District 100 prepares for 21st century employment needs

By Tricia Goecks

Editor

In January 2014, the Belvidere school district approved a three to five year strategic plan. Among the initiatives under the category of college and career preparedness was: develop five magnet schools by 2017.

As part of that initiative, plans are in the works to develop vocational training programs at Belvidere High School. As with the dual credit programs at Belvidere North High School, the programs would be available to all students in the district.

Initially, the vocational programs will be welding and health science programs. “The goal is with all of these programs to give students course work while in high school and get all of the prerequisites to start off right going into any post-secondary education,” Carl Hobbs, assistant principal at Belvidere High School said. Hobbs is taking the lead on spearheading the district’s efforts on this initiative. “The whole focus is to shift our thinking to give students the employability skills and not just those skills that they have to attend a four year degree to get there.”

“Welding is something that a lot of industries in our area said “if you train welders, we are going to hire them,” Hobbs explained.

“One of the programs we are trying to create is a two year welding program. By the time they are done with it, students will have an assembly line certificate. Then let’s say they go off to Rock Valley College, they only have 12 semester hours left to be fully certified as a welder for what is needed for industry.”

Welding is the first step in the industrial sciences technical certification path for District 100 students. Plans are to eventually add metal fabrication and tool and die programs. Welding is a good skill for people to have as it can be used in many construction projects, finding the right carts for welding will help those who need the best equipment for their construction plans. Welding is a skill that most schools don’t teach, meaning that people don’t tend to understand it very well. However, welding is a job that is usually in high demand, with many companies requiring the services of a welder. That’s why websites, like https://weldingheadquarters.com/, offer useful tips and advice for people looking to get into welding. The job can be dangerous, but by following safety resources, it can be an exciting job with lots of possibilities.

“I do not see this as a destination. I see this as a journey,” Hobbs said. “It is ongoing. It will continue to evolve. We will add quality programs. Once we get a good quality program, own it. Then we can add more.”

In addition to the welding program, the district will be adding a health sciences program. “On the other side we need health care. Students need to know at the freshman level if you take this sequence of courses this will get you in line to go after the surgical tech, nursing, pharmacy tech, or phlebotomy,” Hobbs said.

The welding and health sciences programs were selected based on conversations with area companies. District personnel engaged area companies including Chrysler, UTC and Woodward about the skills they needed from prospective employees. “We asked the industry people at the beginning of the process “what do you find that you need.” A lot of the initiative has come from our local industry,” Hobbs said.

“We are surrounded by many hospitals and medical centers. The average age of a nurse today is 46 years old. Imagine what is going to happen in the next 15, 20 years. They are all going to be retiring.”

“That i’s take care of people in our own back yard,” Hobbs said.

“There is going to be a need down the road for skilled trade folks on the manufacturing side. There are going to be lots of people retiring in the coming years and there aren’t enough folks coming into the system to replenish the people who are retiring,” Jodi Tinson, manufacturing and labor communications at Chrysler said. “There is a push to try to get more folks interested in those more technical positions in the skilled trade positions form millwrights to electricians to pipe fitters. Electricians are pretty obvious. Others like the millwrights are less well known.”

“To get young people to know that there are positions available. They might not necessarily be college bound student but there are opportunities for them to make exceptional livings in positions such as these.”

“Everyone is so focused on college. There is this whole other avenue with the trade school, and make people aware that these jobs still exist and there is a huge need for them,” Tinson said. “Down the road they can make a very good living in those fields.”

District 100 expects to add in the fall 2015 courses that will help students earn college credit for courses that are the prerequisites in the medical field. Many positions in the medical field require similar coursework.

“We are finding all of the health care agencies around here are saying we need to get our students educated not only about nursing and being a doctor but also the lab technician, surgical techs, pharmacy techs, medical coding all of those other things that you can have a career in the health field that students don’t know about,” Hobbs added.

They will even be given resources they can look into in more depth in their own time because if they’re truly passionate about it, they will want to spend more time looking at it. For example, students who are interested in becoming physicians can use sites like Physician Coding Resource to learn more about the medical codes they will need to know. If you are interested in physician coding resource, you can find their website here. Other resources like that site will be shown to students, no matter what they’re interested in.

Traditionally, students begin to think of their career goals during their junior and senior years in high school. Incoming freshman attended the Academy Expo in September 2014 with Rockford Public School students to learn about possible career fields. Students are encouraged to think about what they may want to do in the future so they can take courses in high school that will earn them dual credit in college or serve as prerequisites for programs. “Here is a freshman to walk into the door you know what that expectation is so that as a junior or senior you are not saying I wish I would have taken chemistry or anatomy or physiology or microbiology. If I would have, I could have gone right into this medical field,” Hobbs said.

Career readiness begins early

It isn’t just at the high school level that students are preparing for the future. Elementary school students are developing the skills necessary for the future.

Students at Washington Academy, District 100’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) magnet school are learning real world skills.

“Our students do group work and focus on 21st century skills,” Kelly Murdock, principal at Washington Academy said. “Our students need to be able to learn new things, try things. They need to be able to fail and know that they can go back and refine.”

Students work with employees from area companies including General Mills and Chrysler to work on projects. “We had someone from Chrysler come in and work with us in designing cars. He talked about how Chrysler goes through the engineering design process. He helped them design their own cars and build it,” Murdock said.

Students at Washington Academy work in collaborative teams on projects. The students work together on projects in class. Each student plays a vital role for in the completion of the team project.

“It is not just making a poster. They are creating their own thing. Fifth graders are designing a knee brace. One knee brace might look totally different than the next group’s,” Murdock added. “They are able to create in their minds what they want and not just what the teacher tells them.”

“When the Chrysler employee came in, there were some that looked awesome and amazing, and they thought out of the box.”

“You have a logical draw with the STEM curriculum as well as the trade school track,” Tinson praised District 100’s magnet school initiatives for career preparedness. “There is also a shortage of engineers out there.”

With Dart and Patriot having some of their best sales months, Chrysler is actively looking to hire salaried and hourly employees. They are looking for maintenance supervisors, control engineers and unit leaders as well as skilled trade employees such as electricians, millrights, and pipefitters.

Many of the salaried positions that Chrysler is looking to fill require a degree in engineering. Many of the hourly positions require a high school diploma or GED plus a trade certification.

District 100’s initiatives could not have come at a better time.