One of the most in-demand industries – cyber and network security – is having difficulty recruiting and retaining talented workers.

Instead of waiting for colleges and universities to solve the problem, District 214 educators are teaching cyber skills to students now so they can leave our doors with the skills needed to find internships and jobs.

Jackie Molloy took her first entrepreneurship class as a sophomore. Now, the Buffalo Grove High School junior is co-running a startup that is selling its product in stores across Chicago.

Jackie and her classmates created Skunk Aid – a deskunking kit for dogs – in their entrepreneurship course, which is part of a District 214 entrepreneurship program that engages students in all aspects of building a business, from identifying and solving a problem to creating a business model and testing their product in the real world.

Educators from across the country visited with High School District 214 students and staff on March 2 to learn more about the District’s Career Pathways program that provides students with real-world experiences and rigorous academic courses to discover their futures.  

Visitors also heard first-hand from District 214 students with internships coordinated by the District’s Center for Career Discovery. Students discussed how their internships confirmed what they want and do not want to pursue beyond high school.  

A summer internship at a physical therapist’s office affirmed Wheeling High School student Hannah DeGraff’s decision to pursue a career in the field.

The internship – coordinated through District 214’s Center for Career Discovery – gave Hannah a better understanding of what physical therapists do every day. It also provided her a behind the scenes look at running a healthcare business, from calling insurance companies to cleaning medical supplies and the importance of taking detailed notes to track patients’ progress.

Buffalo Grove High School this school year redesigned a computer laboratory into a collaborative, flexible space that allows staff to enhance reading, writing and critical thinking skills among students.

The room, called the BGenius Lab, is one way Buffalo Grove is focusing on literacy, a skill needed in high school and beyond. 

Literacy coaches Kate Glass and Jeff Vlk help teachers design literacy lessons and often coteach alongside the curriculum experts or teach the lessons in the lab. The two have connected with every teacher in the building and have seen classes from criminal law to biology to Spanish and world history, among others, stop in to help students in prep, regular, honors and Advanced Placement courses. 

Rolling Meadows High School is now in its second year of offering a Geometry in Construction course, which allows students to transfer math concepts learned in the classroom to a construction setting. 

By combining these two areas, students can visually apply geometry lessons and concepts like the Pythagorean theorem to physical and tangible projects, such as circuit-making and constructing walls, said instructors Dave Wietrzak and Brett Olson.