Dream, Believe, Achieve Trip Unlocks Kids' Creativity

Some of Mercy Home’s youngest residents recently participated in the 10^th year of Dream, Believe, Achieve! Mercy Home summer program with Elmhurst College.

The program began as part of a larger effort to give our boys and girls more college exposure. At the time it started, a small committee of people started working with Elmhurst College and this three-day trip was born from that work.

In addition to this summer program, Elmhurst College is a great friend of Mercy Home and hosts two day-trip visits, provided interns, and some graduates even become MercyWorkers!

During their time there, our kids participate in a number of different classes, including theater, exploring majors, creative writing, science, and music. They also participate in other fun activities like having a cookout, going bowling or miniature golfing, and going out for pizza. The kids stay in the dorms during their time there. The trip culminates in a showcase, where the kids have the opportunity share their work from the past two days.

“The program is great for early college exposure and an effort to promote self-efficacy around college achievement,”

During this year’s showcase, our kids read poems they wrote, played songs they composed, shared drawings and comics, and even acted in short plays. They also shared roller coasters they created and had Mercy Home co-workers vote on which had the best engineering and most creative design. The showcase finished with awards for our kids for their hard work.

“The program is great for early college exposure and an effort to promote self-efficacy around college achievement,” Director of Post-Secondary Options Katelyn Dollard said. “It is targeted to our middle schoolers for this reason.”

Katelyn added that the success of the trip depends on coworkers from Education and Career Resources who serve as overnight staff, and this year’s coworkers made the trip outstanding!

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