CHICAGO TRIBUNE

March 14, 2008

City students celebrate Chavez legacy

March, service projects help youth take late labor leader's words to heart

By Gerry Smith, Tribune reporter

Inside the raucous cafeteria, the students carried banners, chanting to the rhythm of the drumbeat: "The people, united, will never be divided!"

Then, the room, filled with about 200 Chicago high school students, fell silent, a way of recognizing Cesar Chavez Day of Reflection at Juarez Community Academy.

On Saturday morning, students from more than a dozen schools gathered in the Pilsen neighborhood to watch Aztec dances, attend workshops and listen to Arthur Rodriguez, the grandson of the late Mexican-American farm worker and activist.

In the afternoon, they held a 20-second moment of silence in Chavez's honor before taking to the streets, marching down Honorary Cesar Chavez Avenue and throughout the Pilsen neighborhood.

Born in 1927, Chavez is considered one of the great civil rights leaders for his work in improving wages and conditions for farmworkers. He died in 1993.

For the students, Saturday's celebration marked the end of their monthlong service projects, which ranged from visiting nursing homes to waging a protest to building a park in the Little Village neighborhood.

The projects were coordinated by the Chicago Public Schools service-learning initiative, which was created six years ago to link classroom curriculum with community issues.

At Gage Park High School, students came up with one of the more innovative plans: use worms that could both eat the community's garbage and create fertile ground for residents to plant vegetables.

"It's an example of what Chavez would say, 'Come up with a specific type of project that will bring people together and help the environment at the same time,'" CPS spokesman Timothy John Tuten said.

On Monday, the students will showcase their work during a program at the Chavez Multicultural Academic Center, on 4747 S. Marshfield Ave., in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Roosevelt High School teacher Estela Rosales, who was at the rally with some of her students, has started teaching them about Chavez.

Many students said they knew little about Chavez, she said. Rosales found ways to make him resonate with their lives, describing how he fought to improve conditions for low-wage workers.

"They see how hard their parents work," Rosales said. "It definitely hits home to them."

Karen Vazquez, 16, a student at Clemente High School, visited a nursing home for her service project. By listening to seniors talk about their lives, Vazquez said she tried to emulate Chavez.

"He taught people that no matter who they are, they have their struggles too," she said. "If people took the time to hear them speak, then other people could help that small group of people make something big."