October 15-16th Outreach Weekend Summary

Friday October 15th yielded a beautiful day to start the final Fall Outreach Weekend of 2010! Faculty, staff and students gathered outside of Temple Hoyne Buell Hall as the sun peaked her head over the eastern horizon. Students discovered their weekend schedules, were introduced to their ESLARP Supervisor and gathered in their respective vehicles. 78 UIUC students/faculty/staff departed for a weekend in East St. Louis participating in community outreach and service learning. This weekend’s participating courses were: FAA 291, RST 393, LIS 451 and UIUC’s Minority Leadership Group. With the weather on our side, the Outreach Weekend started with nothing but enthusiasm and energy!

First in the lineup of events for the weekend was an ESL city tour led by ESLARP’s Community Liaison and lifelong ESL resident, Billie Gloria Turner. The students were taken all around the city to sites including: downtown, the Emerson Park Metrolink/Parson’s Place, Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park’s River Overlook. The group returned to The Joseph Center/Eagle’s Nest of St. Clair County for the famous Friday Fish Fry, organized and executed by Martha Watts, Director, and Chef JR.
Post-lunch, the ESLARPers headed to their afternoon worksites! There was a team continuing the Opal’s House privacy fence build, Fall cleaning at the Village Theater, Koi Pond construction at the Eagle’s Nest, Curb/Parking painting at the ESL City Hall, Neighborhood cleanups with Concerned Citizens of Precinct 12 (CCP12), data collection for The Shoulder’s Project and a continuance of the creation of Community Technology Centers by Library and Information Science graduate students. As the sun began to set, we headed to the hotel to check-in, cleanup and gather for dinner.

ESLARPers invaded the local HomeTown Buffet for a dinner and reflection session on Friday evening. We were honored to host one of our ESLARP Community Partners: Christina Fisher, who is the Director of the Village Theater in Centreville, IL. After a filling dinner, the students reflected upon their day’s work and shared their experiences with the entire team. We discussed Saturday’s projects and events prior to going our separate ways for the remainder of the evening. A large group of students went to the City Museum in St. Louis, while others went shopping and socialized at the hotel.

7:30am came fast on Saturday morning, and with that were the wakeup calls to the entire team! The students were treated to a delicious breakfast to fuel the start of their day! All ESLARPers departed the Sheraton at 8:45am sharp! We spread out over East St. Louis at nine different sites. Work continued for FAA 291 students at Opal’s House, Eagle’s Nest and the Village Theater. FAA 291 and Minority Leadership Group students spread out in the Lansdowne Neighborhood, working to clean it up alongside the Concerned Citizens of Precinct 12. Others painted picnic tables, benches and playground equipment at Jones Park. Recreation, Sport and Tourism students hosted a career training session, as part of their Shoulder’s Project, with young women in the community. LIS students headed back to continue work at Pirtle’s, Opal’s House and the ESL Administrative Office, implementing technology centers.

As the sun began to set on the western horizon, the teams finished their work, returned their tools and headed to Pirtle’s Variety for a yummy ice cream. With bellies full of their favorite ice cream, the teams headed back to campus. Another productive and collaborative weekend in East St. Louis came to a close. Students left with open hearts and minds, ready to reflect upon their experience with their classmates. Until February. -JG

October 17-18 Outreach Weekend

On Friday of the outreach weekend, we went on a tour of the city and then got to work refreshing the yellow paint on a parking lot and curbs. Our two teams completed the lines and curbs on two parking lots with the help of our community partner.

On Saturday, we joined the Concerned Citizens of Precinct 12 in a cleanup effort. We cleaned a vacant lot and several blocks of sidewalks of garbage, weeds, and other materials. Our efforts helped make the neighborhood more walkable. Another of our groups prepared ground for the construction of a community center near a local church.

September 10-11th, 2010 Outreach Weekend

ESLARPers gathered outside of Temple Hoyne Buell Hall at 7am on the crisp Friday September 10th, 2010.Drivers arrived in their respective vehicles and met with their students. Students received their information and driver/project assignment packets. We would not let the pending rain stop us from kicking off the Fall 2010 ESLARP Outreach Weekend effort! 68 UIUC students/faculty/staff departed for a weekend of participatory action research and service learning in ESL. The participating UIUC Courses were: FAA 291, FAA 391, LIS 451 & RST 393.

Upon arrival to East St. Louis, the group split up and headed toward their project sites. However, a small group of FAA 291 and RST 393 students, new to East St. Louis, were taken on a tour of the city, led by ESLARP Community Liason, Billie Turner. She stopped downtown, at the Emerson Park Metrolink/Parson’s Place and
Pullman Porter Park, amongst passing by many other important sites, before arriving for a tour of The Joseph Center/Eagle’s Nest of St. Claire County.



Returning FAA 291 students promptly began work at Opal’s House, where the end goal of the weekend was to have constructed the remainder of the privacy fence. 30” holes needed digging, 4x4” posts needed leveling and setting, quikcrete needed pouring. Under the guidance of Mike Andrejasich, Chip Dana and myself, Jenna Goebig,
the students braved the mud and poison ivy and pushed toward setting the stage for panel installation on Saturday. Roadblocks in the form of meeting an all‐too‐shallow gas‐line and thick tree roots were encountered, but
we pressed forward. On the other side of town, FAA 391 and 291 students began to dig the hole that will become a Koi Pond outside the entrance of the Joseph Center/Eagle’s Nest of St. Claire County. Residents and “Put Illinois to Work” employees helped in the morning hours with the digging efforts!



