This year's end-of season awards dinner showcased the first brother/sister tandem in our history, with Daniel Reyes (class of 2015) winning the Spirit award and his sister Samantha (class of 2018) winning the girls' attendance award. Curtis Miranda (class of 2016) won for boys' attendance, while Cormac Slayde-Byrd and Jocelyn Duran (class of 2015 and 2017, respectively) each won the Hammer Award--given to the holder of the year's fastest 2K--for the second consecutive year! Our six seniors--Daniel Reyes, Steve Reyes (no relation), Cormac Slayde-Byrd, Jose Tellez, Juan Carlos, and Richard Martinez--celebrated their high school graduation, successful completion of their CTC tenure, and their college acceptances. Look for a list of where they'll be headed this fall in a future newsletter. 

Our summer Learn to Row sessions began on June 23. Thanks to recruitment efforts at local schools and our continued partnerships with After School Matters and the City of Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, we welcomed more than 25 novices to this introductory program. All of this activity is building toward the 2015 Chicago Sprints at Lincoln Park Lagoon on July 11-12. Event details can be found here. Come cheer us on as more than 30 CTC members battle it out with teams from throughout Chicagoland. We'll also be fielding four boats of CTC alumni, racing under the moniker Cloanthus. Yes, our ex-junior members are coming back for more!  

This summer, our Shadow Days career awareness program is taking students to Emmi Solutions, WH Trading, Genter Design, and Strand Design. We're always looking for opportunities to broaden our members' career horizons. If your business would be interested in hosting a half-day worksite experience for some amazing teens, please contact us!

As you may have seen on social media, we've launched a crowdfunding campaign on Razoo to drum up support to renovate our fleet. Of course, this being CTC, it's now turned into a competition among the university "teams" represented by our donors. Have a look here to find out how your alma mater is doing--and if yours isn't listed, please donate and let us know what crew you'd like to represent. The challenge ends July 31 so all hands on deck! Your generosity will help us get even more kids on the water next year.

Wishing you all a great summer, and hope to see you at Lincoln Park!

Sincerely,

Montana Butsch

Founder/Executive Director