Happy Holidays From Tech Club Student NyShanell!

The second offering in our Holiday Series is submitted by talented artist, and a natural at graphic design... 7th grader NyShanell... check out her bio for more about her love of computers and art...

If there is something more representative of the spirit of the holidays than people holding hands around a Christmas tree, I don't know what is.

You can almost hear imagine the volunteers, students, and donors represented by the characters in the Cabrini Connections logo singing a carol outside in the snow!...

...Right before heading indoors for a cup of cocoa and a discussion, using Mapping For Justice maps, about how new collaborations can be made to ensure students with all the ability in the world, like NyShanell, have access to programs like Cabrini Connections, to build a work-ready skillset in every neighborhood in Chicago and beyond.

Thanks NyShanell. Great work as always!

Happy Holidays to everyone from Tech Club!

(Last week's submission by Marquise is here.)
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Please let us know if you are interested in volunteering to share your particular tech expertise with us this school year! We'd love to work with you!

Happy Holidays From Tech Club Student Marquise!

Students at Cabrini Connections are involved in more than just one-on-one mentoring... many of them take time out of their evenings during the week to attend clubs. That what this site is all about - a showcase of the work produced by the students who work with volunteer professionals on Tuesday nights to learn the skills they need to compete as future techies in the job market!

We took time out from our big project this past month (to be revealed later this winter) and produced the some holiday-inspired pieces... using tech skills we've been practicing at Tech Club.

I will feature those here in the week leading up to Christmas!


The first design to the left was produced by 7th grade student, Marquise (bio here)... a young man who is also a member of Video and Filmmakers Club on Mondays... and an artist with a flair for taking the simple and turning it into something unique, complex, and meaningful (a talent you can't always teach!).

Marquise used his Photoshop skills and artistic eye, and used the Cabrini Connections logo to highlight and define the puffy white part at the top of the traditional Christmas Stocking.

A brilliant composition that combines the spirit of the holiday with the pride of the program.

Marquise explains:

"The stocking of Cabrini Connections represent how everyone in the program is family and the stocking represents a member of Cabrini Connections."

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Please let us know if you are interested in volunteering to share your particular tech expertise with us this school year! We'd love to work with you!

Holiday Fund Raising - Organize An Event

Over the past few weeks staff and volunteers of Cabrini Connections have been inviting friends, family and coworkers to help with Holiday FUNdraising. I encourage you to read El Da'Sheon's article, showing how he's reaching out.

Our teens are helping, too. The holiday graphics that we're using were created by the youth who meet each week for Tech Club. I think you'll agree, there is a lot of talent. Hopefully, we'll be able to find enough donors, and additional volunteers, to help these kids keep developing these skills.

We'd like to see a lot of our volunteers and friends organize their own fund raising campaigns this year. At GiveForward we've set up a Tis The Season campaign which you can contribute to. Or, you can register, and create your own personalized campaign that can be supported by your company, faith group, family, or social group.

If enough people try to raise the money needed at Cabrini Connections, we will be able to continue to teach teens to make graphics and use technology to communicate ideas. Thank you everyone for your help.

Happy Thanksgiving from Tech Club

This logo graphic was created by 7th grader Kierre, one of 8 -10 students who meet each week in the Cabrini Connections technology club. He used Photoshop skills he has learned from volunteers over the past month to modify the Cabrini Connections logo in a simple yet clever (and festive) way.

This is one of several holiday graphics that will be used over the next six weeks in our annual holiday fund raising campaigns.

Another example is provided by Israel... whose Turkey dares you to try and cook him for dinner.


Turkey advocacy, and a heck of a good sense of humor! Thanks Israel!

If you'd like to donate to help us continue this work, click here.

We are also looking for new tech-savvy volunteers to meet with us Tuesday evenings for an hour after work. Email us.

Meaning of logo

The meaning of the logo that charles and I made is that it symbolizes the holidays under the pale moonlight and the spirit that roams the holidays (the moon)

A new background

Over the weekend, I learned (Randomly did out of boredom) How to make backgrounds without the use of google or anything. Usually I would copy some things and paste a few images, but now, I can do it all myself. I know I've been talking about getting the new step by step plan for Paint.Net, yet I haven't been able to think on how to make it, so until then I am prolonging that idea. However, to keep everyone updated, I do plan on making the step by step plan soon, hopefully. This Tuesday in Tech Club, I will talk with a few of my peers and try to figure this out.

Basic Paint.net

Hello once again it's Charles/Mizawa. Without all the flashing images, and moving objects, I wanted to show a basic picture that can be created using Paint.Net and only Paint.Net. As we speak I am figuring out a way to make a step by step plan on using Paint.Net.