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ALIGNMENT ROCKFORD NEWS 
APRIL 2017

Academy Showcase This Thursday!

FREE Event! Join us in checking out what's new in the College & Career Academies of Rockford. 
Rockford Public Schools' high school students and faculty will be on hand to show what the Academies mean to them
 


Rockford Community Learning Lab 
Rockford Shares it's Story as Regional Communities Look to Rockford Public Schools and Alignment Rockford as a Model
 
Alignment Rockford and Rockford Public Schools hosted the Alignment USA Rockford Community Learning Lab March 21 - 23 and invited communities from around the Midwest to learn how the Rockford transformed its high schools and community engagement through Alignment USA and Ford Next Generation Learning (NGL).  Participants learned about the Alignment USA and Ford NGL frameworks, as well as the systems, structures and processes needed to transform secondary education. 

Pictured above: Alignment Rockford immediate past and founding Governing Board Chairman, Reverend K. Edward Copeland (right) and current Governing Board Chairman, Bob Guirl (left).
Pictured bottom from left: School Board President Ken Scrivano,  Keonta Burnell (GHS student), Edgar Garcia Sanchez (GHS Student), Jack Del Real (JHS  Student)  and key note speaker Rev. K.Edward Copeland. Burnell, Del Real, and Copeland spoke at a reception during the conference. 


Attendees were provided student-led tours of the wall-to-wall Academies at Auburn and Jefferson High Schools. Attendees were welcomed with a surprise performance by Auburn's CAPA students! Academy teams from Jefferson and Auburn offered a question and answer panel for attendees following the student-led tours. 
  • Pictured above: surprise performance by CAPA students as attendees arrived for their student-led tour.
  • Pictured top-right: A panel of Jefferson High School's Academy staff and faculty answer attendee's questions about the Academies at Jefferson 
  • Pictured middle-right: A panel of Auburn High School's Academy staff and faculty answer attendee's questions about the Academies at Auburn
  • Pictured bottom-right: a group of Jefferson student ambassadors pose for a photo with Rockford Community Learning Lab attendees after providing them a tour of their Academies



FACES OF ALIGNMENT ROCKFORD    
Each month we feature one of our Alignment Team members in our series, Faces of Alignment Rockford. This month we introduce you to André. 

André Anthony
Executive Director,  Youth Achievement YMCA 
Alignment Rockford  College Readiness Team Member
   
André has many years experience in roles serving the community and serving youth. He has served as  Senior Director of the YMCA of Columbia, South Carolina Youth Development Services Branch; State Program Director of Minnesota YMCA Youth in Government for the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities (YGTC) in Minnesota; member of the World Alliance of YMCAs Global Change Agents; President/Chair of the United States cohort of the World Alliance of YMCAs Global Change Agents; member of the  YGTC Diversity, Inclusion and Global Council; and the list goes on and on! 


Alignment Rockford's College Readiness team is fortunate to be able to tap the heart and experience of this servant leader as the team seeks to provide solutions to create an engaged school and community culture where all Rockford Public School students expect to pursue higher education or professional training beyond high school graduation. 


Click here to learn more about André and his involvement with Alignment Rockford. 
 
Rockford has inspired me in the way that so many people in the community come together with one common question: "How do we TRULY make things better for EVERYONE?" It truly is contagious and I'm proud and humbled to be a part of the answer to that question.

-André Anthony  
  
ACADEMIES UPDATE!
   










RPS 205 Senior Capstones! 

For many RPS 205 Senior Capstone students this is a big week as students present their final projects to their teacher, classmates, and community panelists. Below are a few examples of this year's Capstones. 



Click here to watch a 23WIFR morning show clip featuring Jefferson High School's Capstone teacher, Jen Wedig, explaining the Capstone course, and Capstone students, Ozzy Flores and Skylar Gustafson, explain their projects 
Come out this Saturday to Support Ozzy's project above! 






For a brief description on the Capstone course please click here. The students have been working on their projects all year with the help of community members and they are now getting ready to present their projects to a panel of community members and school faculty. Click here to read more about the Capstones and how the community has been involved throughout the year.
 
Volunteers Needed for One Day Events:

Cardboard Canoe Race

Volunteers Needed to Support RPS 205 Cardboard Canoe Race on  Friday, May 12th .

 Volunteers are needed for the following shifts:
  • Registration: 8:30am-12:30pm
  • Pit judges needed from 9am-11:30am
  • Interview judges from 11am-2pm
  • Timers from 10:30am-12:30p OR 12-2:30pm
  • Race starter from 10:30am-2:30pm
  • Scorekeepers from 10:30am-2:30pm
  • T-shirt and lunch pickup from 11am-2pm
Email Katy if interested 

Click to read about last year's event!
Jefferson High School Mock Interviews

Jefferson High School is seeking mock interviewers Wednesday, May 3rd for Jefferson High School's freshman class.  The mock interview is a career benchmark experience each RPS 205 graduate is expected to have. 

Interviewer are needed during the following class periods:
  • 8:30-9:20am
  • 9:25-10:15am
  • 11:15am-12:05pm
Interview questions and evaluation materials will be provided prior to the mock interview 

Email Katy if interested 


Congratulations to  Desiderio Galvan Jr, from Jefferson High School for designing the winning logo (above) for CEANCI's careers on wheels t-shirts!  CEANCI volunteers will be wearing them on May 5th







Check out the Academies Commercial! 

Special thanks to: 


Rj Link International, Inc. for supporting Alignment Rockford, Rockford Public Schools, and our community's future workforce by encouraging employees to get involved and for spreading the word!  From Rj Link International's organizational publication:

Rj Link International has joined other local business as active members of the Academy Support Team.   The company actively participates by offering tours and job shadowing opportunities to students.  Rj Link's Engineering/Quality Manager, John Oller, recently participated in an Academy Expo, in addition to Mock Interviews with seniors to help give them practice on how to interview.  He, and other employees at Rj Link, are also is involved with Career Coaching helping to answer questions that students might have about careers in manufacturing.

  Click here to read more

Academies in the News!

Pictured below Guilford High School   Construction  I students help build a Habitat for Humanity  house.



Through partnering with Rockford Area Habitat for Humanity, Guilford High School's Construction I students have not only learned how to build a house, they have provided a home to a Rockford family in need! 

Please join us in celebrating this amazing experience at the Home Dedication & Blessing on Friday May 5 at 9:00 am at 2979 Carol Place.  
 
Additionally, Guilford's EMITT Academy we would like to help support their Habitat family by bringing a donation of canned food item(s) to help them fill their new pantry. 

If you would like to participate in this donation please feel free to bring the non-perishable food item(s) with you to the dedicatio n. 
 
We hope you can join us to celebrate the remarkable work of Habitat for Humanity and Guilford's Construction I students.

 
Academies in the News!

Congratulations to our Health Sciences students at  Jefferson High School  who won the Med Terms Quiz Bowl at  UIC-Rockford College of Medicine April 11th!
 


Alignment Rockford's mission is to align community resources in support of public school strategies to raise student achievement, improve the health and happiness of our children, and advance the economic and social well-being of our community.