Cookies, named after Parker’s very first principal, Flora J. Cooke, began in the spring of 2001.  Cooke believed in an interactive learning environment that enhances the imaginations, skills, and knowledge of both the students and teachers.

For Parker high schoolers, Cookies remains a two-day break from regular classes that allows students to engage with their peers and with the resources that Chicago offers in an interactive and fun learning environment. On May 3-4, Parker students were able to participate in anything from read estate to table tennis.  On top of the 26 Cookies that were offered this year, 43 Parker students had the opportunity to travel to two different cities in the country.  One group headed to Houston, Texas to rebuild homes after Hurricane Harvey destroyed much of the surrounding area.  The other group went to Alabama to take a deeper dive into the civil rights movement.

Each year, Cookies is run completely by students.  The process began in early fall when curriculum committee met with Upper School Coordinator Rolanda Shepard. Junior and one of the heads of Curriculum Committee, Jack Maling said, “Our main job is making sure we have enough Cookies for it to happen.”  In order to reach the minimum number, the committee hosted a plenary and a senate also making themselves available at all times for assistance in the process. “At one point we had about 60 cookies,” Maling said, “but only about 10 of them were good enough to actually happen.”   

The committee spent a large amount of time editing each proposal, adding detail to schedules, making curricula more clear, and at times contacting group members to change parts of their Cookies.  After all proposals were read over, 50 were sent to the administration to be approved. 26 proposals ran.

A group comprised of 22 students and 4 teachers spent four days in Houston.  The group left on Wednesday, May 2 and worked with the Saint Bernard Project on three different houses, returning Saturday afternoon.    

Eighth grade English teacher David Fuder, along with senior Talia Garg and juniors Sydney Garelick and Amaya Contractor led this group, created an application and made it available for all students through an email sent by Garg in late February. 19 students, from all four grades and not including the three student leaders, were chosen for the trip. Freshman Sophia Pasquale said, “I applied for this trip because I felt like it would be a great way to try something new and to go beyond my comfort zone.”

Senior Chloe Wagner was one of 19 upperclassmen who traveled with high school history teacher Andrew Bigelow and english teacher Theresa Collins (who is currently on sabbatical otherwise) to Alabama for the duration of Cookies.  This group was formed on a first come first served basis , and did not require an application. “I am in the Civil Rights class and decided it would be a great way to tie in what we have been reading and learning in the classroom,” Wagner said beforehand, “and then to be able to actually go to Alabama and see things we have been reading about will be a great experience.”

This trip, alternating each year between Alabama and Mississippi, allows Parker juniors and seniors to dive deeper into the civil rights movement. The group traveled to three cities, Selma, Birmingham, and Montgomery, visiting the 16th Street Baptist Church, the Rosa Parks Museum and Library, and the Equal Justice Initiative Memorial that opened just this spring. “I think this trip is important since we live in Chicago,” Wagner said,  “and I don’t think we see a lot of discrimination like they did in the south.”

Back in Chicago, the majority of Parker high schoolers participated in Cookies courses run by their peers.  Freshman Bella Charfoos along with freshman Dani Lieb ran the real estate Cookie. “I think it will be a really great experience to lead my classmates in something that I am interested in,” Charfoos said prior to Cookies. “I am really excited, but am slightly nervous to be working with kids from other grades that are older than me.”

The group started the first day by watching the HGTV show “House Hunters,” then they sought a house that met their standards.

The Cookie run by sophomores Will Rantala, Alex Bennett, Sophie Besold, and Maddie Friedman was Regional Cuisine.  This group spent Cookies mornings researching regions of the world of interest to them, and then cooking dishes from those places in the afternoons.  “Throughout the past two days I learned a lot about the impact cuisine can have on culture,” sophomore Avani Kalra said. “I’ve also gained a new appreciation for many different types of food, and how hard they are to make.”