Everyone convened for the Eagle’s Nest’s traditional Friday Fish Fry for lunch. The East St. Louis Job Corp Culinary Team assisted Chef JR to provide our team with the most delectable lunch! After lunch, the work resumed. Friday projects included a privacy fence build at Opal’s House, Koi Pond construction at the Eagle’s Nest,
landscaping at Pullman Porter/41st Street Park, painting at the Mary Brown Center and CTC work at the ESL Park District Office, the Word Café and the Soul Food Café.

Friday night, the 68 attendees gathered at the HomeTown Buffet in Fairview Heights. We were graced with the presence of three of our ESLARP Community Partners: Martha Watts (The Joseph Center/Eagle’s Nest), Willie Beard (41st St/Pullman Porter Park) and Leverne Backstrom (Olivette Park Neighborhood Association). Per usual, I initiated a dinner reflection session whereby a student from each project was asked to brief everyone on their Friday accomplishments. Everyone was revitalized after a hearty dinner. The students had free time after dinner. Some went shopping, others went to a movie.



8am wake‐up calls came early Saturday morning! The students were treated to a delicious breakfast at the Sheraton in preparation for an intense WORK DAY! Everyone departed the Sheraton in Fairview Heights at 9am sharp! We had a total of seven sites: 41st Street Park, Eagle’s Nest, Opal’s House, Jones Park Community Center,
ESL Park District, the Mary Brown Center & Pirtle’s Variety. Check out the photos to see what the teams were up to all day! The ESLARPers and students worked so hard! We were lucky that the rain avoided us for the better half of the day. After the teams finished up their project tasks, ESLARP treated everyone to Pirtle’s Ice Cream!!



At around 5pm, we all loaded up and headed back to Champaign. I imagine some listened to the Illinois—SIU‐Carbondale football game, and some may have made it in time to see the last half of the game! A sincere thank you to the ESL community for your continued support and partnership! We look forward to our upcoming Outreach Weekend in October ‐JG

Eagle's Nest in April

Over the April 9-10 outreach weekend, FAA 391 students took on a number of landscaping projects at The Joseph Center to get it in shape for spring! Students did maintenance on a number of beds that students planted during the spring 2009 semester. They also did a lot of brush clearing on a right-of-way at the back of the property, and massive soil transplanting. The Joseph Center maintains this public right-of-way to keep the block looking tidy. Students learned new skills such as splitting and transplanting irises, hostas, and daylilies, as well as general plant and weed identification. They also had the opportunity to interact with residents of The Joseph Center, who helped the students with some of the projects. The Joseph Center was looking sharp when we left on Saturday!

April 9-10th Outreach Weekend kicks off Spring 2010!!!

The Outreach Weekend Team gathered in the atrium of Temple Hoyne Buell Hall at 7am on Friday April 9th, 2010. Drivers picked up their vehicle and received their clipboards. Students received t-shirts, information and driver/project assignment packets. The stage was set. The sun was shining. East St. Louis called. 73 UIUC students/faculty/staff departed for a weekend away in ESL. The participating UIUC Courses were: ARCH 472/473, FAA 291, FAA 391, LA 336/338 & RST 218/393.

This time we took a slight detour to ESL. We stopped in Collinsville, IL to learn about and climb Monks Mound, the tallest of the 120 surrounding mounds that create Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (a UNESCO Heritage Site). Inhabited by the Cahokia sub-tribe of the Illiniwek from A.D. 700 to 1400, Cahokia Mounds was once a thriving civilization, whose disappearance remains a mystery. The students enjoyed the breeze and the view of East St. Louis and St. Louis!!

Everyone arrived at the Mary Brown Center in the heart of East St Louis to join a Community Partner Forum hosted by Billie Turner (ESLARP Community Liaison), Christina Fisher (Village Theatre) and Martha Watts (Eagle’s Nest). The students had the opportunity to learn a little bit about some of the projects that ESLARP has dedicated its efforts toward in the past years. After lunch with our partners, the first-time students embarked on an Interactive Tour of East St. Louis, led by our own staff expert: Billie Turner. The tour stopped at four establishments in East Metro SL: Village Theatre, where Christina gave the students a comprehensive tour of the facility; Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park, where the students experienced the riverfront from ESL using the brand new river overlook structure. They also witnessed the power of the Gateway Geyser shooting as tall as the arch itself! The third stop was Emerson Park/EP Metrolink. Billie gave the students a walking tour of the neighborhood. The final stop along the tour of the city was at the Eagle’s Nest to visit Martha Watts and her Veteran residents. All and all, the students got to see every facet of East St. Louis in an effort to paint, for them, the city’s picture.

Those returning students worked on projects with our community partners during the afternoon hours on Friday. Trees were cut and stacked at the Village Theatre. Leaves and brush were raked at Lincoln Park.

Later that evening, everyone reconvened for our dinner/reflection conversation. Our dinner guests included: Reverend and Mrs. Freeman, Laverne Backstrom, Christina Fisher, Barbara Levin and some students from Washington University in St. Louis. We enjoyed an Italian dinner and the students were prompted to converse and share their experiences of the tour.

Saturday was WORK DAY! Our students headed to their sites at 9am. We had a total of five sites: 41st Street Park, Eagle’s Nest, Illinois Ave Playground, Jones Park/Lincoln Park Horseshoe Pits, Jones Park Greenhouses, Opal’s House, Pilgrim Temple Church and a South End Alley Clean-up. Check out the pictures to see what everyone was up to!!! The teams worked so hard, enjoyed a delicious lunch courtesy of Charlie Poweel and SENDO, ESLARP and the East St. Louis Park District. After the teams finished up their project tasks, ESLARP treated everyone to Pirtle’s!! As the sun began to set, we all loaded up and headed back to Champaign. A sincere thank you to the ESL community for your continued support and partnership!

Check out the weekend's photos!!

-JG