Alignment Collaborative for Education - ACE
Lakeview Precision Machining hosted students from Central, Hampshire, St. Charles East and St. Charles North high schools as part of Alignment and Northern Kane County Region 110’s summer internship program. Students had the opportunity to design and manufacture prototypes from their experiences.
Thank you to the Lakeview team for providing this wonderful opportunity for these students.
Alignment has partnered with the Elgin Fire Department to launch the “First Responder” summer internship program. Ten students were deployed to stations throughout Elgin in early June.
Thank you to the City of Elgin and the Elgin Fire Department for making this opportunity possible.
Partnering with Northern Kane County Region 110 and Elgin Community College, Alignment hosted its first Internship Recognition Breakfast for all organizations hosting summer interns in 2024. More than 100 guests attended the event at ECC with 41 organizations honored for hosting the 146 students that participated in the program during 2024. The event also attracted more than a dozen organizations interested in learning how they might become an internship host site in 2025.
Six student interns from Central, Dundee Crown, Hampshire, Larkin, and Streamwood high schools shared how their internship experiences shaped their future career plans as they prepare to graduate in May. Industry representatives from Advocate Sherman Hospital, Bartlett Police Department, Bob Loquercio Auto Group, Elgin State Bank, Hampton, Lenzini and Renwick, Inc., Hoffer Plastics, and West Side Tractor discussed their internship model with prospective companies describing how their organizations designed the internship opportunity to meet the minimum 60 hour requirement for students to receive academic credit combined with students being paid for those hours.
Gina De rosier Cook, Dean of Workforce Development and Continuing Education at Elgin Community College, announced a second year of Take Back the Trades grant funding to sponsor 75 high school students this year, a 50% increase from 2024 along with funding provided by corporate partners, municipalities, the United Way Elgin Neighborhood Network, Elgin Township, the Seigle Foundation and investments by School Districts U-46, 300, 301, and recently committed St. Charles Community Unit School District 303. Terry Stroh, Director, Northern Kane County Region 110, predicts that with this funding base and the support of the business community, 200 students could be placed throughout the region’s industry sectors to include automotive, business, culinary, engineering, financial services, health care, heavy equipment, manufacturing, municipal services, and welding.
Alignment and Northern Kane County Region 110 are working to identify all internship opportunities with completed position descriptions by March 3, 2025 opening the application process to 11 high schools by March 10, 2025. If your organization is interested in offering internships for Summer 2025, please contact Nancy Coleman at colemanace@align4edu.org or Terry Stroh at terry.stroh@central301.net for further information.
For highlights of the Breakfast, please see Rick West’s Daily Herald article ‘We really are changing lives’: Internship program helps students make post-high school plans
South Elgin High School made the news serving as the announcement site for an $8 million dollar grant awarded through the Build America program to help high school students across the state access apprenticeship programs in heavy machine maintenance and operations. Led by Alignment’s partner, the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) Foundation, in partnership with the Youth Workforce Development Foundation (YWDF), and SkillsUSA Illinois, Eric Hill, CEO of YWDF, shared with the greater Elgin community the framework for the grant to build youth-focused apprenticeships that create a “pipeline to long-term career opportunities in the heavy equipment space”.
Brian McGuire, president of the AED Foundation joined by U.S. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi and Illinois State Senator Cristina Castro, together shared the importance and significance of this grant to train the future workforce in a career field projecting 40,000 job vacancies. Across the region, Terry Stroh, director, Northern Kane County Region 110, has worked in partnership with school districts U-46, 300, and 301 to expand career options for students enrolled in the region’s automotive CTE programs.
Just this past summer, Alignment joined efforts across Region 110 to offer paid summer internship opportunities to automotive students hosted by ALTA, West Side Tractor, and the Bob Loquercio Auto Group. Sean Fitzgerrel, Vice President of the AED Foundation, led efforts to bring Alignment, Region 110, and YWDC together sharing that “the Alignment Collaborative played a pivotal role in securing ABA Round 2 funding. Through strategic partnerships and a shared vision, they amplified our effort, demonstrating the collective power of collaboration in driving workforce development and educational advancement.”
High school interns, hosted this summer by more than a dozen of Alignment’s partners, gained knowledge and experience in how businesses operate from designing marketing plans and developing social media communications to understanding financial performance and the critical role of customer service and retention. Other students excelled at culinary and hospitality experiences, governmental affairs, video production, media releases, etc.
Students were placed in multiple industry clusters ranging from automotive dealerships to financial institutions along with municipal and non-profit business exposure. Host partners shared career experiences in accounting, business communications, finance, and marketing showing students that this industry sector of careers exist in all types of businesses from large corporations and branch operations to small business ventures.
