Chicago Bulls host South Bend Community Schools students for a Career Day

When Assistant Superintendent Chad Addie heard that the Chicago Bulls were trying to get different schools to come to their venue and game, he began considering how this could be an opportunity to better South Bend students. One thing led to another, and Chicago Bulls Discovery Day was born.

“The entire day was a lot of different experiences and a big part of it for us is we just really, we believe that South Bend kids, like our whole region, are just exceptional and have talent. It's just a matter of making a little extra effort on our parts in the schools to give them experiences and engagement vision support in a way that maybe they don't always get,” Addie said.

The day started with over 140 South Bend students participating in a career panel with professionals in the sports industry at the United Center learning everything from ticket and sales to production to community relations.

Afterwards, the students were able to connect their local history with regional history by visiting the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.

To close off the day, the students sat courtside as they watched the Bulls pull off the 114-95 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

After the games, the students were able to have a meet and greet with Spurs guard and South Bend native Blake Wesley.

From the announcer, to getting your ticket for the first time, the excitement building up was great Addie says, but knowing that he can provide these experiences to students he says makes it even greater.

“We're committed to biting the very best out of our kids is so the whole day was not about one person meeting a group of kids, it wasn't about just a career panel only. It was a total package of opportunity access for these kids at a level that we believe they're worthy of. And that is just we've, we feel like it's just part of the overall inspirational package we are providing for our students here at South Bend schools,” Addie said.