Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Center for Teaching and Learning

LOGO: College First

College First

Program Highlights

PHOTO: testing the Skokie River's water quality  PHOTO: Working with lab samples

Students spend half of each day in the summer working one-on-one with a staff member to learn more about specific career areas at the Garden as well as to gain job skills and work-place etiquette. Students last summer worked in the following areas:

Horticulture
Plant Genetics & Seed Biology Lab
Seed Bank

Education & Camp CBG
Plant Information

Soil Ecology
Conservation Biology

Trips and College Visits

Field trips are taken once a week in the summer, and guest speakers are invited to lecture in the Garden classrooms. Trips may be to tour a science lab at a university or to extend the field ecology labs beyond the Garden. Monthly school year meetings often involve visits to colleges, college fairs, financial aid workshops, and similar. Some recent trips:

  • Beaubien Woods (a work day, to remove invasive plant species (buckthorn))
  • North Park Village Nature Center
  • Garfield Park Conservatory
  • Field Museum's George Washington Carver exhibit
  • SmartHome: Green & Wired, at the Museum of Science and Industry
  • Northwestern University, Chicago State University, North Park University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University (campus tours)
  • National College Fair at Navy Pier (sponsored by NACAC)
  • College Selection and Application workshop at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (presented by the University of Illinois Extension Service and College of ACES)

Research Projects

Our program strives to ready each student for learning beyond high school as they prepare to enter college and the workforce. As part of that endeavor, we help students hone their research and presentation skills. During the summer, each student chooses a research project to work on and present to an audience, including Garden staff, family and friends, mentors, and community partners. This past summer, we encouraged students to research a topic related to their work with their mentor or Garden staff member. Students work with staff in horticulture, education, research, the library, and plant information as they research their topics. They have worked on a variety of projects:

  • Invasive plants: the Garden's methods for removal and some uses for them, once removed
  • Genetic diversity among thistle species (including a video of PCR techniques)
  • Best methods for DNA isolation of breadfruit
  • Invasive species found on Garden property and potential treatments
  • Carnivorous plants of Illinois and their habitats: a study of local wetlands
  • Stratification and seed germination of dogfoot violet
  • Enviro-report card: a comprehensive assessment of air, water, and
    soil quality in the Garden
  • Ideal growing conditions for various species of fungi
  • Analysis of soil samples from the Dixon Prairie and Somme Prairie (to identify why grasses are disappearing at these sites)
  • Identification of native bee pollinator species for several native plants
  • Analysis and suggestions for growing biofuels onsite
  • Best techniques for isolating sweetener from stevia plants