Project has become a family affair |
Story by Greg Kline Architecture Professor Mike Andrejasich, who also serves as associate dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts, has been involved in the University of Illinois East St. Louis Action Research Project almost since the UI began working in East St. Louis 20 years ago. His daughter, Elizabeth, a student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, first remembers going to East St. Louis in middle school. As a UI undergraduate, she created a Saturday playwriting program for middle school girls there. Now, she's the graduate assistant coordinating volunteers during outreach weekends that can involve more than 100 UI students and faculty working with East St. Louis partners on improvement efforts. She also serves as a liaison to the Digital ESL Collaborative, which includes groups in the city working to improve access to computer technology. Younger sister Jessica Andrejasich, a senior in architecture, is a volunteer in the East St. Louis program as well. Prof. Andrejasich chucked when asked if he had any other children to involve in the project. "I have a nephew," he said. Here are excerpts from an interview with Mike and Elizabeth:
Elizabeth, you said that when you started to go down there you quickly understood why your dad had been drawn to the community. What do you think the attraction was? EA: "The strength of the community partners you work with, that was a big part of why I continued to want to go back. Even though industry completely abandoned this community and in a lot of ways it's destitute, there are these pockets of neighborhoods and organizations, they just have a kind of strength that I haven't found anywhere else. Their enthusiasm is contagious."
So is that what attracted you, Professor? MA: "I think it's always been about relationships and relationships are reciprocal, and I think that while I had something to contribute to our community partners they certainly paid back. I've learned a lot, and I'm an educator so I feel I've had lots of opportunities (in) teaching moments that I think are endless in East St. Louis."
What do you think the program accomplishes given the myriad of problems in East St. Louis? MA: "I kind of like to look at it as the butterfly (flaps its wings) in Beijing and the wind blows in Los Angeles. The little changes and incremental changes make differences. And I have seen physical change in East St. Louis. It may be a slow climb, but it's coming back. I wish they had the resources Champaign-Urbana did because you can make those changes a lot faster in a community like ours than you can in East St. Louis. But it doesn't mean it can't happen in East St. Louis." EA: "We might be cleaning up that same lot for the fifth time. But over time, every time we go and we clean it up, there's a little less work and there's a little more that's maintained since the last time."
How do you think people who participate in the program benefit, both the kids who go on the weekends and the faculty members? MA: "We always recognize when a lawyer does pro bono work. But what about an architect or a planner or a landscape architect, a librarian? How do you use your professional talents and gifts and put them back, reinvest them, into the community, in a way that I think you do get reciprocity? There is a quid pro quo. It just doesn't come back to you in cash. "For our students, there is that, the idea that they have something to give back and that is rewarding. It also gives them, in a very practical way, real-life problems in which to develop (professional) skills. I do believe it changes all of them. It changes the way they think when they cast their votes on election day. It changes the way they think when they invest their money. It's part of education." EA: "The students, I think, take a lot from it, especially in a program like library science. The library profession is very practical, and school can be very theory-based. This is an opportunity for those, especially those who are interested in public librarianship, to really get into the issues that they would be facing in a public library – access, intellectual freedom, diversity – that we talk about in the classroom but we rarely have opportunities to find ways to engage in."
Let's talk about it from a university perspective. Why's this a good thing for the University of Illinois to do? MA: "This is about bringing the science and scholarship of the institution and putting it into practice. I think ESLARP is one of those places where the University of Illinois critically engages its community. There are a lot of other places, too. It's probably not the most prominent story of the university, I mean obviously Saturdays with the football team. But it's one that goes on and I think it's critical to good scholarship, particularly at a Land Grant institution."
What would you tell somebody (who's never been there) that might surprise them about East St. Louis? MA: "Spend an October afternoon and visit the United Black Drag Racers Black Sunday, which has gone on to be a big event, or when they do their car shows. Spend a Friday evening at the Village Theater, the open mic night." EA: "Yeah, excellent family-friendly entertainment. See an excellent collection of Haitian art by going to the (Katherine) Dunham museum." MA: "Go to Sandy's Barbecue." EA: "Some of the best barbecue ever." MA: "Or the ice cream place." EA: "Pirtle's. Excellent ice cream." MA: "It's a community like any other, and it has problems, but it also has special places, special people." |