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.

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