Since its 2006 pilot program at the Walt Disney Magnet School Cool Classics! has offered after-school programs at 9 public schools:
- Horace Greeley Elementary School on the border of Lake View & Uptown
- William C. Reavis Math & Science Specialty Elementary School in Kenwood
- Beulah Shoesmith Elementary School in Kenwood
- Bronzeville Academy Charter School in Partnership with Camp of Dreams
- CICS Loomis Academy in Morgan Park
- Emmett Louis Till Math & Science Academy in Woodlawn
- Jackie Robinson Literature and Writing Elementary School in Bronzeville on the border of Kenwood & Oakland
- Jane’s Place at Nettelhorst Elementary School in Lake View
- The University of Chicago Charter School, Donoghue Elementary Campus in Bronzeville
Cool Classics! Summer Cool started as part of the Chicago Park District’s Clarendon Park Community Center’s Summer Camp in Uptown.
Our work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune and on The Talk with Marion Brooks.
Read Dawn Turner Trice’s Chicago Tribune column on how Cool Classics! promotes nonviolence.
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology awarded one of our teachers the 2014 “Outstanding Student Award” for her exemplary work, and gave the 2014 “Site Supervisor of the Year Award” to Founder and Executive Director Mara Tapp. Two of our teachers received 2018 Legacy Awards for their excellent work.
Alumni of the 2008-2009 Cool Classics! programs at Donoghue and Greeley starred in videos that were central to the “What Does It Say to You” exhibition at the Spertus Museum. We were so proud of our students and their analysis of objects from the museum’s collection. We hope you got a chance to visit the show, which ran from September 2009 through June 2010.
Cool Classics! was honored to be one of 12 after-school programs selected as winners of the 2017 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards!