In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, Chicago Public Schools is partnering with the business community to beef up its teaching ranks in science, technology, engineering and math — you know it as STEM.
The partnership will have companies pay for soon-to-be retiring employees to earn teaching certificates and share their work experiences with young people, especially in underserved communities.
Baxter International has already signed up.
“Health sciences is our expertise. Combine that with our goal of fostering tomorrow’s innovation, and it’s a nice cross section. It’s our sweet spot,” says Alice Campbell, Baxter’s senior director of global community relations.
The company was introduced to the idea by Alan Mather, who heads CPS’s Office of College & Career Success. He worked with Baxter when he was principal at Lindblom Math & Science Academy, where he was honored with a Golden Apple award.
“We’re excited. We’re looking in areas of high need, and we’re looking for people who can help students learn to apply what they’re learning in class to the real world,” Mather told me.
CPS says as far as it knows, it’s the first formal partnership between a big-city school district and the business community to get professionals into the classroom. Officials hope the initiative — called BEST (Bringing Experts to STEM Teaching) — will create a new pipeline of skilled teachers.
The idea came about more than a year ago when Mather was in New York. It was a personal trip, but he made time to visit with IBM to hear how it pays employees to go back to school to become teachers.
“I thought it sounded like something we could try,” Mather said.
University of Illinois at Chicago and National Louis University are also part of the effort.
How it works: Companies contribute $15,000 for employees nearing retirement or preparing a career change to earn a teaching certificate.
They’ll then move into the classroom, where they can talk from personal experience about how these technical subjects are used in the real world.
CPS will provide early offers to employees who go through the program as well as professional support to help them transition from corporate to education life.
CEO pays it forward at Englewood grocery
As she often does when she comes across a grocery store, Lifeway Foods Inc. CEO Julie Smolyansky stopped by the Whole Foods in Englewood the other day to see how her Lifeway Kefir drinks were being displayed.
“It’s a new store and I wanted to check it out,” says Smolyansky, who had just visited a nearby Montessori to pass out gifts and kefir drinks with Santa.
Filled with holiday spirit, Smolyansky announced she’d pay for groceries for customers in the store.
It was the middle of the day and wasn’t too busy. About 15 people benefited, including a police officer who was there picking up lunch for his cohorts.
The Chicago businesswoman has been on a campaign to do good deeds since the presidential election took the turn it did. She was a top fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.
Smolyansky has donated to Women’s Media Center, Liz Taylor AIDS Foundation, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League and Cradles to Crayons. She bought a refurbished piano for a community center in Wheeling. And she’s giving to Test400K, a nonprofit she founded that supports testing rape kits in order to hold perpetrators accountable. Combined, it’s about $10,000.
“If I’m about to get a big tax break, I’m going to give out a lot more money to the issues and people about to get hit hard,” Smolyansky says, referring to tax cuts for the wealthy that are expected under a Donald Trump administration. “It’s giving me hope. Better than just feeling so helpless.”
Speaking of the election
Organizers of the “WE Schools” youth summit held in Chicago over the weekend had anticipated about 100 teens attending.
Registration opened a few days before the election Nov. 8, when there were 70 young people signed up. Three days later, there were 384.
“We were surprised,” said Francie Richards, director of WE Charity, which sponsored the event. “We credit the presidential election and young people wanting to do something positive to help.”
The organization flew in staff members from other states and enlisted City Year members to help facilitate discussions.
The daylong event at Lincoln Park High School drew teens from 30 schools from all over Chicago and some suburbs.
LaRoyce Hawkins, a star on NBC’s “Chicago P.D.,” spoke about living your life powerfully. Students also sat in on discussions about mental health, gender rights, international development, human rights, clean water, education, violence, literacy, the environment and handicap accessibility.
One of the most popular subjects? What prompts an idea to go viral.
Be good for goodness sake
Have you seen that holiday commercial for Meijer?
It features a man of a certain girth with a big white beard going about his day — buying a coffee, waiting for the bus and grocery shopping. Children recognize him for who he is, and parents respond, “Sweetie, that’s not Santa.”
The commercial was created by The Distillery Project, a small Chicago ad firm.
“It’s a reminder of how we were able to see things when we were little and how cool and great that was. Maybe we could use a healthy dose of that today,” says John Condon, the company founder and Leo Burnett alum. He wrote the piece.
Read more Taking Names at shiakapos.com.
