Giving Compass' Take:

· Recently, a group of students from Chicago's Northwest Side went on a scavenger hunt downtown to learn about the city they call home. WBEZ News explains that the purpose of this expedition, organized by Youth Guidance, is to teach kids new skills and help them see all that Chicago has to offer.

· How does this expedition encourage the growth and development of teens in Chicago? What can students learn by exploring a large city like Chicago?

· Learn more about youth opportunities, jobs and education.

A group of public high school students from Chicago’s Northwest Side headed downtown for an adventure on a recent May morning. They call this city home, yet they don’t venture outside their neighborhood very often.

Once downtown, the students from Kelvyn Park High School set off on a scavenger hunt that took them to some of the city’s civic and cultural landmarks.

The goal of the hunt — now in its 29th year — is to teach kids new skills and help them see all that Chicago has to offer. It is organized by Youth Guidance, which runs school-based mentoring and job readiness programs.

Noelle and other Kelvyn Park High School students take the Diversey bus to the Blue Line as they make their way downtown for the Loop scavenger hunt. Some had never taken public transportation downtown on their own. “We always lived around an area where it had a grocery store and a laundromat so we really don’t need to go anywhere else,” said Wendy, one of the students.

James Zeckhauser works for a Youth Guidance program at Kelvyn High School. Zeckhauser has been organizing the Loop scavenger hunts for three decades. He says many students see downtown as a foreign land: “There is a large amount of fear that young adults have out in the neighborhoods,” he said.

Read the full article about this Chicago expedition by Adriana Cardona-Maguigad at WBEZ News.