Vaughn Küerschner, Public Sector Representative of Waste Management, met with Alignment’s Executive Committees on February 26, 2019, to award a check of $5,000 to support Alignment’s work to improve early education offerings, build schools with trauma informed care cultures, and offer all students the opportunity to benefit from educational pathways graduating academic and career ready. Alignment greatly appreciates this donation and Waste Management’s continued support of its work for the last three years.
What’s New
Nicor Energy Grant Funded
The Alignment Collaborative for Education received $5,000 in funding under Nicor’s The Path to Social Mobility and Enhanced Opportunities Includes Education and Career Readiness grant program. Alignment’s role is to build business and community partnerships that collaboratively offer students within School District U-46, opportunities to participate in a comprehensive career education and work readiness program. This program prepares students to gain industry recognized credentials while still in high school so that students upon graduation can immediately enter the workforce and have the necessary foundation for post-secondary education and training. We greatly appreciate the support of Jim Griffin, Nicor’s Vice President of Operations and member of Alignment’s Governing Board.
Elgin High School’s Welding Program Receives the Elgin Development Group’s Workforce Development Award for 2019
Elgin Chamber hosts annual meeting, award ceremony Feb. 20th
Daily Herald, February 14, 2019
The Elgin Area Chamber’s annual meeting and High Five Awards Ceremony will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20 at Gifford’s Kitchen & Social, 2300 Bushwood Drive in Elgin. The event was rescheduled from Jan. 30 due to the extreme cold.
The event will combine the glitz and pageantry of the High Five Awards with the 111th annual meeting into one high flying and fun reception.
The event begins at 4 p.m. with networking until 5 p.m. followed by the program.
This brief program features the formal installation of board members: Nancy Abuali of Radius International; Ian Lamp of Lamp Construction; and Michael Wong of SmithAmundson.
It will be followed by a presentation of the Elgin Area Chamber and Elgin Development Group’s success stories for 2018 and concludes with the recognition of our High Five Award winning members and organizations who helped contribute to the chamber’s success in 2018.
The following awards will be presented:
- Ambassador Award: Dr. Lee Plasmier
- Small Business Award: Herb’s Bakery
- Large Business Award: Motorola
- Showcase Business Award: Newhaven Display
- EDG Workforce Award: Elgin Area School District U-46 Welding Lab at Elgin High School
- EDG Business Development Award: iHerb
- Leadership Award: Mike Warren, ROI
- Nonprofit Award: YWCA Elgin
- Emerging Leader Award: Steve Kroiss, 79 Ratio
- Partnership Award: WRMN Radio
EPEL Opens Second Laundromat as a Non-Traditional Learning Space
The Elgin Partnership for Early Learning (EPEL) opened its second laundromat early learning space at Blue Kangaroo in Elgin. The space is dedicated to families as an opportunity for early learning in non-traditional locations. Amber Peters, the Executive Director of EPEL, commented “that meaningful learning can occur in unconventional settings where families come together to work and play.”
The possibilities are endless: U46 eighth-graders explore career options at expo
Rafael Guerrero – Contact Reporter
The Courier-News
Amanda Jackson says she hopes to have a career in music one day but that didn’t stop the U46 student from checking out other job possibilities Wednesday at the Explore 2018 career expo.
The eighth-grader said stops at exhibitor booths for professions such as nursing were interesting, and made her consider other options she hadn’t thought of as job possibilities…
New High School Summer Internship Program Proves Successful
Village of Bartlett will recognize seven Bartlett High School Interns Tuesday night
For seven Bartlett High School students, summer break this year provided more than the chance to rest and recharge. The students reviewed municipal construction plans, helped foster economic development, and even investigated non-permitted chickens, all as part of a new internship program.
The School District U-46 students completed 40-hour internships this summer with the Village of Bartlett as part of a new program created by ACE — the Alignment Collaborative for Education — an organization of business and community leaders who work together to support the District’s goals and priorities. Key among those goals is to ensure that District schools are teaching the skills students will need to succeed in college and the workforce.
“We’re grateful the Village of Bartlett was so willing to offer this inaugural internship and thrilled that it was such a success,” said Nancy Coleman, ACE Executive Director. “We’re hopeful that students across the District will enjoy more of these opportunities with local business and government partners.”
The Village of Bartlett agreed to be the first ACE member to offer formal internships for U-46 students, and eventually chose seven BHS students to participate. The BHS interns will be recognized during the Bartlett Village Board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 21, which starts at 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 228 S. Main St.
The internships for students Meher Mirza and Sareena Shah centered on engineering. Patricia Marsigan and Britney Yu worked with the village’s Geographic Information System, utilizing software that analyzes data through spatial relationship analysis and mapping technology. Students Azam Khan, Emily Hettinger and Ishan Desai rotated among several village departments.
Joseph Dienberg, who is working as a Bartlett administrative intern while he works toward a Master’s degree, supervised the Bartlett students, and he came away highly impressed by their knowledge and work ethic.
“The students did very well in their internships. We’ve been talking about how bright all of them were,” Dienberg said.
The students worked on several projects, he said. They helped create a welcome packet in both hard copy and digital format that will be used to familiarize new Bartlett residents. The students also helped update the village’s code enforcement software. They used their editing skills to help produce segments for a village video program that spotlights local businesses.
Mirza, who is studying at the BHS Science, Engineering and Technology Academy, spent her internship in the village’s public works department. The prospective class of 2019 graduate said she is considering a career in engineering, so it was a good fit.
“My internship was really informative,” Meher said. “I learned a lot about civil engineering.”
Meher said she got to review the same building plans as the village engineers, and then had the chance to shadow them in the field. The broad scope of duties handled by the village’s public works department was eye-opening, she said; Meher went out with Bartlett employees to document a situation where a resident was reportedly keeping chickens on their property, but had not sought village approval to do so.
Intern Britney Yu said she is considering studying computer science in college, so working with the village’s GIS mapping system was right up her alley. It had some ties to the computer-aided design work she has done in her BHS class work.
She spent some of her time outlining and making data points that will help Bartlett complete a major road repaving project. Britney also received helpful career tips from village employees.
“They helped us with interviewing and resumes tips, which was really great,” Britney said.
Dienberg said the village is producing a package of guidelines and helpful tips that will be available to other ACE members, as ACE expands the internship program to other local businesses and units of government.
ACE is a member of the Alignment USA communities of collaboration and collective impact.
