Me

     My name is Adina Cohen, and I have lived in Chicago for all of my life.  I love this place, and I always try to take advantage of everything there is to do here.  My older sister, Sarah, is a Special Education/Spanish teacher in the Bronx, and  my brother, Adam, is currently in his 3rd month out of 2 years in the Peace Corps in Togo, Africa.  I am very close to both of them-hopefully some day we'll all live near each other.  

     A huge part of my life has been being a part of the Chicago Children's Choir.  I joined in 3rd grade and entered the top ensemble in 7th grade.  The purpose of the choir is to bring together a diverse group of kids from all around the city and to promote peace around the city and world.  We rehearse a ton in order to be able to have an impact through our music.  Since 7th grade, I have traveled to Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Italy, and India with the choir.  These trips were life-changing, and the opportunities I've had to sing around Chicago have also given me a drive for social change.  

     I want to do some human rights/social justice related work.  My full year senior experience is with a humanitarian organization, and it's incredible so far.  I am working with their social justice book group to write discussion questions and present what work our organization is doing in the conflict region discussed in the book.  

    Over the summer I worked as a counselor at a sleep away camp in California.  My campers were 8-10 years old...insane little people.  It was very tiring and difficult, but also fun and rewarding.  It was interesting talking to kids with such malleable minds and being able to have an impact on them through the relationships I built.  

    I'm happy to be in classes that I really got to choose this year.  I'm grateful to be at Whitney Young, and I will try not to let my senioritis get in the way of that too much.