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Alignment Collaborative for Education - ACE

Career Education

Alignment prepares students for summer internships and the senior job fair 

Alignment’s program manager, Edgar Montes, leads student discussions.

Over 500 High School Students Ready to Develop Resumes and Prepare for Interviews

To prepare interested juniors in applying this spring for summer internships and to help seniors seeking employment after graduation prepare for the senior job fair on Thursday, April 20, Alignment provided U-46 students with work-based learning skills including an application, resume and interviewing skills workshop. Alignment’s program manager, Edgar Montes, led students in a discussion of application tips, resume development, and interview preparation. 

Alignment is also offering interested students the opportunity to have their resumes reviewed and edited by local human resources partners within the Alignment Collaborative to include Gail Borden Public Library, Junior Achievement, and the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) for a three week period during mid February thru early March. Over 500 students to date have attended the initial application, resume and interview workshop, and we are looking forward to the opportunities they have to use these skills applying for internships and summer jobs.

Alignment’s Executive Director, Nancy Coleman, leads discussion on internships.

School District U-46 High School Counselors visit Advocate Sherman Hospital and Elgin Community College

Providing experiences for high school counselors to better advise students seeking careers in healthcare.

Counselors and administrators from all five School District U-46 high schools and the Dream Academy participated in the U-46 Healthcare Day with visits to Elgin Community College (ECC) and Advocate Sherman Hospital on January 27, 2023.

The  event, sponsored by the Alignment Collaborative for Education in partnership with School District U-46, was planned to better equip counselors in guiding students interested in healthcare careers towards appropriate high school course offerings to include CTE program and its Health Sciences course offerings. 

Nancy Coleman, Executive Director, Alignment Collaborative for Education, praised the commitment from Advocate Sherman, ECC, and U-46 in providing this opportunity to high school counselors. “Their experience strengthens their understanding of how healthcare careers can begin and flourish,” said Coleman, “while students are completing their high school experience with a seamless pathway to post-secondary education and optimal employment opportunities.”

The tour at Elgin Community College included visiting health science programs and labs to include certificate and degree programs in Dental Assisting, Medical Assisting, Massage Therapy, Physical Therapy, Nursing, Ophthalmic Technician, Radiology, and Surgical Tech.

“We are excited to introduce these programs to high school counselors to share with students about these high demand career opportunities,” said Wendy Miller, Dean, Health Professions, Math, Science and Engineering, Elgin Community College. “ECC continues to expand its program offerings in the health professions to meet the workforce development needs of our local healthcare industry.”

After the ECC visit, counselors went to Advocate Sherman Hospital and were welcomed by Advocate’s president, Sheri DeShazo.  Following a discussion of Advocate’s role in the community and the healthcare industry, counselors met key department leaders in Medical Lab Services, Nursing, Pharmacy Services, Radiology, Rehabilitation Service, and Respiratory Care.  Counselors learned about current and future job openings and salary data as well as promotion opportunities within each of these healthcare fields. Counselors then visited almost every wing of the hospital to tour each of these operations.

“As a long-time partner of Alignment Collaborative for Education, Advocate Sherman Hospital is honored to host U-46 high school counselors for Alignment’s healthcare career pathways field trip,” said DeShazo. “As the nation faces a healthcare worker shortage it’s increasingly important for us to educate students about these career opportunities, and our local high school counselors are key partners in this effort. Within the field of healthcare, there are many different roles with varying education requirements, so events like this can provide important information for a broad spectrum of healthcare careers that counselors can take back to their students.”

Alignment and School District U-46 are grateful to partner with Advocate Sherman and ECC to engage counselors and students in career exploration within healthcare, one of the strongest and fastest growing industry sectors within the Greater Elgin area. ECC and Advocate Sherman contribute greatly to the economic prosperity of the Elgin area and its quality healthcare system. Both are long-term partners with the Alignment Collaborative for Education and are always looking to the future assisting the region with workforce development initiatives starting in the middle and high schools.  

Sheri DeShazo welcomes school counselors at Advocate Sherman
Massage Therapy Classroom
Surgical Tech Lab
Medical Assisting Lab

Please join us on Giving Tuesday…

Please join us on Giving Tuesday to grow the more than 6,000 students served in 2022 to over 8,000 students by 2023.

