On the outside, it looks like a suburban high school. But inside, Buffalo Grove High School is home to The Bison Grill, a student-run restaurant that handles an average of 20 catering jobs a year for community outreach events, school meetings and professional luncheons that host local and state officials.

Michael Rooney has known for a long time that he wanted to be an engineer. But until he got involved in District 214’s Project Lead the Way (PLTW) program at Rolling Meadows High School, he didn’t know what kind of engineering he wanted to pursue.

Today, thanks to his courses through the PLTW program in Rolling Meadow’s Engineering Career Pathway, Rooney is a sophomore studying to be a manufacturing engineer at Bradley University in Peoria.

University of Illinois freshman Deirdra Day is studying to be a financial consultant — a course motivated by her Career Pathway studies at Buffalo Grove High School. 

Day took AP classes throughout her high school years, but started her business education with an introductory course during her sophomore year as part of the Business Management and Administration Career Pathway. From there, she moved on to higher-level classes.

A recent grant from GCAMP has allowed District 214 to expand an after-school STEM program for middle school students. Elk Grove and John Hersey educators share how the Next Generation of Engineers program is helping these students explore STEM and manufacturing careers before they begin high school.

Inside the graphic design lab at Rolling Meadows High School, students with different career interests in business and design are working together to run startups.

The entrepreneurship stems from Rolling Meadows’ newest course, Small Business Management, co-run by educators Kent Dyer and Amy Vannatta.

Students across the U.S. dream of working for NASA one day – for students in Wheeling High School’s advanced engineering program, that dream is now a reality. Since April, Wheeling students have been building brackets and handles that will soon be launched to the International Space Station (ISS). 

Like many of his peers, Zach Burke started high school unsure of what he might do with the rest of his life.

Today, the Prospect High School senior has a clear picture of his future career path – computer science – after spending his entire high school career in District 214’s IT pathway, where he also has taken two Advanced Placement courses that focus on his career interests.