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Alignment Collaborative for Education - ACE

Community Partnerships

Alignment and U-46 Host Second Annual HBCU Postsecondary Panel

Students and Parents/Families Visit with U-46 Alumni 

Alignment in partnership with School District U-46 hosted its second annual Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) postsecondary panel on February 27 in recognition of Black History Month. Students and parents/families had the opportunity to visit with U-46 alumni currently enrolled in HBCU institutions including Dasani Johnson, a 2022 graduate of Larkin High School and current student at Howard University, and Kamaria Bush, a graduate of South Elgin High School and current graduate student studying biomedical engineering at North Carolina A&T.   

Students and parents/families also had the opportunity to visit with City of Elgin Councilman Corey Dixon, a graduate of Elgin High School and Grambling State University.  For specific information regarding the university admissions process, Alignment and U-46 were joined by Roger Gray, admissions representative for Tuskegee University serving the Illinois territory. Students benefited from learning about why panelists chose to attend an HBCU as their postsecondary choice along with advice from all panelists about how best to proceed in selecting a postsecondary institution to include discussions about financial aid and scholarship opportunities.

Teresa A. Lance, U-46 assistant superintendent for equity and innovation, praised the panelists for their role in “inspiring and encouraging students and their parents/families to explore the opportunities that HBCU institutions offer to students as they prepare for their postsecondary experience”.  Dr. Lance also expressed her appreciation to the parents and families joining the session in support of their students’ goals and aspirations.

Alignment as part of its involvement in U-46’s district wide equity work is committed to exposing students and their families to an array of postsecondary opportunities so that students are ready to make informed decisions upon graduation.

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

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.

Alignment Launches New Fiscal Year with Generous Support from the Seigle Foundation

Seigle Foundation Awards Grant to Alignment

Alignment was recognized by the Seigle Foundation with a $25,000 grant award to kickoff its new fiscal year. The Seigle Foundation selected Alignment for this award based on its work in the Elgin and Dundee communities to prepare youth for future personal and career success.  

Alignment will utilize this generous funding to expand its work-based learning initiatives for middle and high school students throughout the Elgin and Dundee communities. That work includes career exploration as early as middle school advancing to more specialized, industry specific opportunities for high school students. Students have the opportunity to be placed in various work-based learning settings across multiple industry clusters. These opportunities are made available by Alignment’s large network of over 200 partners committed to building a future workforce that meets the economic and social growth of the community.  

Thank you to the Seigle Family for providing this investment in our youth, the community, and the region’s future workforce development.

Architecture and Engineering Internship Highlights

Twelve students from School District U-46 recently had the opportunity to complete a two-week, paid internship with Judson University and Hampton, Lenzini and Renwick, Inc. (HLR), a local civil engineering company.

At HLR, students gained field and office experience in many different facets of civil engineering, showcasing what a career in civil engineering would look like. Highlights from their time at HLR included: engineering design and construction, traffic engineering, a wetland site visit, corridor modeling, and even a drone flight with the survey department.

“HLR has always been a company about educating and ensuring the future success of its employees. We take great pride in being able to share that vision with School District U-46 by educating students about civil engineering through this internship program. We have a lot of fun working with the students and seeing them take this level of interest at such an early stage in their education.” – Nicholas Piekarski, PE, CFM, Hampton, Lenzini and Renwick, Inc.

At Judson, the students participated in five workshops related to architectural design, requiring the students to use both creative and critical thinking skills. They were also able to experience unique workshops including camera-free photographs in a dark room and exploring visual communication through image and typography.

One of the interns, Emily Gillmore from Bartlett High School said, “Judson gave me an opportunity to learn about the developmental process of designing a public building and the creative process behind it. 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.” 

Thank you to Judson and HLR for providing the students with such a meaningful internship experience. We are looking forward to sharing more internship highlights with you this summer!

More Student Takeaways…

“HLR quite possibly has the friendliest atmosphere I have ever seen at a job place. The company is just wonderful, and I greatly appreciate the experience and time I spent there.” – Andrew Calles, Larkin High School

“I learned to seek good opportunities that will allow me to combine something that I’m good at with something I really care about. When you love your job it’s easy to get up in the morning and spend hours doing your tasks. Hating your job will just make you miserable, even if you get paid good money.” – Anaid Braun, South Elgin High School

“I really enjoyed my time at HLR and Judson. I never realized how vast Civil Engineering could be, so exploring the possibilities through various lessons, workshops, and hands-on work expanded my knowledge in the field. The experiences I had throughout the internship were very enlightening and helped guide me towards finding a career in my future.” – Lucas Sanson, Bartlett High School

Judson Internship Photos

HLR Internship Photos