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Alignment Collaborative for Education - ACE

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Alignment Visits the Leadership Academy Class of 2024

Alignment ELA 2024 Session

Alignment was invited to the Elgin Area Leadership Academy Class of 2024 joined by the leadership of ECC, EMSA, Judson, and U-46. The January Saturday morning session provided a great time to discuss education, future workforce development, and the continued advancement of the greater Elgin community. The Leadership Academy mentored and coordinated by Dan Fox, Ruth Munson, and Anthony Ramos has graduated over 15 classes contributing to Elgin having a solid leadership base networked across business and community organizations.

Edgar Montes, Alignment’s community program manager, is a member of the Class of 2024. Edgar describes his experience: “My experience has been amazing during my time in the academy. Being raised in Elgin, I’m amazed at just how much is out there for me to learn about my community. Learning from different leaders in Elgin gives me a sense of happiness knowing that I share similar backgrounds as them.”

William (Bill) Hoffer recognized by the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce

Non-Profit Volunteer of the Year, 2023

Alignment had the opportunity to name Bill Hoffer as the non-profit, Volunteer of the Year at the annual Thanksgiving dinner hosted by the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce. The event each year recognizes community leaders that significantly contribute to Elgin’s non-profit organizations. As the Hoffer Foundation website states “It’s not just plastics its personal”. Nothing could better describe Bill and the Hoffer Family’s commitment to the Elgin community. That commitment is evident in the raising and donation of millions of dollars to the community’s non-profit organizations, local charities, and families.  However, you could debate that even more important is the human investment.

The Alignment Collaborative for Education was fortunate and blessed to have Bill Hoffer as a founding member from concept to implementation. Now almost a decade later, this organization serves over 8,500 students a year with a 100% commitment from Bill that all students should have the opportunity to graduate academic and career ready.

You will find Bill at the annual Explore event visiting with 2,700 8th graders, and he is the first to open the doors to Hoffer Plastics to show high school students all the career opportunities available in the manufacturing industry. That work does not stop with the Alignment Collaborative. Bill has invested his leadership skills in growing Advocate Sherman Hospital to be a leader in providing world class healthcare. He, his wife Taffy, and his children continue to invest in the community’s children and youth as evidenced by the new Boys and Girls Club facility in South Elgin along with the YMCA, United Way, Habitat for Humanity, etc.

Bill believes in the power of education to change lives and to shape the future prosperity of a community, the region, and the state. It is befitting to be able to recognize Bill for those many contributions.

Flender hosts “Introduce A Girl to Engineering” night benefiting Bartlett and Streamwood students

On November 16, 2023 Flender Corporation hosted “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” night, exposing girls from Bartlett and Streamwood’s STEM programs to an array of career opportunities in engineering. Students were ‘hands on” with Flender’s engineering team, learning how to assemble gear boxes as well as experimenting with wind turbine blade modeling. The girls had the opportunity to incorporate their knowledge of physics, aerodynamics, blueprint reading, materials engineering, etc. Students also had an opportunity to tour the entire Flender operations seeing how gearboxes over 6 ft tall are assembled and overhauled for the wind turbine industry.

Nancy Coleman commended Flender for continuing to offer this program to introduce more high school girls to various engineering disciplines. “This program of Introduce a Girl to Engineering has been a showcase event for Flender for over a decade with girls meeting and working one on one with other female engineers to understand what educational and career pathways they chose to prepare for the profession.”

Thank you to the entire Flender team and especially its HR Team for planning and executing this event. We look forward to continuing the event and expanding it to other high schools.

High School Students Benefit from Manufacturing Partner Experiences

Working with Northern Kane County Region 110, Alignment had the opportunity to partner students and teachers with local manufacturers celebrating October as Manufacturing Month. School districts U-46, 300, 301, and 303 all partnered together to provide this experience to students.
 
Bartlett High School’s Freshmen STEM Academy students, just beginning to consider different roles in engineering within the manufacturing industry, toured both Harting and Matrix as part of celebrating Manufacturing Month. Approximately 85 students benefited from this experience while another 45 seniors from Larkin High School and St. Charles North High School visited Hoffer Plastics and Lakeview Precision, learning about employment opportunities available following graduation in May.
 
Alignment and Northern Kane County Region 110 thank the participating companies for generously opening their doors to students. Employer enthusiasm for the day made it such a successful experience. Joe Paglia, Director of Team and Member Services, tied it to Matrix’s mission “Develop Great People. Build a Great Company. Deliver Great Results. We love sharing that with anyone and everyone who will listen!”

Students view Matrix’s robotics equipment
Students learn about Matrix’s automated design processes
Students tour Harting’s operations
Students learn Harting’s “Core Market” strategy
Students learn about Hoffer’s custom injection plastic molding processes
Hoffer Plastic’s group photo
Lakeview Precision group photo
Students learn about Lakeview’s precision machining processes

Future Teacher Pipeline Conference Hosted at NIU

NIU Teacher Pipeline Conference 2023

On Wednesday, October 18, students from School District U-46, District 300, and District 301 spent the day at Northern Illinois University’s Teacher Pipeline Conference. The morning started for students from Larkin, Elgin, Dundee Crown, and Central with a keynote address, followed by various breakout sessions. Students finished the day listening to a panel of current education students who talked about classes and postsecondary advice.

“A day like today is important for two reasons,” says Jason Kline, Senior Director of Learning Partnerships at NIU. “The teacher pipeline pathway work that we all partner in is critical for ensuring high-quality teachers that represent our diverse student population. The second reason is being sure that NIU attracts students that represent this regional diversity with success for all students being central to our mission.”

Thank you Northern Illinois University and Northern Kane County Region 110 for your partnership hosting this event!