Midtown Voice: The Official Newspaper of the Midtown Center

The Midtown PR/Communications Apprenticeship students are hard at work this summer, reporting real-time on happenings at Midtown Center for boys and in current events. Each week they write, edit and publish an edition of The Midtown Voice newspaper for distribution to their fellow students. Read all of the editions here and enjoy a few feature articles below!

Learn more about the Apprenticeships at Midtown & Metro.

Featured Articles from the 2016 Midtown Voice

Midtown Law In Court

By Dorian Robinson, Volume 8, Edition 2

Midtown’s law apprenticeship program has already kicked off the year with a field trip. On Tuesday, July 5, 2016, the students traveled downtown to view a couple law-related buildings. I had the opportunity to participate and it was a great experience.

The first building they went to was the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse in downtown Chicago. The students met inside the building at 9:30am and began their day. The students got the opportunity to witness a case.

It was a civil case in which there was a shooting from a few police officers and a civilian. The altercation took place in November of 2010 on 87th and Cottage Grove on the Southside of Chicago. The officers and civilian appeared in court on July 5th, 2016.

The students observed the process of selecting a jury for a
trial. Most of the students found the process interesting. I asked Isaiah Anderson what he thought about the selection process. “I thought it was pretty funny,” he said “Most of the people didn’t want to be apart of the jury.” Most other students said the same.

The trip to the Dirksen Building was only the beginning of their day. The students broke off for lunch at 12pm and met at Chicago Kent Law School. We were met by a man named Phillip Rutherford. Mr. Rutherford is a graduate of Kent Law School, class of 2010. He now returned to Kent to work in the office of admissions. Mr. Rutherford gave us a presentation of the basics of Kent. They have a total of 744 Jurisdiction (Law degree) students. The students are forty-seven percent female as well as have thirty percent students of color. The students come from all across the country as well as around the world. They have students from thirty-nine different states and twenty-one different countries.

I asked Mr. Rutherford how he feels about his job right now. “I love this job,” he said “I love working with kids because when they become something I like knowing that I was apart of their success.”

Kent Law school is also a nationally ranked Law School. The school has been around for 125 years, and the rankings reflect the work. They are number two in the country in trial advocacy. They are number three in moot court. Chicago Kent is also in the top 10 nationally in intellectual law.

Following the presentation, Mr. Rutherford took us on a tour throughout the building. The library was the most prestigious part of the building. It contains over a half million books, filled with different law cases, important law figures, and rules of the court.

I asked Mr. Rutherford how his experience was with the law apprenticeship visiting. “Fantastic!” he began “You guys did a great job paying attention and I’m looking forward to you all coming back.” The law students enjoyed their time down at the law buildings and are looking forward to returning. 

Midtown Interview: Balint Subert

By Israel Caranza, Volume 8, Edition 3

Balint Subert, a Hungarian native, came from a small family and moved to the United States when he was 16.

Throughout this week we interviewed one of the many advisors here at Midtown. We talked to Balint Subert about his experience so far in Chicago. As of now he has been living in Virginia for 3 years and just finished his first year at Northern Virginia community college. Since he is originally from Hungary and his native language is Hungarian, he had to learn English at his school before coming to the U.S. When asked about the difference between the environment compared from here and back home he said, “Americans are so much friendlier, they are more sarcastic, and the school system is different. Also I’ve noticed the schools back home aren’t as diverse as they are here.” Mr. Subert was recommended by a friend from back home in Virginia to join Midtown. During the interview, we asked what he has enjoyed so far about the program and responded with, “Getting to know the kids, advisors, and having good opportunities on becoming a better leader.” He also stated during the interview that he is still working to improve on understanding the kids more and how to react on different situations. He’s learning throughout the summer taking it day by day. After Midtown Mr. Subert will go back to Hungary and finish his school while trying to major in engineering. 

Just a Sling Shot Away

By Jeremiah Williamson, Volume 8, Edition 2

Last week, the engineering apprenticeship had a project where they had to create a slingshot that could reach a certain distance. There were four teams: Team Dre, Team Ajax, Team Mjolnir, and Team Eject. The groups had a week to prepare for the competition. During that week the groups had to come up with the idea on how their slingshot was going to look. The groups had to work together to design the slingshot using the tools that they had in their room (rubber, cardboard, etc). Every design was unique in its own way but only one will be proven to be the best.

The objective of the project is to see which slingshot can launch the an object the furthest. There were two rounds: one round for water balloons and the second round for balls. The teams was set at one end of the field while there was a box that was set at the other end of the field. Since each slingshot had its own style, the launches would be different. One team name Mjolnir (Thor's hammer) had a slingshot that had a holder to put objects in it. With its special style it was able to help lead the team with the furthest launch. The other teams fell shortly after the Mjolnir. So, Mjolnir won the first round. In the second round the teams had to launch the balls; furthermore, the teams were able to modify and fix their slingshot. Some teams decided to change their slingshot while others changed their form of the launch. All the teams were able to get the ball far enough, but it was Team Dre that launch the ball the furthest and won the second round.

The most important thing was that everyone tried and had fun. The teams said that they enjoyed working together even though it was difficult to create the slingshots. Even though nobody was able to hit the box, everyone still had fun trying.