricula, and teaching strategies that will transform into new relationships and collaborative projects between the Hive Chicago Learning Network, organizations and teachers.

Chicago area youth serving organizations will host maker stations with activities and lesson plans for teachers to try. Guest presenters will conduct breakout sessions on topics related to making as pedagogy.

August 22, 2016 at Northeastern Illinois University.  Doors open at 10am and close at 3:00pm.  There will be opportunities for classroom teachers to write mini grants for money for materials.  Earn 3 ISBE Clock Hours.

CPS teachers, we are on Learning Hub: Course #32869 Class #64608 Pre-service teachers welcome.

Workshops: Stop Motion Animation - YouMedia Snap Chat Stories - Yollocalli GameDesign101 - Game Changer Chicago Cardboard Switching - Code Create 3D Printing in the Science Classroom - John Cabey of Lincoln Park High School

Register - http://bit.ly/1tpm75y

Sign up to be on the Hive mailing list:  http://eepurl.com/b0eHOD

Read More - http://hivechicago.org/the-make-take-and-teach-fair-better…/

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From NCCEP in Washington D.C. Dr. Wendy M. Stack and Craig Pooler, the GEAR UP Dept. of Education program officer, had time during the conference to reach out to our GEAR UP students who participated in the Youth Leadership Summit. From left, Alize Vijil (Kelvyn Park), Harold Hosley (Simeon), Jasmine Corral (Wells), Mohammad Ahmad (Foreman), Cynthia Salgado (Little Village/MAS), and Rafael Unzueta (Community Links).