It’s no surprise to us that TechNexus was named to the Forbes list of Top 10 Incubators in America. After all, ChiTech was one of the startups incubated there! We were so privileged to have been profiled, as well, by Forbes in the new article, “Gunshots to Google: Teaching Entrepreneurship to Chicago’s Inner City.”
J.J. Colao, the Forbes reporter who spent two days hanging out with us, really captured the magic happening in and outside of the classroom at Chicago Tech Academy.
Reprinted as "ChiTech Efforts Paying Off" on the Sun-Times online, May 3rd:
We were happy to share our views with columnist Mary Mitchell on an issue of concern to all educators and parents: cyber-bullying and school violence (“Facebook turned teenage girls’ rivalry into school hallway brawl,” May 3.
At Chicago Tech Academy, our students and staff enjoy a positive, safe and tolerant learning environment — the result of a three-year effort to create a schoolwide culture of PRIDE: Professionalism, Responsibility and Involvement Displayed Every Day.
Hello!
Thank you for your interest in the Generation Tech Mentoring Program at Chicago Tech Academy High School. The Pilot Program of 25 mentor-mentee pairs has been a great learning experience and a significant benefit to our students. We are hoping that the remainder of our junior class will be paired with a mentor by the end of November!
Here are the general parameters of the mentoring relationship:
· Mentors and students will fill out similar surveys to determine good matching candidates based on career interest/experience and hobbies.
The Top 10 Ways We’re Innovative
10. Limiting behaviors are reduced using the all-staff, all-student “PRIDE” initiative, focusing on peer-to-peer role modeling.
9. The school is a community-funded, donor-supported school, where donors fund only innovative programs.
8. Students receive paid internships and job shadowing through close alignment with industry and a full-time Director of Partnership Development.
Junior Tyler Briscoe has been paired with a dedicated mentor, Erick Cruz of Model Metrics, as part of the Generation Tech Mentoring Program. The program started only 4 months ago, but these two have made real strides toward planning for Tyler's career. They share their approach after the jump.
Erick:
Students Shine at IT Internships, Share Lessons
How did you spend your summer at age 16? ChiTech students, motivated by their career goals and armed with new connections, are spending the summer at jobs, paid internships, and conferences that interest them. We caught up with 2 students in particular, juniors Martha Zuniga and Chris Hayes, at their internships at CompTIA IT association.
Last Thursday, two of our students got to experience one of ChiTech’s core concepts in a big, big way. Imagine the empowering effect of speaking to the minds behind Groupon, Microsoft, and the rest of Chicago’s most innovative companies at age 13 or 15. Consider this note, handwritten by a 10th grader after the event:
A Chicago Tech Academy teacher is responsible for providing an educational atmosphere where students have the opportunity to fulfill their potential for intellectual and leadership growth.
Teachers are responsible for organizing and implementing an instructional program that will result in students achieving academic success.
We are looking for entrepreneurial teachers that are comfortable working in teams.