Information technology internships were also very popular with students having opportunities available in the private sector but also within the region’s school districts. Ranjani Venkataraman, from Jacobs High School, an intern for Fox Valley Internet, worked in individual and business marketing while also making progress in gaining industry recognized certifications. He described what he saw and what goals he is working toward. “I went to a data center that looked like it came out of a spy movie. I also did some cybersecurity training and am almost at an NSE certification.”
Twenty-five students from Bartlett, Central, Elgin, Jacobs, Larkin, South Elgin, and Streamwood were selected for these internships across the region with assignments varying from a 60-hour opportunity to full summer employment opportunities. Four students had the exciting opportunity to work all summer at four different Wintrust bank locations. Another student gained experience at KCT Credit Union. Sharlene Manuel Cano from Streamwood High School reflected on her experience sharing that the experience at KCT “helped me learn so much about the different positions and responsibilities that exist in managing a financial institution.” From banquet preparation to culinary presentations, students also had the opportunity for experience in event planning as a full summer experience working with Bartlett Hills Golf Clubs & Banquets learning about kitchen productivity in a fast-paced environment.
Across all twenty-five internships, students clearly experienced the importance of being on-time and ready to work with customer service as one of their highest priorities. Alignment is most appreciative to the array of business and community partners that made these experiences possible for students as they work to shape their future career plans:
Bartlett Hills Golf Club & Banquets
Bob Loquercio Auto Group
Boys and Girls Club
Central School District 301
Centro De Informacion
Downtown Neighborhood Association
Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce
Fox Valley Internet
Golden Corridor YMCA
KCT Credit Union
Office of Representative Anna Moeller
School District U-46
Village of Bartlett
Village of Hanover Park
Wintrust
Over this summer, 22 students were given the opportunity to explore career paths in the vast teacher pipeline and human services professions. School District U-46 led the way hosting over a dozen interns in its elementary and middle summer school programs. Other hosting partners included Bartlett Park District, Community Unit School District 300, Golden Corridor Family YMCA, Hanover Township Food and Youth Services, Precious Angels, South Elgin Parks and Recreation, Tails Humane Society, Village of Hanover Park, and Well Child Center.
These internships helped prepare students to become future teachers or work in the field of human services. While it may not seem like a big deal at first glance, preparing students for this field is especially important at a time like this as Illinois continues to experience a teacher shortage. In its sixth annual and most recent survey of teacher shortages in Illinois schools, the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS) published the following:
In efforts to help lower these percentages, Alignment is working with school districts 300, 301, and U-46 in partnership with Elgin Community College, Judson University, Northern Illinois University, and Northern Kane County Region 110 to build across the region a sustainable pipeline of teachers for the next decade.
Students described their internship experience as challenging and very helpful in solidifying their career pathway. Joseline Flores, a Larkin High School student and an intern at the U-46 Summer School Elementary Program, enjoyed “getting an insight on how teachers plan their lessons of the day, and it made a positive impact on my path to early education. Not only did I learn and observe the teacher, but I got to experience lesson planning and teaching the students”.
Wilebaldo Modesto Hernandez, a student at Elgin High School, who participated in the U-46 Summer School Middle School Program shared that “being in the field of education is not easy. It takes patience and time, but it is worth it. Seeing others happy by your presence.” Wilebaldo and Joseline are just some of the many students who will graduate from one of the region’s nine high schools, planning to remain in the region for their teacher education preparation, and then hopefully choosing to begin their professional careers in the region’s elementary, middle, and high schools.
For those interested in the education and human services career pathways, Alignment and the Teacher Pipeline partners host Education Days at NIU, ECC, and Judson. Dates for the upcoming school year include the visit to NIU for Education Day on October 3, 2024, and the visit to ECC in January, 2025. Students will also have the chance to visit Judson University’s Department of Education in the spring.
It is a great opportunity for those interested in becoming a teacher or working in the field of human services and may even persuade some to apply for the internship opportunities offered next summer. Precious Angels intern and Central High School student, Nerivette Garcia, shared “It was an amazing experience that I would love to do again. I am so very grateful for all the people and wonderful kids I have met, truly something I will never forget.”
For students focusing on human services, internships varied from serving in a setting providing food and nutrition resources to public health access, advocacy, and communications for families. Elgin High School student and Well Child Center intern, Mahitha Ratakonda says “Seeing the gratitude and relief in the eyes of families receiving care solidified my commitment to pursue public health in the future. It reminded me that even small efforts can make a profound difference in someone’s life.”
Thank you to Bartlett Park District, Golden Corridor Family YMCA, Hanover Township Food and Youth Services, Precious Angels, South Elgin Parks and Recreation, Tails Humane Society, Village of Hanover Park, and Well Child Center along with School Districts U-46 and 300 for providing such a memorable experience for students wanting to pursue careers in teaching and human services.
Article by Imaan Azeem, Elgin High School
Alignment Collaborative for Education Intern
ACE is a member of the Alignment USA communities of collaboration and collective impact.
