Warriors had another fun-filled After Opps session in Summer 1! Check it out!
Mondays:
The Swimming group had some summer fun enjoying the pool, water-slides, structured activities, and sunshine at the Forest Park Aquatic Center.
Cartoon Club explored the world of animation, taking a look at classic and Warrior-favorite cartoons such as Batman, My Little Pony, Disney, and 90’s cartoons.
The Pottery group designed and made their own clay bowls with the help of GPTetrev Pottery Store and Workshop.
Wednesday:
In All About Me, Warriors learned about themselves and their friends through biography, interview, journaling, and personal profile activities.
In Animal Kingdom, Warriors studied animal classifications, went on Safaris/Scavenger Hunts and tackled team games like Crab Soccer.
The Bikes & Trikes group strapped on their helmets and peddled through the Concordia Cemetery this session.
Warriors in Community Opps this session chose to support New Moms, a Chicago/ Oak Park-based organization that aims to “interrupt the cycle of poverty by offering supports to young moms in the most important areas of the life of a family: stable housing, allowing youth to build the life skills needed to maintain safe housing; job training, providing hands-on experience, links youth to permanent jobs, and guides towards economic independence; and family support, equipping young moms with skills they need to be great moms.” Warriors learned about the organization and planned and cooked dinner for a New Moms event.
Fridays:
Our Friday hobby groups had something for everybody. The cooking group’s theme this session was Burger Time and each week we experimented with different types of burgers including beef, black bean, shrimp, and italian sausage.
It’s peak farm season and Warriors in the Farming group harvested, pruned, and planted a variety of crops! Warriors reaped the benefits of all their hard work by enjoying some fresh, farm produce at Friday dinners. One week, they also went to Dominican University to learn about their beehive operation and help bottle some fresh honey.
The Comedy group flexed their comedy chops by studying famous comedians, learning the art of joke telling, and practicing their improv and communication skills in preparation for their performance at Family Day!
Warriors in Hip-Hop learned about the “4 elements” of Hip-Hop (DJing, Rapping, Graffiti Art, and Breakdancing) and some Chicago Hip-Hop history. Local rappers Mfn Melo and Defcee also came in and shared their craft, freestyled with us, and helped us prepare a group rap song for our Family Day performance. Thanks for kickin it with us, gentlemen!
Summer Family Day:
At this Summer’s After Opps Family Day, families helped harvest produce on the OK Farm and learned more about what Warriors have been up to this session.
Then they were treated to a performance by the Warrior Comedy group, which included some hilarious joke-telling (0:18), Star Wars sketch comedy (1:09), and a roast of the OK staff (2:45)! The Warrior Hip-Hop group kept the party rolling with a performance of an original group rap song, “Warrior Wordplay” (7:09), some freestyling (10:45) and a group dance party to “Angels” by the Chance the Rapper ft. Saba (14:12)!
The Burger Time cooking group capped off the afternoon with a delicious dinner of Italian sausage burgers and a variety of fresh vegetables and salad from the OK farm! We had a blast! Thanks to the families for coming out!
Warrior Quotes:
“We made some bowls from clay. I put mine on the counter at my house. We went to a pottery studio where they spun the clay. We met the worker there. Thank you for practicing clay with us!” | Kareem M.
“My favorite program was swimming because I got to hang out with Jackie. I also had a fun day at Dominican making honey with the farming group.” | Claire P.
“I liked hip-hop and comedy. We met some rappers like Melo. It was great.” | Andrew E.
“My favorite program was hip-hop. I liked singing to people. We wrote on our own song. It was fun.” | Katrina J.
“My favorite program was comedy. I got to flame every staff member and tell them how it is.” | Mike G.
“I liked All About Me because we got to tell people about ourselves. It was nice to learn things about each other because there’s a lot we still don’t know about each other. I also like to write.” | Rebecca M.
“I liked swimming at the pool, it was fun.” | Joe H.
GET IN ON THE ACTION
Thanks for a great Summer 1 session, Warriors! There is much more fun in store in Summer 2 with Ladies Night, Men’s Club, Water Sports, Healthy Desserts, Community Opps, Pirate Party, Painting, Bocce Ball, Softball, Farming, Cooking (Pizza)!
Also, be sure not to miss the 12th Annual OK Classic Softball Tournament on September 27th.
Please contact Mike Carmody (mike@opportunityknocksnow.org) with any inquiries about the After Opps program.