“The hands-on experience of getting to create our own project and doing activities that are practiced in the real world was a truly rewarding experience.”

– Emily Gilmore, intern, Bartlett High School

“Today was very fun. It gave me some experiences I would never usually get.”

– Kunal Modi, Explore, Eastview Middle School

Invest in Alignment to prepare students to graduate academic and career ready. Our future workforce depends on it.

“I learned to seek good opportunities that will allow me to combine something that I’m good at with something I really care about. ”

– Anaid Braun, intern, South Elgin High School

“Overall the internship was a future changing experience.”

– Andrew Calles Cortez, intern, Larkin High School

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Magnet School Accreditation and Educational Pathways Prepare Students for Success

Magnet School Accreditation and Educational Pathways Prepare Students for Success

Bartlett, Larkin, and Streamwood High Schools are now nationally certified magnet schools! The certification is another way in which School District U-46 continues to prepare students for success after high school, either in a career or at university.

In addition to the magnet school curriculum, U-46 has partnered with Alignment to enhance their educational pathways for students not part of an academy. Through the educational pathway program, Alignment placed students from all five high schools in summer internship programs throughout the community. The internships offered real-world experience in many different industry clusters.

For eighth graders, their first educational pathway opportunity will be Explore 2022, taking place October 6 at the NOW Arena. Explore is a career showcase that gives students the opportunity to experience a variety of career paths, while also showing them the connection between academics and available career paths.

For the full article, click here

High School Interns Gain Career Experience in Municipalities and Community Service Agencies

Students Experience Public Service Careers

Alignment joining with the City of Elgin, the Downtown Neighborhood Association, Hanover Township, Streamwood Park District, Taylor Family YMCA, Village of Bartlett, and the Village of Hanover Park, offered 26 high school students the opportunity to gain experience in Business, Marketing, Public Service, and Education settings as part of a summer, work-based learning experience.

Ronin Shah, a student at Bartlett High School and intern for the Downtown Neighborhood Association, described his experience as “being able to gain real life experience working at the DNA. I was able to get that one-on-one community collaboration experience that I would not have had over the summer if I didn’t experience this opportunity.”

These internship experiences showed students “firsthand” the importance of community service and the positive impact that municipalities and community organizations contribute to the quality of life for families. Students also worked to improve their future employability skills as City of Elgin interns participated in resume development led by Billie Moffett from Gail Borden Public Library and interview skills with the assistance of Alignment’s staff at the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce.

Hosting organizations also benefited. Jeff Janda, Executive Director of the Streamwood Park District, “readily agreed to host a team of summer interns. The interns contributed their ideas and creativity to enhance our marketing and communications efforts throughout the community.”

Thank you to our community partners and municipalities for making these experiences possible.

High School Interns Gain Engineering, Manufacturing, and Operations Experience

Alignment Summer 2022 Manufacturing Internships

Alignment joining with Electri-flex, Elgin Sweeper, ITW Shakeproof, and Reishauer offered seven high school juniors opportunities to gain experience in engineering and manufacturing settings as part of a summer, work-based learning experience.

Students combined their interest in engineering and applied it in manufacturing settings. Project based assignments led by experienced engineering and operations professionals guided students to address a combination of design, quality, and safety challenges requiring innovative solutions to traditional manufacturing processes.

Kush Patel, a student at Bartlett High School and intern for Elgin Sweeper, described his experience as “giving him the real workforce experience that opened my mind to see how things we learn in school apply in real life.” Mitchell Briesemeister, Director of Educational Pathways for School District U-46, confirmed that this is exactly the intent of the summer internships. “Manufacturing is a critical economic driver for our region and internships are a great way for our students to learn about the multitude of high wage careers available in the industry and the skillsets they require.”

Alignment partnering with Northern Kane County Region 110 CTE programs placed 52 students in paid, summer internship opportunities because of the outstanding support received from its corporate partners. Tom King, Engineering Manager, ITW Shakeproof, emphasized that commitment “everyone involved here at Shakeproof was impressed with the interns and the program. Students were able to come up with an innovative solution to a real-world safety issue we deal with every day.”

Thank you to our corporate partners for making these experiences possible.