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What’s New

Career Showcase for High School Freshmen Set for Oct. 27, 2021

By Mike Danahey
Elgin Courier-News | Oct 22, 2021 at 7:01 PM
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The Northern Kane County Regional Vocational System and the Alignment Collaborative for Education will host a Freshmen Curriculum to Career Showcase online from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27.

The free event is open to any freshmen who is attending high schools in School District U-46, Burlington Central District 303, St. Charles District 303 and Dundee District 300. Parents and guardians are also encouraged to attend.

The showcase will provide course information for students who will be sophomores next year and explain how course selections might align with possible college or career options after high school graduation, a news release said.

Sessions will be provided on such professions as automotive technician; business and IT; digital arts; education and early childhood; engineering; health care; manufacturing; veterinary science; and welding. Students can register for sessions related to two fields.

To register, go to docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeZQN6lXrlPOBnxAb6Znej-y9W6_IvvNQKcUiFKad1o0bg-Q/viewform.

For more information, go to northernkanepathways.com and www.align4edu.org or call 224-227-7534.

Explore Engages More Than 100 Business and Community Career Professionals

On October 7th, 2,572 students from U-46’s eight middle schools visited with more than 100 business and career professionals at Alignment’s annual EXPLORE event.  Students selected up to 18 careers for exploration in this all-day event.  Careers were grouped to align with U-46’s five educational pathways to include:

  • Arts and Communications
  • Finance, Business, Information Technology, and Hospitality
  • Heath Sciences, Human Services, Public Services, and Education
  • Liberal Arts
  • Manufacturing, Engineering, Technology, and Trades

Students as part of the exploration process studied specific careers in a Q&A format gaining valuable information about the types of jobs available; the education and training required to qualify for those jobs, and the advice from business professionals about related high school course preparation and work-based learning opportunities.

Thank you to all of our volunteers for once again making Explore a showcase event, and a special thanks to our event sponsors: Advocate Aurora Health, Bear Family Restaurants, Blackhawk Bank, City of Elgin, Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce, Elgin Community College, Elgin Sweeper, Gail Borden Public Library, Harting USA, HLR Engineering, Hoffer Plastics, KCT Credit Union, Nicor, NTN Bearing, and Streamwood Behavioral Healthcare System.

EXPLORE Fall 2021 – 48 Hours Away

The Alignment Collaborative for Education and School District U-46 will host over 2,700 8th graders and 100 plus business and community professionals to introduce students to more than 75 careers on October 7th.  Thank you to our career professionals and our sponsoring organizations for offering this opportunity to our U-46 students.

Alignment Invites Students and Parents to University Forums

Alignment Collaborative for Education invites students and parents to university forums featuring 12 different universities for the Fall Semester. Each forum offers parents and students the opportunity to visit virtually with university admission staff along with a Q&A session.

Learn about the admissions application process, financial aid and scholarship offerings. Available for students and parents.

September 30, 2021
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
DePaul University, Judson University,
Northern Illinois University, University of llinois at Urbana/Champaign
Register Here

October 13, 2021
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Illinois State University, Roosevelt University,
University of Illinois, Chicago University of Iowa
Register Here

October 28,2021
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Aurora University, Loyola University,
Purdue University, Southern Illinois University
Register Here

Sponsored by the Alignment Collaborative for Education and School District U-46
Download the flyer

Alignment Collaborative Selected as Featured Charity

Alignment Collaborative Selected as Featured Charity
Bear Family and City of Elgin Police Softball Game
September 13, 2021, 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Alignment is excited to be the featured charity for the Bear Family and Elgin Police Charity Softball Game rescheduled for September 13th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Elgin Sports Complex.  Our partners, the Bear Family and the City of Elgin Police, will donate all proceeds from concessions and the 50/50 raffle to Alignment’s work in our schools and the community.

Your donation via our website of just $10 to the 50/50 Raffle benefits our earliest learners and our middle and high school students as they prepare for academic and career success. Raffle tickets will also be available at the event.

We look forward to seeing you!

StoryWalks Bring Books Outside in Elgin

StoryWalks
Lauryn Ellis, 3, of Elgin reacts to a page while taking a StoryWalk with her mom Felicia at Lords Park in Elgin on Thursday. The Elgin Partnership for Early Learning and Alignment Collaborative for Education have used a grant to make bilingual StoryWalks they can deploy around town. The StoryWalks are deconstructed picture books on signs and kids walk from one page to the next. One side of the sign is English and the other Spanish. (Rick West | Daily Herald Staff Photographer)

A new program in Elgin makes it possible for kids to enjoy the outdoors and read a book at the same time.

The Elgin Partnership for Early Learning (EPEL) and Alignment Collaborative for Education hosted their first StoryWalk on Thursday at Lords Park. The StoryWalk features a picture book broken down by pages and mounted on metal frames along a path. Kids walk from page to page to read the story. The book is offered in English on one side and Spanish on the other.

“The thing I like about a StoryWalk is that it’s an innovative way to explore literature and not just your regular book,” said Amber Peters, executive director of EPEL. “It gets you out in nature, which I think is important for kids because you learn through being outside and in the community.”

EPEL is a nonprofit organization working to ensure children have access to quality early care and education in Elgin and the surrounding neighborhoods. It partners with other area stakeholders to provide resources, early childhood initiatives, information, and support for families and providers for children under 5 years of age.

Four stories were chosen by the Gail Borden Public Library to use on the StoryWalks, each with about 18 pages. Peters said the library chose stories that were culturally and linguistically responsive and inclusive, while offering readers colorful pages to interact with while building critical kindergarten reading skills and boosting brain development.

Reaching young kids before they start their formal schooling is important, said Kathleen Cox, director of early learning for Elgin Area School District U-46. She also sits on EPEL’s board.

“Eighty-five percent of a child’s brain development happens before their fifth birthday, so the more work the school district does partnering with child care providers to get the same message out about language development and social skills, the stronger all of our kids are going to be when they come in to school.”

Copyright issues prevented EPEL from using reproductions of the pages, so they bought a couple of copies of each book and broke them down, laminated the pages and mounted them on boards that are inserted in the frames that can be stuck in the grass. The program is funded by a collaborative partner grant written to Making Kane County Fit for Kids, Kiwanis of Elgin, and Elgin Township.

The plan is to have story walks where their audience is already gathered, be it block parties, city events, or, like Thursday, near a Gail Borden story time at Lords Park Zoo. Peters said people can reserve the StoryWalk materials for family parties or school events. “They’re for the community to use,” she said.

Peters said StoryWalks is a perfect fit for EPEL’s “learning on the go” model.

“These movable story walks allow us to relocate them to different locations during the year,” she said. “Anywhere you go, there’s opportunity to learn. It’s just a matter of you engaging the child.”

By Rick West
Original story appeared in the Daily Herald 8/6/2021 5:08 PM