Teen Testimony

                

Hear from our Urban Roots teens! Everyone in this program learns about leadership and science, and many of the teens’ experiences differed from their expectations at the beginning of the summer. Learn here how the Urban Roots program makes a difference in their lives.

~What I like about giving tours is that everybody has to listen to what I have to say and the good thing is that I talk about stuff that I know about and things that I pick. Giving tours also helped me change because it helps me speak out more to people who I don’t know.

~This program helped me grow because before this program I really didn’t like working in a group because I felt that I could do anything by myself and that it would be right, but as the program went on, it kind of changed my way of working. What I like about the program is that it made me change how I look at plants because before I was like “It’s just a plant,” but now I’m understanding them more.

~What I like about working with CPD (Chicago Park District) is that they gave me a different chance to do stuff that I wouldn’t usually do and it also made me learn that some plants grow before they need to. When we work with CPD, we had to cut plants before they grew too much and we also have to make sure the greenhouse is clean for the plants that are not on display.

~I liked going out of my comfort zone, like being all around all of those bugs when pulling weeds and gardening. I like the learning experience of working with CPD.

~I didn’t care that much about the Conservatory at first, but I feel like a family member now – a part of it.  It feels good when other people visit and learn things from me.

~At first, I thought it was going to be boring to learn about the plants, but then I realized it’s actually awesome.

~Giving tours is actually exciting! Showing people what you know is pretty fun because it’s a time to show what you know.

~Giving tours is fun. Teaching people what I know is so exciting. Seeing them interested is very heart-warming.

~What I like about the field trips was that we got to see things that other teens can’t see like when we went to visit some docents who were working on a game for the Field Museum that hasn’t come out yet. What I also like about the field trips was that I got to visit places that I’d never been to and I got to see a different Conservatory for the first time.

~I like the team building games because it made all of us connect to each other. It also has helped many of our communication skills and has helped us grow as better people. Also when we do the team building it might feel hard at the beginning, but once you finally complete it with your team, you’ll feel happy because you worked as one team to get the job done and you need a team–you can’t do everything yourself.

~Doing the team building activities are fun. It helps me and everyone else work as a team to get things done. I think this is something that you have to learn to be successful in life.

~What I like about the team building is that it made me do things that I wouldn’t usually do. It also made me understand my team better. It also helped me know what I’m capable of doing working with a group and what role I play when working in a group.