Align4edu

Alignment Collaborative for Education - ACE

What’s New

Alignment Welcomes Edgar Montes as Community Program Manager

Alignment welcomes Edgar Montes, Community Program Manager

Alignment is excited to welcome Edgar Montes as our Community Program Manager (CPM). As the CPM, Edgar will be responsible for coordinating and managing our efforts within our middle and high schools, as well as facilitating the collaboration between business and community resources. As an alumnus of Elgin High School, Edgar has and will continue to be a great role model for our community’s youth completing his MBA from Robert Morris University in 2018.

Before joining our team as the CMP, Edgar worked for the Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township as the Director of Entrepreneurship and Community Engagement. There he was responsible for planning and implementing training opportunities for staff, including Life Coach and Entrepreneurship Program Leaders, volunteers, and staff. Previously, Edgar was also a valuable member of our Educational Pathways A-Team as a community partner representing Junior Achievement.  We are thrilled to welcome him back as a member of our growing team.

Alignment to Host U-46 Senior Job Fair, April 27 and 28, 2022

Alignment will host a senior job fair for students planning to graduate in May enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) courses to include automotive, business, culinary, education, health care, manufacturing and welding. South Elgin High School will host on April 27th employers interested in talking with seniors about employment in the following specific industries: automotive, education, health care, and manufacturing. On April 28th, Elgin High School will host employers from the business, culinary and welding industries. The fairs will be visited by seniors from all of U-46’s high schools from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm each day. 

For more information about exhibit and recruitment opportunities, please contact the Alignment Collaborative for Education at ace@align4edu.org.

Alignment Partners with Hoffer Plastics to Promote Manufacturing Careers

Alignment Partners with Hoffer Plastics to Promote Manufacturing Careers
Hoffer Plastics in South Elgin has been working with local schools to change the perception of the manufacturing industry with students who might be considering a career in industry. At right is 12-year employee Adam Vanmeter. (Photo courtesy of Hoffer Plastics/ Nick Allexon Photography)

The Alignment Collaborative for Education and Hoffer Plastics partnered to introduce high school counselors across School District U-46 to careers in manufacturing as part of the January counselor field trip to study the fields of automotive, manufacturing, and welding. As a result of that January visit, high school counselors and students from Larkin High School have participated in subsequent visits to learn about the various career available in the manufacturing industry, pay and benefits associated with these positions, and opportunities for advancement. Thank you to Hoffer Plastics for making this opportunity possible!

Read the Daily Herald article by Gregg Voss that features Hoffer Plastics’ “Break the Mold” initiative, working with high school counselors and students to change the perception of the manufacturing industry.

Alignment hosts HBCU Admissions Panel on Thursday, February 24, 6:30 pm

Alignment Collaborative for Education - HBCU Admissions Panel

Visit with Howard, Morehouse, Spelman and Tuskegee

Alignment and U-46 are excited to announce their first HBCU College and University panel scheduled for Thursday, February 24, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. The panel will feature students, alumni, and admissions representatives from Howard University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Tuskegee University.  Students will learn more about HBCU admissions, course offerings and college life as they visit with representatives from these four post-secondary institutions.

Download the Flyer

Freshman Experience Launches Live in Classrooms

Alignment Collaborative for Education: 2022 Freshman Experience

Alignment and U-46 are excited to announce that the Freshman Experience launched live on January 14, 2022! The eight-week curriculum is designed to help students develop the social and emotional skills needed for success in high school, their future careers, and everyday life.

While the pilot of this program took place remotely during the 2020-2021 school year, Larkin High School and Streamwood High School approached Alignment about offering the program live to their freshmen AVID students.  Alignment is utilizing the help of four wonderful interns from local universities (Elgin Community College, Judson University, and Northern Illinois University) to use their current experiences and post-secondary successes to model the behaviors and skills exemplified in the curriculum.  Adding this more personal element to the curriculum has students engaged and practicing the social and emotional skill sets taught such as teaming, conflict resolution, appreciation of diversity, power of voice, etc.

Alignment is looking forward to the last few weeks of the program and watching the students learn more about themselves and each other.  

Elgin Area School District U-46 High School Counselors Tour Local Businesses

Alignment -U-46 High School Counselors Tour Local Businesses
Elgin Area School District U-46 high school counselors tour the Automotive Lab at South Elgin High School, in addition to the tech lab at Elgin High School, Elgin Sweeper in Elgin, and Hoffer Plastics in South Elgin. The event was sponsored by the Alignment Collaborative for Education in partnership with U-46. Courtesy of Alignment Collaborative for Education.

Experience will better assist students in career opportunities.

Over 30 counselors from all five Elgin Area School District U-46 high schools experienced their own career exploration day at two local businesses, Elgin Sweeper in Elgin and Hoffer Plastics in South Elgin, and the career and technical education labs at Elgin and South Elgin high schools on Friday, Jan. 28.

The goal of the event, which was sponsored by Elgin’s Alignment Collaborative for Education in partnership with U-46, was to bridge the gap between the career and technical education programs offered at the high schools and available careers in the automotive, engineering, welding, and manufacturing industries.

Alexa Charsha-Hahn, lead counselor at U-46, endorsed the day highlighting that “counselors from this experience will be better equipped to guide students toward courses preparing them for highly technical professions.”
In touring Elgin Sweeper, a leader in the sweeper industry for more than 100 years, and Hoffer Plastics, a family-owned business and leader in the custom plastic injection molding industry, the counselors learned about future job projections, skills required and opportunities for career advancement.

Leadership from both businesses welcomed the opportunity.

“Alignment and U-46 are championing the easiest and most impactful ways we can give back to our local community,” said Lisa Baran, director of human resources, Elgin Sweeper. “We are excited and humbled to showcase Elgin Sweeper to the next generation of manufacturing talent.”

Hoffer Plastics, a founding partner of Alignment Collaborative for Education, was honored to host representatives from U-46 and Alignment.

“We’re excited about sharing the many wonderful career opportunities manufacturing offers young people, whose high-tech skills, entrepreneurial spirit, and desire to give back could not be more welcomed or needed than they are today,” said Charlotte Hoffer-Canning, Chief Culture Officer, Hoffer Plastics.

“This opportunity for high school counselors helps strengthen their understanding that careers in manufacturing and technical education can begin and flourish while students are completing their high school experience,” said Nancy Coleman, executive director, Alignment Collaborative for Education.

The Alignment Collaborative for Education (ACE) mission is to align community resources and collaborate with organizations in support of public school strategies to raise student achievement; create responsible, productive, and contributing members of our society; and advance the economic and social well-being of communities served by Elgin Area School District U-46 in Illinois.

For more information, visit www.align4edu.org.

Original article Daily Herald, 2/4/2022 11:38 PM
Submitted by Pat Szpekowski