One of my earliest memories took place in a science museum.
I grew up on the North Side of Chicago, but because my immigrant parents went out of their way to send me to the best school in the city, I commuted down to the South Side every morning to attend the University of Chicago’s grade school in Hyde Park — the neighborhood most famous for its ties to the Obama family.
I’m grateful to the university for sparking my intellectual curiosity from a young age, but my favorite part about growing up with a bunch of nerds was heading to the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI).
When we weren’t driving past it on the way to school, we were cooped up in its Space Center or admiring its Fairy Castle. When I was six years old, the museum acquired the U-505 — a Nazi U-Boat captured by the U.S. Navy in 1944 — and my first-grade teacher took us out on a field trip to see the acquisition before they transported it to the museum’s permanent collection.
Suffice it to say, the museum meant quite a lot not only to me but also to the entire University of Chicago community. It’s the first building to welcome you to Hyde Park as you drive in from Downtown, and it might just be the neighborhood’s most ...